The USC men’s basketball season has unraveled rapidly.
A series of second-half breakdowns and the departure of leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara have resulted in six straight losses and, in all likelihood, no chance at the NCAA Tournament.
The Trojans have one Big Ten Conference regular-season game remaining on the schedule against UCLA, which is slated for a 6 p.m. tipoff Saturday at the Galen Center. If nothing else, USC has the chance to finish with a win against its crosstown rival before it heads to the Big Ten Tournament.
As of Friday, the Trojans (18-12 overall, 7-12 Big Ten) are in the bottom half of the conference standings, tied with Minnesota and Washington at 7-12 in conference play. UCLA (20-10, 12-7) is projected to be a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament after losing at Minnesota on Saturday and beating No. 9 Nebraska on Tuesday.
It was the third Top 10 opponent that the Bruins had beaten at home, and they did so behind Trent Perry’s 20 points and Eric Dailey Jr.’s 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
“We’ve just gotta take that attitude that we played with tonight and bottle it up and keep it rolling,” Dailey Jr. told reporters. “Tonight, this team looked different. The way we played tonight – if we keep this same energy and attitude and the plays and the hustle – we’ll be fine down the stretch.
USC was dealt its sixth loss in a row at Washington 91-72 on Wednesday, even though it led by three points at halftime and four Trojans finished in double figures in scoring.
Alijah Arenas led the scoring efforts with 19 points and is now averaging 14.3 points per game.
The Trojans also lost to Nebraska, Oregon and Ohio State due to second-half breakdowns during the current losing streak.
“We have to put 40 minutes together,” head coach Eric Musselman said in a quote provided by USC. “We can’t play 20 minutes or 24 minutes, and certainly the second half was not anything we needed from a scoring standpoint or defensively.”
The Trojans were without Baker-Mazara, their former leading scorer, after the team parted ways with the 6-foot-7 wing. Baker-Mazara was watching the game, however, and posted a photo of the television screen to his Instagram story with the caption: “Let’s go bruddas!!”
USC and UCLA played roughly a week and a half ago, and the Bruins came out on top 81-62. They also scored some respect for toughness when an attempted pass from Baker-Mazara hit UCLA guard Eric Freeny in the chin.
Freeny absorbed the impact like Marvin Hagler, hardly flinching and brushing it off.
“I’m kind of used to it,” Freeny told reporters. “That’s how it is all the time in practice. Got hit with the ball, I just gotta keep playing. It’s part of the sport. It’s part of what happens. It’s super competitive, so just gotta forget about it and win the ballgame.”
UCLA (20-10 overall, 12-7 Big Ten) at USC (18-12, 7-12)
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Galen Center
TV/Radio: FS1/710 AM