USC men’s basketball vs CAL and what you need to know…
Trojans, looking to halt a tough two-game skid that puts their NCAA tourney hopes in jeopardy, host the Golden Bears, who have lost nine in a row, tonight at the Galen Center, at 7 p.m.
USC’s Kobe Johnson shoots as Washington State’s Andrej Jakimovski defends during the second half Feb. 2, 2023, at the Galen Center. (AP/Mark J. Terrill)
CAL at USC men’s basketball
When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
Where: Galen Center
TV/Radio: Fox Sports 1/790 AM
Records: Cal 3-22, 2-12 in Pac-12; USC 17-9, 9-5
Adam Grosbard (OC Register)
CAL’s latest result: Credit to the Golden Bears; this time it took overtime, but Cal still fell 70-62 against Arizona State on Saturday. It was the ninth consecutive loss for Cal, coming immediately after the 3-1 stretch in which the Golden Bears earned all their wins for the entire season. The two bright spots in the game were reserve forwards Grant Newell and Monty Bowser, who each scored 14 points in 60 combined minutes of play with starter Lars Thiemann in foul trouble for much of the night.
USC’s latest result: The Trojans were swept during their Oregon trip, losing first to the Ducks in lopsided fashion, then to rebuilding Oregon State 61-58 on Saturday. With center Joshua Morgan (ankle) and guard Reese Dixon-Waters (leg) sidelined, head coach Andy Enfield tightened his rotation. Only one player off the bench played more than seven minutes. Starters Drew Peterson and Kobe Johnson got only one minute of rest while Boogie Ellis and Tre White played 36 and 34 minutes, respectively. The strategy resulted in tired legs, and the Trojans shot 32.1% from the floor while missing 13 of 14 attempts from 3-point range.
Big matchup to watch: Thiemann vs. Vincent Iwuchukwu. If Morgan can’t play (more on that in moment), the freshman center will have to step up against Thiemann. The forward has been the Bears’ leading scorer since Devin Askew went down for the season. Iwuchukwu is still learning on the defensive end, but will need to hold his own in this matchup.
USC trend to watch: Morgan and Dixon-Waters are considered game-time decisions against CAL, though Enfield sounded more confident in Dixon-Waters playing than Morgan after Monday’s practice. The sophomore guard’s return would ease some of the pressure on USC’s rotation, but Morgan has been sorely missed the past three games. His defensive presence in the paint has not been replicable for any of USC’s younger forwards and centers.
March résumé check-in: The Trojans are currently 64th in NET rankings following the losses to Oregon and Oregon State. This has the Trojans on the outside looking in at the NCAA tournament in projections by ESPN and CBS Sports. A win over the downtrodden Golden Bears wouldn’t move the needle much, but a surprise loss would tank USC’s résumé.
ocregister.com
_________
TrojanDailyBlog members — We always encourage you to add information, divergent opinions, or new topics to the TDB which don’t necessarily pertain to any particular moderator post or member comment.
Think the Green Wave victory over USC wasn’t a huge deal for TULANE?
“Commemorate Tulane’s thrilling season and Cotton Bowl win with this hardcover coffee-table book. Full of compelling stories and dynamic photos from the Green Wave’s hometown paper, The Times-Picayune, this collector’s book puts you inside the huddle as Tulane’s historic season culminated in a dramatic win over USC in the Cotton Bowl. This keepsake is sure to delight all Tulane fans.”
only $31.95!
Where would the USC Trojans rank if they land Duce Robinson? Patrick Conn (College Sports Wire) — The 2023 college football recruiting class is all but wrapped up, however, there is still one domino that has yet to fall. The final five-star player that hasn’t made the decision on where they will play is Duce Robinson. The top tight end prospect in the country from Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, Arizona. Up until this point, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Robinson would head east to play for the Georgia Bulldogs. After all, they know how to utilize tight ends… Read more »
Caden Stephen no longer on the football roster. One scholarship become available.
Who? That’s probably why he isn’t on the roster anymore. Grab that SC degree and succeed in life, Caden.
Lately, there has been an incredible amount of public backlash questioning Notre Dame’s lack of commitment to football from its own supporters as well as major CFB media due to ND’s failure to land UTAH OC Andy Ludwig as a replacement for Tommy Rees, now with Nick Saban at ALA. The Irish brought Ludwig into town in full view for all to see, and everyone expected that was because Ludwig was basically signed, sealed, and delivered for Marcus Freeman to fill ND’s relatively new OC vacancy. When word leaked out that Ludwig quickly turned down ND after being escorted around… Read more »
who knows what the real reason that Ludwig is not the ND OC, but it is pretty funny that it is being reported that ND was not willing to pay the buyout and Swarbrick ends up begging for more money from the fans at the end of his letter.
An incredibly embarrassing episode within Notre Dame football to say the least. Should be interesting to see further fallout.
CAL just lost to USC at Galen, 97-60. Poor Bears got embarrassed too.
Yeah, but they got that ucla B1G cheese coming down the pike. Cool.
And poor boy CAL’s major rival is STAN. Bay area CFB, never great, often not even good, is doomed. They both now seem better suited to play UC DAVIS or CAL POLY.
I expect USC to hammer both schools by about 25 points or more in 2023.
The days of Jim Plunkett, Andrew Luck, John Elway, Jared Goff, and Aaron Rodgers are long gone up there. JMHO.
All-time Anaheim High sports great George Fraser died this past weekend. He was a three-time All-CIF quarterback for the Colonists (and the first triple-timer in CIF history), the Orange County Offensive Player of the Year in 1969, also starred in basketball and track, became an Anaheim football assistant coach, and was a fantastic credit to his community long after his football days were over. A funeral Mass is at St. Boniface in Anaheim on Feb. 23 at 10 a.m. I mention this because as a RB/DB for Newport Harbor, I played against the incredibly fast and versatile Fraser in both… Read more »
Very nice tribute to an opposing player Allen. When I was at Glendale High in the early 70’s, Blair High in Pasadena was in the Foothill League with us and had a backfield of Charles Phillips (USC DB), James McAllister (UCLA RB and Olympic Long Jump) and Kermit Johnson (UCLA RB). When Blair had the ball it wasn’t a question of whether they would score a TD, it was more like which one of those three were going to do it!
Eric Gentry is going in for ankle surgery, so it looks as though he will miss spring ball.
Rollo Turns Over His Race Car
Frank McManus, an asst coach for Mater Dei football the last seven seasons, was named HC earlier today. He replaces Bruce Rollinson, who stepped down during his 34th season in 2022. (Photo courtesy of Mater Dei)
Very few have accomplished what Rollo did. There was a coach at De La Salle in Northern California named Bob Ladoceur (sp) that was long-tenured and very successful as I recall. I’m sure Mater Dei will be in good hands.
Jim Caviezel starred as coach Bob Ladouceur, Laura Dern as Bev Ladouceur in 2014’s When the Game Stands Tall. Not a bad flick, but Bob was a much better coach and was credited with winning 11 national championships. Ladouceur won a seemingly impossible 151 straight games and 399 overall (93.4%) for Concord De La Salle from ’79-’12. One of the true greats from the prep coaching world and he sent some good ones to USC, including LB Michael Hutchings and WR Mike Bastianelli, who died young in a 2004 car accident along with DL Darrell Russell. Bob was always very cooperative and… Read more »
Allen: thank you for the information on Bob Ladouceur. I really appreciate the way you always fill in the blanks. I remember when some of the games were televised in So Cal back in the early 2000s. I can’t recall but I think my son’s Middle/High School Oaks Christian played De La Salle when Oaks had Jimmy Clausen and Marc Tyler in the backfield. I know they played the High School in Washington state where Max Browne came from and beat them.
The Clausen family was a trip! Back in March 2000, Casey, who signed with TENN (his uncle lived in Knoxville), and his Valley friend DL Travis Johnson, who inked with FSU over USC even though he loved Ed Orgeron, came down to meet me in front of Las Brisas in Laguna where we had lunch. On a beautiful, sparkling spring day in front of some cool palms, I took this shot and put them on our March Letter-of-Intent cover. Fun times. I registered the TGIF logo and Thank God It’s Football in the lower right-hand corner as a U.S. trademark,… Read more »
Thanks for the story Allen. Casey and Jimmy look so much alike. When my son Ryan was a 6th grader at Oaks in 2005-6, Jimmy was the QB for Oaks Christian. i volunteered at a fund raising golf tournament at Sherwood Country Club. I drove Jimmy in a golf cart to meet some people at one of the holes. He was a nice kid but a little cocky. He moved on to Notre Dame and started as a Freshman and the following three years. He never had a real spectacular college career, but did get drafted very high by the… Read more »
Nation’s top 2023 TE Duce Robinson receives Crystal Ball to USC | College Football Recruiting Show 247Sports’ Blair Angulo and Steve Wiltfong detail why USC now is the favorite to land Duce Robinson Angulo per a source — “He’s going out there hitting home runs at Dodger Stadium. Do you think he’s gonna want to head to Athens (GA)? When you think about Duce Robinson, you think about the Trojans. It’s the program closest to home. Ja’Kobi Lane is a close friend. USC has now regained a lot of the buzz and momentum (and GA OC Todd Monken left for… Read more »
Who’s behind USC’s new NIL collective? Everything you need to know about The Tommy Group Antonio Morales (The Athletic) — Who are the main people behind The Tommy Group? There are six. Former USC wideout and NFL standout Keyshawn Johnson is the headliner. Former Trojans tight end Alex Holmes, who played for the 2003 and 2004 national championship teams, is also involved, as are local businessmen John Terzian, David Stromberg, Avi Chesed and Michael Hahn. Each has had success in different industries, such as entertainment, hospitality, branding and other corporate initiatives. Terzian is the co-founder and co-president of The h.wood Group, a… Read more »
It is a strange fact that Blvd got going, Sosna left, then Blvd languished and then died. Was Sosna the only guy with brains in the athletic department. Bonn is not plugged in and pretty much clueless in how to deal with NIL. It is great to see some people with excellent business sense step in and try to revive the NIL at USC.