USC surviving injury-riddled season by ‘constantly reinventing’
When Eric Musselman and his staff carefully pieced together this USC team through the transfer portal last spring, the lineup announced Tuesday night ahead of the Trojans’ 88-71 win over Maryland was probably not what they had in mind.
Ryan Cornish, the Dartmouth transfer starting at one guard spot, didn’t scratch the rotation until December. Kam Woods, the other starting guard, wasn’t even enrolled at USC until late last month. And in the middle, 7-foot-5 center Gabe Dynes had been playing a mere seven minutes a night just a few games prior.
It was a far cry from the group Musselman thought he’d have at this point in his second season at USC, with the bulk of the Big Ten schedule still ahead. But Alijah Arenas, the five-star freshman guard, was reduced to icing his knee on the sideline, his return delayed at least one more week. Chad Baker-Mazara, USC’s leading scorer in December, spent most of Tuesday night stretching out his sore neck, unable to go, and Rodney Rice, the Trojans’ leading scorer in November, was laid up at home recovering from shoulder surgery he’d undergone that day.
The onslaught of injuries made the last two months, in the words of USC’s coach, both “draining” and “the most challenging ever.” But aside from two blowouts in the state of Michigan and a blown fourth-quarter lead to Washington, the Trojans haven’t looked all that much worse for the wear on paper, having stacked up 14 wins, and trending toward an NCAA tournament invite for the first time since 2023.
They’ve done so by becoming a different team, nearly night in and night out.
“We’re constantly reinventing ourselves,” Musselman said. “Every game has a different identity.”
Over the Trojans’ last five games, Musselman hasn’t used any one lineup more than 6.9% of the time, according to the analytics site KenPom.com. Jordan Marsh, who led USC in scoring with 20 on Tuesday night, had played a combined seven minutes over the previous two games. Terrance Williams, meanwhile, went from starting against Michigan State to scraping together just seven minutes against Minnesota and Maryland.
In Tuesday night’s win, 36 of the Trojans’ 46 points in the second half came from either Dynes, Marsh, freshman guard Jerry Easter or forward Jaden Brownell, none of whom were expected at the start of the season to rank among the top five in scoring for USC. The game before that, in Minneapolis, USC got just a single point from its bench after halftime — and a combined 43 from Baker-Mazara and Ezra Ausar.
The only thing that’s remained consistent about USC’s approach is how often it has changed. Musselman has tried just about everything, at one point starting each of the 10 members of USC’s rotation.
“A good team has players step up,” Musselman said.
Cornish is one. He’d played a total of eight minutes through the month of November, but quickly earned the trust of USC’s staff for his effort on defense and his willingness to do the little things, like box out and take charges.
“I just wanted to produce in some way where I could help the team,” Cornish said.
He started at guard on Dec. 9 at San Diego, just his third game in the rotation. He’s been in the starting lineup since.
Dynes has also suddenly become a key piece in the Trojans’ rotation, fulfilling the hype that accompanied him in the preseason. The center has averaged over 23 minutes per game over USC’s last five, as Musselman has trusted him for longer stretches, leaning on his rim protection and his improving offense.
“He’s turning into a real, real factor for us,” Musselman said.
With Dynes in the lineup, 6-9 forward Jacob Cofie has routinely kicked out to the wing, where he’s been asked to make three-pointers and defend on the perimeter. That’s been a boon to his confidence, Cofie said, as USC’s three-big lineup has been a fixture since the start of the Big Ten slate.
“Every game has got a different mismatch,” Musselman said Tuesday. “It’s up to our staff to try to help figure out who and when they can help us.”
Even just a week ago, that felt like an increasingly impossible task. The Trojans were coming off two blowout losses to Michigan and Michigan State, their season suddenly heading in the wrong direction. Plus, they were worn out. “We needed a rejuvenation,” Musselman said. So they spent four nights together, taking it easy, eating meals as a team, alleviating any pressure that might have built up.
“We went through some adversity with the first two road games,” Marsh said. “But as a group, we just got more connected, more bonded.”
What that group will look like a few weeks from now is unclear. The earliest Arenas is likely to return is next Wednesday against Northwestern — though his actual return date could come down to when Arenas’ inner circle signs off that he’s ready.
Baker-Mazara, meanwhile, is dealing with a neck issue, yet Musselman seemed a bit frustrated with the sixth-year senior’s situation when asked about it Tuesday. He said that Baker-Mazara hadn’t practiced the previous two days.
“We’re gonna roll with who’s practicing hard,” he said. “It’s that point in the season where everybody gets a little banged up. We’ve got a group that practices so hard — Ezra [Ausar], Jacob [Cofie], Gabe [Dynes].”
It’ll take everything they’ve got to keep up with No. 5 Purdue. The Boilermakers boast a lineup that’s spent years together learning their roles and fitting into a system.
USC, in many ways, will bring the opposite to the table. There’s no telling who might start Saturday at Galen Center.
“But that also could be the ace up our sleeve,” Cornish said. “We can throw so many different looks against them. They don’t know what they’re preparing for.”
