LOS ANGELES — Anticipation filled the air inside the Galen Center on Wednesday night as 18-year-old former five-star recruit Alijah Arenas stepped onto the court wearing cardinal and gold for the first time. But the celebration would not be present on the statsheet as the USC Trojans dropped yet another crucial Big Ten matchup against the Northwestern Wildcats, 74-68.
From top to bottom, it seemed as though the Trojans were playing catch-up against a Northwestern team that, up til this point, had been unsuccessful in winning a conference game in 7 tries.
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“We’re struggling right now to find five guys,” USC head coach Eric Musselman said after the loss. “With the way we’re shooting and blowing coverages.”
In back-to-back games, USC’s vendetta of not being able to produce a positive outcome at the free-throw line comes back to haunt them as the Trojans manage to have an even worse shooting performance from the foul line compared to their last loss against Purdue.
USC shot a whopping 43 free-throw attempts, only sinking 26.
“We now played two home games; shot the ball horrific from three and shot the ball horrific from the foul line, so, super disappointed loss,” Musselman said. “I’ve coached a long time, and I can’t remember one quite like this.”
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Jordan Marsh led the Trojans in scoring by the final buzzer, finishing off with 19 points, all of which were scored in the second half.
Despite the tough loss to the Wildcats, the Trojans’ faithful at the Galen Center were all waiting in anticipation for the debut of former five-star recruit Alijah Arenas to make his collegiate debut. Fans were able to see Arenas in action early, as to everyone’s shock, the 18-year-old would be tabbed with the start.
By the end of regulation, Arenas would score 8 points on 3-15 in 29 minutes played. When asked about his view on Arenas’ performance in his first college game, Musselman said he wasn’t shocked at the results, noting that he was supposed to be a high school senior at the moment, but decided to reclassify and is all of a sudden thrown into Big Ten competition with an entire summer missed due to injury and no conference play under his belt.
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The Trojans are playing sloppily, even coach Musselman can agree on that, but the Trojans can turn their fortunes around with two crucial road stops against Wisconsin on Sunday and Iowa the following Wednesday.
