USC was missing key players but still managed to rebound from a tough Big Ten road trip, earning an 88-71 win over Maryland Tuesday at Galen Center.
The last time USC played on its home floor, more than three weeks ago, the tone of the Trojans’ season felt decidedly different. They were 12-1, ranked in the top 25. Everything seemed to be looking up.
By the time they’d returned in the new year, that picture looked far more bleak. Two blowout losses in Michigan and a narrow overtime escape from Minnesota had made clear how tenuous the Trojans’ early success had been. Then the timeline for star freshman Alijah Arenas' return was pushed back indefinitely, another foreboding sign in a season filled with them.
But after some dark days away from home, USC came to life Tuesday on its home court in an 88-71 win over Maryland.
It did so in the second half behind point guard Jordan Marsh, who’d barely played during the Trojans’ previous three games. Against Maryland, Marsh scored a season high 20, 17 of which came in the second half.
He caught fire with Maryland still hanging on in the second half, as he hit a three-pointer with just under 15 minutes remaining and USC clinging to a 53-52 lead. Other bench contributors followed suit. Freshman Jerry Easter scored eight of his 10 in the second half, while Jacob Cofie and Ezra Ausar finished with 12 points each.
That this win came over a team without a Big Ten win to date barely mattered in the moment, not with how closely the Trojans appeared to be tiptoeing along the brink over the past two weeks.
Read more:USC star freshman Alijah Arenas won't debut this week as planned
They finally managed to step away from the ledge Tuesday. Though, where their season goes from here remains to be seen.
The plan had at one point been for Arenas to make his much-anticipated debut this week after suffering a knee injury in the summer. But that return has been delayed indefinitely, forcing Musselman to continue fiddling with his lineup in search of answers.
USC opened Tuesday, for instance, with three bigs and without its leading scorer in the starting lineup. Chad Baker-Mazara, coming off a 29-point performance in USC’s win over Minnesota, spent the first four minutes of the game having his neck and shoulders stretched out on the sideline.
When he did check in, Baker-Mazara gave the Trojans an immediate spark with seven points in seven minutes. But that spark flickered out before long. Foul trouble forced USC to go 10-deep in the game’s first 15 minutes, as Maryland caught fire behind guard David Coit, who scored 19 before halftime.
Baker-Mazara never returned, instead spending the rest of the night sitting on the sideline. Turns out, USC did not need him. Not as Marsh led the way for a second-half USC onslaught and a much-needed victory.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Category: General Sports
