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    Game Day Essentials: Game #19 vs USC

      Nebraska Cornhuskers (12-6) vs Southern California Trojans (11-7)

       

      Date: Wednesday Jan. 22th, 2025

      Time: 8:00 pm CST
      Arena:  PBA

      Broadcast:  BTN

    USC Info

    Southern California Trojans Logo

     

    Head Coach: Eric Musselman (1st year)
    Location: Los Angeles, CA
    Conference: B1G 10
    Nickname: Trojans
    Mascots: Traveler (Horse)

    Line: Nebraska by 6

    Typical Rotation Depth: 7+

    KenPom rank: 68

    Clothes not to wear: Gold, armor

    Halftime Promotion: Brooke Neilson Balancing Act (Is this a reboot of the Amazing Sladek?)

    Nota bene:  

    • Nebraska now as five 1,000 point scorers on the roster: Brice Williams, Rienk Mast, Rollie Worster, Andrew Morgan and Juwan Gary
    • Eric Musselman utilizes the transfer portal as much as anyone in D-1 basketball.  This roster has 10 transfers.
    • USC and Nebraska both faced St Mary's, both teams losing on neutral courts
    • This will be a matchup of former NBA coaches as Musselman coached Golden State and Sacramento
    • USC assistant Quincy Pondexter was Braxton Meah's AAU coach. Additionally, his sister was Meah's legal guardian while his parents were in Japan for work
    • The all-time series between Nebraska and USC is tied at 5-5 thanks to Doc Sadler beating USC 4 consecutive years in a row during the Kevin O'Neill era at USC

     

    Player to watch: Desmond Claude

    The Xavier transfer operates as the main distributor in this offense that doesn't play a PG nor rarely a center. Claude gets to the line a lot and has a reliable mid-range shot. Hopefully he's not too Terrance Shannon for the Nebraska defense

     

    Player to watch: Saint Thomas

    The Omaha native and Northern Colorado transfer is nearly a clone of Claude. While he doesn't get to the FT line nearly as much, he leads the team in rebounds, assists, and steals. Thomas held John Tonje to 0 points.

     

    Player to watch: Chibuzo Agbo

    Agbo is USC's primary 3pt threat by volume, having taken almost almost as many 3s as Connor Essegian and is hitting at at 38.3% clip.

     

    USC's Roster

    Player # Class Pos Height Weight Summary
    Desmond Claude 1 JR G 6-5 207 16.0 Pts 3.8 Reb 4.1 Ast
    Chibuzo Agbo 7 SR G 6-7 215 12.4 Pts 4.7 Reb 1.6 Ast
    Saint Thomas 0 SR F 6-7 200 11.0 Pts 6.1 Reb 4.1 Ast
    Wesley Yates 6 FR G 6-4 200 10.7 Pts 2.4 Reb 1.4 Ast
    Josh Cohen 33 SR F 6-10 220 7.8 Pts 2.4 Reb 1.5 Ast
    Rashaun Agee 12 SR F 6-7 210 5.8 Pts 3.2 Reb 0.8 Ast
    Terrance Williams 5 SR F 6-7 240 10.6 Pts 4.6 Reb 0.9 Ast
    Kevin Patton 8 SO G 6-8 197 3.8 Pts 1.6 Reb 0.6 Ast
    Matt Knowling 3 SR F 6-5 195 3.8 Pts 2.7 Reb 1.5 Ast
    Isaiah Elohim 2 FR G 6-5 200 1.8 Pts 0.9 Reb 0.3 Ast
    Clark Slajchert 32 SR G 6-1 170 1.5 Pts 0.5 Reb 0.8 Ast
    Jalen Shelley 9 FR F 6-8 190 1.1 Pts 0.9 Reb 0.3 Ast
    Bryce Pope 4 SR G 6-3 185 1.1 Pts 0.6 Reb 0.0 Ast

     

    Other Roster

     

    Freshman Wesley Yates and his shooting ability have been a fixture in the starting lineup since Dec 7th. He's shooting 37% for 3 on the year, 50% in conference. Rashaun Agee is playing as USC's center for the most minutes over the last several games, is a rebounding force on both ends. Starting center Josh Cohen has a Meah like role where he starts and plays a random number of minutes. During his career he's been efficient inside against lesser opponents but has a hard time converting in the B1G; both center types are foul prone. Kevin Patton is a pogo stick 4 who can hit from the outside, also foul prone. Matt Knowling and Terrance Williams, both major rotation pieces at one point, are out.

    UNL Game Notes

     

    Roster/infirmary report

     

     

    Possible starters for Nebraska

    3    Guard    Brice Williams     6-7    214 lbs    Senior

    0    Guard    Connor Essegian     6-4    190 lbs    Junior

    4    Forward    Juwan Gary     6-6    226 lbs    Senior

    2    Guard    Ahron Ulis     6-3    190 lbs    Senior

    34    Center    Braxton Meah     7-1    264 lbs    Senior

     

    Bench

    9    Forward    Berke Büyüktuncel     6-10    244 lbs   

    24    Guard    Rollie Worster     6-5    210 lbs    Senior

    1    Guard    Sam Hoiberg     6-0    185 lbs    Junior

    23    Forward    Andrew Morgan     6-10    242 lbs    Senior 

    31    Guard    Cale Jacobsen     6-4    195 lbs    Sophomore

    12    Guard    Gavin Griffiths     6-7    193 lbs    Sophomore

    5    Forward    Braden Frager     6-7    220 lbs    Freshman
    8    Guard    Jeffrey Grace III     6-3    200 lbs    Junior
    20    Forward    Justin Bolis     6-8    225 lbs    Sophomore
    25    Guard    Nick Janowski     6-4    208 lbs    Freshman

    35    Forward    Henry Burt     6-7    222 lbs    Sophomore

     

    Out for year
    51    Forward    Rienk Mast     6-10    260 lbs    Senior

     

    Fred Hoiberg Presser

    Fred notes Ahron Ulis performance vs Maryland, says that a couple of rotation players are questionable, and 

     

     

    The Skinny: 

    College basketball jobs are often a series of dominos. Last year, SMU fired Rob Lanier as they looked to jump to the ACC. They ended up hiring USC coach Andy Enfield who had just gone through the circus act of posting a losing season with Bronny James. USC decided to hit up career scene changer Eric Musselman who had stayed in Arkansas long enough for his liking.  Musselman is from nowhere and from everywhere, the son of a well-travelled college and NBA coach Bill Musselman.

     

    This USC roster is comprised mostly of transfers like most any other Eric Musselman roster of previous years.  It's a versatile roster of interchangeable defenders though its lack of size does limit its ability to defend inside. The defense is currently constructed to leave it up to you to defeat yourself with bad passes and dumb plays, something Nebraska has been notorious for this season. As long as the Huskers can keep their composure, there are plenty of free points to be generated at the FT line against several of the foul prone Trojans.  USC is chaos for better or for worse.

     

    Offensively USC has preferred to work into the paint where they'll draw plenty of contact. It certainly would not be out of the realm of possibilities for the Trojans to completely change their identity for this game and fire away from 3.

     

    For the most part the Trojans have been front runners; if you can get to them early its not likely they will be able to come back.  They also seem to go as Desmond Claude goes...if he's having a bad night most likely so is USC.

     

    We've almost made it to the conclusion of this writeup and haven't mentioned Nebraska much.  Currently in a 4 game skid, Nebraska might be looking at a starting lineup change simply because Fred Hoiberg might not have a player or two available.  Like most every home game this season, a win here represents one less road win in conference required to attempt to make the NCAA tournament.

     

    Prediction: Nebraska 77 - USC 70




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