USC basketball has had one of the most disappointing seasons of any team in the country. The Trojans are loaded with individual talent, but have struggled to find the right formula to win together. Every college basketball fan knows about Bronny James, but not as many know about Joshua Morgan, or some of the other Trojans' players. USC basketball is 11-17 on the season, but the team is much better than their record. Here are some reasons why the team could be a real sleeper in the upcoming Pac-12 Conference Tournament.
USC BASKETBALL STARTING TO GEL
USC has an 11-17 overall record, and a 5-12 record in the Pac-12. That's discouraging by any stretch of the imagination. There's a story here behind those numbers, though. The team has won two of their last four games, and all four of those games were very close contests. USC has refused to quit despite their ongoing struggles.
USC basketball defeated UCLA and Utah, and lost to Colorado and Washington State in that four-game stretch. The Trojans lost by three to a ranked Washington State team that is headed to the NCAA Tournament, and by three in double-overtime to a Colorado team that has a 19-9 record. The Trojans are simply getting better.
The team is getting better behind the defense, which is finding their way. The Trojans are first in the Pac-12 in blocked shots, with 146 total blocks, per conference stats. Joshua Morgan leads the way, averaging 2.4 blocks a game. Morgan also had to miss time to injury earlier in the season, and it has helped having him return to the lineup. USC basketball is also third in the conference in steals, with 202 total steals on the season. That is good enough for 7.21 steals per game, behind only Arizona and Arizona State.
The team is also doing well in the category of field goal percentage defense, allowing their opponents to make 43 percent of their shots. That is again near the top of the Pac-12, as only four other league schools are doing a better job at stopping opponents in that category. USC basketball has the defensive framework to win, they just need to keep playing together and trusting each other. It doesn't hurt, either, to have one of the best players in the league leading the way.
A STAR IS BORN
USC basketball has arguably the best freshman in the country in point guard Isaiah Collier. Collier is averaging 16 points a game, to go with 4 assists. He is finding his stride at the right time, scoring 24 or more points in two of the last three games for USC. This includes a 24-point performance for the Trojans in their close loss to Washington State on February 29.
Collier is seventh in scoring in the Pac-12 Conference. He's a game-changing type of guard who can score in spurts, and was the no. 1 prospect in the country in ESPN's Class of 2023. Collier is headed to the NBA, most likely very soon, and he's the type of player that can put a team on his back to get some wins when needed.
The Trojans also have freshman phenom Bronny James, who has garnered a lot of media attention. James is another young player who can score in spurts for USC. He is getting his strength back after suffering a medical injury during the offseason, which has kept him out of several games early on. On the season, James is averaging five points and three rebounds a game. While James has still a long way to go, he has the talent to go off on a scoring spree and help USC win a conference tournament championship.
USC basketball will only make the NCAA tournament this season if the team wins the conference tournament. The backs of this team are most definitely against the wall. USC simply has too much talent for them to be written off, and they seem to be coming together at the right time. It certainly doesn't hurt that for the first time this season, almost the entire roster seems to be healthy.
USC plays Washington on Saturday. The game is ongoing at the time of writing.
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