Tag: Boogie Ellis

Boogie Ellis scores 28 points and USC closes out a victory over Arizona State

USC is improving before the Pac-12 Tournament. The Trojans are trying to build momentum.

The 2023-24 USC Trojans have shown a propensity to be very streaky. They often get out to an early lead in halves, only to squander their advantage down the stretch in each half. Thursday night against Arizona State, Boogie Ellis and USC played a game which was in line with much of their season. They did, however, manage to win as the Pac-12 Tournament approaches, beating ASU 81-73.

The Trojans actually started their slide earlier in the half against ASU and didn’t wait until the final minutes of the half. The Sun Devils went on a 16-2 run to erase USC’s early advantage created by Boogie’s eight points in the first several minutes of the game. USC got out to a 13-4 lead but couldn’t hold it when ASU fought back.

Boogie, though, would have the final say in this game. He kept scoring and finished with 28 points to power USC to an eight-point victory. This team, which has left a lot on the table, is making a real effort to play its best basketball in March with the hope of catching fire at next week’s Pac-12 Tournament. USC faces an uphill battle in terms of winning the tournament, but it also has to be said that no one (except maybe Arizona) wants to face this team in Las Vegas.

The Trojans are as healthy as they have been since early January when they swept the Bay area schools.

Next up for USC on Saturday is the final regular season game agasint the No. 5 Arizona Wildcats. USC has lost six straight contests to the Wildcats.

Kobe Johnson, who had 15 points against ASU, said after the game that the Trojans need to play smarter, take care of the ball, and not go for steals, which invites the possibility of giving up easy buckets and getting opposing teams to the free throw line.

If USC can finish plays — not just on offense, but on defense — this team might finally fulfill its potential and create some magic next week in Vegas.

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Boogie Ellis named top-10 candidate for 2024 Jerry West Award

Boogie Ellis has been a strong 3-point shooter this season.

USC senior guard Boogie Ellis was named a top-10 candidate for the 2024 Jerry West Award. The honor recognizes the top collegiate shooting guards. The top-10 list was announced by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Ellis, a fifth-year guard, led USC entering Thursday night’s game against Oregon with an 18.1 points per game average. He has averaged 4.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists in his first 16 games played this season. He also has made 45.3 percent of his 3-point attempts, which ranks seventh in the country.

Ellis currently ranks seventh all-time on USC’s career list of most 3-point baskets made, with 192. He is 23rd on the Trojans’ all-time scoring chart with 1,285 points scored as a Trojan preceding Thursday night’s game.

USC sits at a highly disappointing 8-13 on the season and will almost certainly miss the NCAA Tournament. Much as USC football didn’t make good use of Caleb Williams’ last season, the Trojans did not use Boogie Ellis’s final season well. Boogie deserved a lot better than what he got in 2024, but a future in pro basketball awaits, and he certainly shoots well enough to have a chance to stick in the NBA.

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Boogie Ellis starts hot but can’t repeat 2023 heroics vs UCLA in USC’s fifth straight loss

Boogie Ellis couldn’t carry USC with Isaiah Collier still injured.

Hoping for a revival of their stagnant offense, the USC Trojans entered the Galen Center on Saturday with a plan. They pinned their hopes against UCLA on the comeback of Boogie Ellis. When Ellis was unable to play in recent road games, along with freshman sensation Isaiah Collier, the simple fact of the matter is that USC’s offense collapsed. Missing their two primary ball-handlers and leading scorers has been disastrous for the Trojans’ hopes of making the NCAA Tournament.

Boogie, who was sidelined for three weeks due to a hamstring injury, came out against UCLA on fire. In the opening seven minutes of the game, he contributed eight of USC’s initial 10 points by making two 3-pointers and hitting a contested jump shot from the elbow.  However, this initial burst faded quickly, as he struggled to shake the rust off after missing the previous three games. Ellis finished the night going 3-10 from the floor and 2-5 beyond the arc. His eight points fell well short of his season average of 18.7 points per game. USC’s offense bogged down in a dispiriting 65-50 loss to UCLA.

Last year when UCLA visited the Galen Center, USC trailed by double digits in the first half as well, but the Trojans came back to win the game on Boogie Ellis’s 31 points, 27 coming during the second-half comeback.  The stage was set for an encore, but Ellis couldn’t get his sea legs back, which derailed any hopes of a Hollywood ending.

Andy Enfield’s squad has averaged 18.3 turnovers per game with Collier and Boogie out. Ellis’s return saw that number drop to eight against an aggressive Mick Cronin defense. Unfortunately, poor shooting in the paint, a 22-2 run by by the Bruins late in the first half, and giving up 17 second-chance points to the Bruins squandered that improvement.

The Trojans have now lost five straight games, dropping their record to 8-12 (2-7 in conference) and they are now in sole possession of last place in the Pac-12. Ellis and the Trojans hope to get back on track this Thursday at the Galen Center against the Oregon Ducks.

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USC’s Boogie Ellis named to 2024 Jerry West Award watch list

USC’s star guard is getting ready to Boogie this season.

USC shooting guard Boogie Ellis was named to the 2024 Jerry West Award watch list, which recognizes the top collegiate shooting guards in the country. The announcement was made by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

The annual award is named in honor of 1980 Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four MVP Jerry West, “The Logo” of the NBA and Zeke from Cabin Creek.

Ellis is a fifth-year guard. He led USC with a 17.7 points-per-game average last season and was named to the 2022-23 Pac-12 All-Conference First Team. He finished fourth in the Pac-12 in scoring and tied for first in 3-pointers made with 83.

The San Diego native was also second among Trojans with 46 steals and 102 assists.

Before USC, Ellis played in all 28 games for Memphis, averaging 10.2 points per game and being named AAC Co-Sixth Man of the Year.

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Oklahoma fans were right about Lincoln Riley, at least for this specific season.

USC assistants need to be coaching for their jobs.

Lincoln Riley did not assemble an elite 2023 roster, which surprised us and a lot of other observers.

Is USC ready to win in 2024 with Miller Moss or Malachi Nelson at quarterback? Lincoln Riley has to be honest about how he answers that question.

Brent Venables is coaching Oklahoma far better this year than Lincoln Riley is coaching USC. It’s up to Riley to change that reality.

College basketball expert notes how Boogie Ellis has overcome his early reputation as a player

Boogie Ellis has managed to shed the negative labels attached to him in the early stages of his college career.

We talked to national college basketball expert Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated about USC basketball. Sweeney had a lot to say about USC’s Boogie Ellis.

“The national landscape of college basketball tends to forget that Boogie Ellis averaged basically 18, 4 (rebounds) and 3 (assists) last year and did it at decent efficiency,” Sweeney began. “I think Boogie got somewhat of a bad rap early in his college career at Memphis because he came in so hyped with so much expectation. He looked like a chucker out there early in his career. He came in, the ball was not standing in his hands long. It was going up and the efficiency wasn’t there. He wore a lot of the Memphis struggles early under Penny (Hardaway). Again, was that fair or not? I don’t know that it was, but I think often the narrative gets cooked in the first two years of a guy’s career. People have forgotten that Boogie Ellis has turned himself into one of the better guards in college basketball, certainly one of the better returning players in the country.”

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Follow Fighting Irish Wire for more on Notre Dame.

Follow Buffaloes Wire for complete coverage of Deion Sanders and Colorado.

Follow Ducks Wire for coverage of Oregon football.

Oklahoma fans were right about Lincoln Riley, at least for this specific season.

USC assistants need to be coaching for their jobs.

Lincoln Riley did not assemble an elite 2023 roster, which surprised us and a lot of other observers.

Is USC ready to win in 2024 with Miller Moss or Malachi Nelson at quarterback? Lincoln Riley has to be honest about how he answers that question.

Brent Venables is coaching Oklahoma far better this year than Lincoln Riley is coaching USC. It’s up to Riley to change that reality.

Does it matter whether Isaiah Collier or Boogie Ellis is USC’s best player?

This is a fascinating debate for USC basketball watchers and fans.

Does USC need Isaiah Collier to be its best player, or is it fine if Boogie Ellis is the Trojans’ best player.

It’s not an easy question to answer. Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated talke to us about it.

“I do think for USC to reach its ceiling, Isaiah Collier has to be its best player, but the best player or most impactful player isn’t always the guy,” Sweeney told us. “Let’s say that Collier wins the postseason awards, right? Boogie Ellis could have a better year this year and put up worse numbers because he has Isaiah Collier and Kobe Johnson and hopefully a healthy Vince Iwuchukwu, right? That would be good for USC if Boogie Ellis doesn’t have to score 18, 19, 20 points a game. I think to that point, if this team has the year that people think they can have, I think a big reason why will be because Isaiah Collier comes in and makes everyone better. Yes, he’s able to score, yes, he’s able to pass, yes, he’s able to defend, yes, he’s able to run a team and lead.

“Because USC is going to put all of that on him, he’s their most important player and if they reach their ceiling, he’ll probably be their best player. But I think it’s certainly understandable why Boogie’s in that conversation among national player of the year for pundits. I think he is really good and has probably gotten undervalued a little bit nationally because of who he was early in his career.”

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Follow Fighting Irish Wire for more on Notre Dame.

Follow Buffaloes Wire for complete coverage of Deion Sanders and Colorado.

Follow Ducks Wire for coverage of Oregon football.

Oklahoma fans were right about Lincoln Riley, at least for this specific season.

USC assistants need to be coaching for their jobs.

Lincoln Riley did not assemble an elite 2023 roster, which surprised us and a lot of other observers.

Is USC ready to win in 2024 with Miller Moss or Malachi Nelson at quarterback? Lincoln Riley has to be honest about how he answers that question.

Brent Venables is coaching Oklahoma far better this year than Lincoln Riley is coaching USC. It’s up to Riley to change that reality.

Boogie Ellis needs to make unselfish decisions, and winning will help him do that

Boogie Ellis has to balance his natural instincts with a team-first approach.

We talked to college basketball expert Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated about USC basketball before this highly-anticipated season.

Sweeney discussed the balance Boogie Ellis will need to strike between looking for his own shot and deferring to Isaiah Collier within USC’s halfcourt offense.

“Yeah, it’s one of those problems that every coach wishes they had. Once they get it, then they’re like, oh, this isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. But yeah, I think it’s twofold. One, there’s a certain level of sacrifice that Boogie Ellis is going to have to make as a fifth-year senior,” Sweeney told us. “It is not his nature to pass up the ball, right? Yes, he is a score-first player, he always has been. I do think to a certain degree, yes, Isaiah Collier is more of a true point guard, but things trickle down from your veteran leadership. If Boogie Ellis is going to be a leader on his team, it’s going to require him to make decisions that aren’t necessarily fun for him or that aren’t necessarily the way he’s always played.

“Winning cures all ills, right? If they can beat Kansas State in the first week and then Gonzaga in December, if you win games like that, it all of a sudden gets pretty easy to say, oh, I’m going to keep the ball moving, I’m going to play my role. I don’t care if I score nine versus 13 points per game. I don’t care if I’m getting up eight shots versus 12. Those things are easily cured when you’re number eight in the country in the AP poll and everything’s rolling. At the end of the day, if this group can win early and build some buy-in together, I think it’ll be fine. I think if they struggle and they start to feel the weight of the expectation, that’s when things can get hairy and that’s when I think the real challenge for Andy Enfield would start.”

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Follow Fighting Irish Wire for more on Notre Dame.

Follow Buffaloes Wire for complete coverage of Deion Sanders and Colorado.

Follow Ducks Wire for coverage of Oregon football.

Oklahoma fans were right about Lincoln Riley, at least for this specific season.

USC assistants need to be coaching for their jobs.

Lincoln Riley did not assemble an elite 2023 roster, which surprised us and a lot of other observers.

Is USC ready to win in 2024 with Miller Moss or Malachi Nelson at quarterback? Lincoln Riley has to be honest about how he answers that question.

Brent Venables is coaching Oklahoma far better this year than Lincoln Riley is coaching USC. It’s up to Riley to change that reality.

USC basketball to play Seton Hall on Thanksgiving Day in new San Diego event

Boogie Ellis goes to his home town — San Diego — for a 2-day event. @HawkeyesWire and @SoonersWire will also be there!

USC basketball played in the Battle 4 Atlantis last season, the Thanksgiving hoops feast in The Bahamas. This season, the Trojans will play a lot closer to home at a neutral-site event on Thanksgiving weekend.

The Trojans will play the Seton Hall Pirates on Thanksgiving Day at the inaugural Rady Children’s Invitational, held in San Diego.

Our friends at Hawkeyes Wire picked up on the initial report from Jon Rothstein of College Hoops Today and CBS Sports:

“See you in San Diego! The Iowa Hawkeyes will reportedly face the Oklahoma Sooners in the inaugural Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego per Jon Rothstein of College Hoops Today.

“Rothstein reports that there is no timetable for an official announcement, but sources indicate that the event will be held during Thanksgiving weekend. The other two teams set to take part in the event are the USC Trojans and the Seton Hall Pirates.”

USC therefore gets to play two power-conference games in two days. It will play Iowa or Oklahoma on Friday, November 24. The Trojans are loading up on their nonconference schedule. They have already agreed to play Kansas State on November 6 and Gonzaga on December 2. Talented teams should challenge themselves out of conference, and the Trojans are doing just that.

This trip to San Diego means Boogie Ellis gets to go back to his home town for the holidays. He will enjoy playing in front of family and friends. The Trojans obviously hope the home cooking enables him to feast on USC’s opponents with Bronny James not yet able to play.

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USC basketball learned something very important on European summer tour

Lots of lessons were learned, but one stood above all others: #USC must push the pace and run the floor as much as it can.

The USC Trojans learned many lessons on their European summer tour in Greece and Croatia.

They learned how to play together. Players functioned in different lineup combinations. They were tested by European players with different skill sets and a lot of size. Sunday’s European tour finale against SC Derby was played in an arena which lacked air conditioning. The Trojans had to make a lot of adjustments over the past week. This was good for them, and we’ll hopefully see the results of this tour in November, when this hugely anticipated season begins. However, if one lesson stood out above all others, it should be very clear: USC needs to play at a fast pace.

This is the big takeaway from these three European games: USC has elite guards. The Trojans have one of the best backcourts in the country with Isaiah Collier and Boogie Ellis. If they get in the open floor before an opposing defense can set up in the halfcourt, the Trojans will put themselves in a position to succeed. Collier and Boogie can both push the ball. They can both finish strong at the basket.

Good things happened for USC on this European tour when the Trojans ran the floor off a miss. They didn’t finish every play, but they clearly saw how much easier it is when they don’t have to grind out halfcourt possessions. Previous Andy Enfield teams were not built to play this way and be an offense-first team, but this group is cut from a different cloth.

Past Enfield teams would like to play in the 60s and win by making the game hard for the opponent’s offense. This team will want to play in the 80s and 90s and win by making the game easier for itself.

Previous Enfield teams won ugly. This team needs to win with playmaking prowess and the ample talent it has on the court.

We’ll see how well the Trojans can apply that lesson this fall.

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National college basketball expert offers bold assessment of Boogie Ellis

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports thinks Boogie, not Isaiah Collier, should be preseason #Pac12 Player of the Year. That’s worth exploring.

CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein recently attended a USC basketball practice. Rothstein is high on the Trojans this season, as are we. This is a special roster (even if Bronny James isn’t able to play in the first several weeks of the season, or at any point in the season). This is a unique and rare chance for USC to become a big hitter in the Pac-12 and college basketball. Rothstein understands that.

Part of why USC has a chance to be great this season is the fact that Boogie Ellis has returned for one more year.

Rothstein is so high on Boogie because he’s hugely experienced and has already proved he can consistently score at the collegiate level.

Rothstein made the case that Boogie Ellis should be the preseason Pac-12 Player of the Year heading into November. Rothstein’s argument is as follows:

“It’s so rare that a player who averaged over 17 points per game after his fourth year opts to come back, but USC has that,” Rothstein said.

We’re not going to disagree with Rothstein, because his logic is sound. What we’re going to do is simply raise the question: Is Boogie Ellis being the Pac-12 Player of the Year the very best outcome for USC hoops?

If a USC player is POY and not an Arizona player, that in itself is very good news. It would likely mean the Trojans beat out the Wildcats for the Pac-12 championship. However, one could make the argument that USC will be its very best self — and will reach its absolute ceiling as a team — if Isaiah Collier is the best player on the team. Collier, not Boogie, is a lottery-pick-level talent. Collier will have the ball in his hands more. Collier will initiate more of the USC offense than Boogie will.

Maybe it’s better if Collier is the Pac-12 Player of the Year.

However, if Boogie — who, as Rothstein noted, is already a proven scorer — makes another big leap forward and elevates his game to another level, that would indicate that Collier is putting him in a position to succeed on a regular basis. It would mean that USC’s most gifted and natural scorer is a much better scorer than he was last year, maybe to the tune of 23 or 24 points per game.

If Boogie does average that many points per game, the only added detail to inquire about would be his efficiency. Is he getting 23 points on 15 shots, or 25? If he’s relatively efficient and scores in the mid-20s consistently, USC is going to reach its potential, or at least come very close to it, this coming season.

There’s really nothing wrong with Rothstein’s argument. His point merely raises a fascinating Boogie-or-Collier discussion which will continue to be a talking point when the season tips off on Nov. 6 against Kansas State.

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