USC mens basketball wonders what could have been

As his USC crew slid additional off the NCAA event bubble, falling flat against its fiercest rival, annoyed coach Eric Musselman couldn’t help but lament what would possibly have been.

If the Trojans had Rodney Rice, perhaps issues would have gone in another way in his second season.

“I haven’t really talked about it in a long time,” Musselman said. “But we’ve got three games left, so I’m gonna bring it up now. To run our offense and stuff without a guy like him is problematic for sure.”

Of course, after dropping 81-62 to crosstown rival UCLA,, there wasn’t a lot else for USC to discover solace in Tuesday evening. Maybe Rice, who has been out since late November, would have elevated the Trojans’ ailing offense. Maybe freshman Alijah Arenas, who didn’t debut until late January, could have discovered his stride sooner with a full offseason.

No quantity of what-ifs, however, will repair what ails USC during its closing three video games. The loss to UCLA was its fourth straight. As of Tuesday evening, the Trojans have been firmly out of the event area, a fact that Musselman was effectively conscious of.

That’s not set in stone yet. But the query now is whether or not the Trojans even have the capability to climb back into the March combine.

That path back for USC would definitely be smoother with a more potent offense. Sixth-year senior Chad Baker-Mazara led the crew with 25 factors against UCLA in spite of enjoying through a sore knee.

But the remainder of the Trojans offense shot under 30% — another issue that Musselman traced back to Rice’s absence.

“The lack of shooting is really hurting us,” Musselman said. “I haven’t really talked about it in a long time. But not having Rodney Rice’s shooting is killing us. It kills our spacing. It kills our help to the ball.”

The arrival of Arenas, the Trojans extremely touted freshman, was supposed to clear up that. Instead, 10 video games into his school profession, Arenas is struggling mightily with his offensive effectivity.

Arenas had 4 first-half turnovers in 9 minutes and didn’t hit a shot from the sphere until halfway through the second half. The freshman has shot just 8 of 29 over his last three video games. He completed Tuesday with 10 factors, 4 rebounds and 5 turnovers.

“It’s a learning curve for him,” Musselman said. “He’s an incredible talent who has an awesome ceiling, and he’s got an incredible future. But in a game like tonight — he’s learning. You can see it out there. He’s learning on the fly.”

There’s not a lot time left to study. The Trojans will face No. 12 Nebraska on Saturday, before touring to Washington, which beat them earlier in the season, a few days later. A rematch with UCLA awaits at Galen Center the next Saturday.

USC received’t stand a lot of a probability against that slate if it may well’t discover some consistency on either end, but the Trojans had their moments Tuesday. They fired out to an early lead thanks to Baker-Mazara, who adopted up a 13-point outburst Saturday by knocking down three consecutive 3’s in a three-minute stretch.

Later, close to the halfway mark of the second half, Baker-Mazara hit another 3 to cut the UCLA lead to just 5 factors. And for a temporary second, it appeared USC would possibly discover a approach.

But then, in the waning seconds of the shot clock, UCLA star guard Donovan Dent let a deep three pointer fly with 10 minutes remaining. It swished. A sold-out crowd at Pauley Pavilion roared.

Dent completed with 30 factors, while the Trojans never recovered. Musselman, meanwhile, was left considering of one thing his spouse, Danyelle, had said to him.

“Take a 20-pointer scorer off of any team and see what they do,” Musselman recalled his spouse saying. “Take Dent off of them and let’s see what they do. That’s a fact.”

But the information, for USC, are fairly grim at this level. And with just three video games remaining, time is operating out for the Trojans to change that.