Tag: DJ Rodman

USC men’s basketball remains undefeated in March with a victory over No. 5 Arizona

USC won the last Pac-12 men’s basketball regular-season game and did so against a top-10 team.

The USC Trojans came into the final game of the regular season with a chance to improve their record to 14-17, and 8-12 in  Pac-12 games. All they had to do was beat the first-place team in the conference and the No. 5 team in the nation, the Arizona Wildcats. USC had surrendered the last six meetings to the Wildcats, including an 82-67 loss in Tucson back in January.  This previous game was played without USC’s two leading scores and primary ball handlers, Boogie Ellis and Isaiah Collier.

USC got the upset victory on Saturday night. It was the first time the Trojans have beaten a team in the top five since a 2008 road victory at their crosstown rivals, the No. 4 UCLA Bruins, at Pauley Pavillion. Isaiah Collier had a solid game (16 points and five assists). D.J. Rodman also had another productive night, setting a season-high with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting while grabbing 7 rebounds to lead the team in both categories.  Rodman’s relentless motor and his near perfect shooting propelled the Trojans to a double-digit lead.  

USC’s defense was the difference. The Men of Troy held Arizona’s talented offense, which boasts the second-highest points per game average in the country (90.4 ppg), in check. The Trojans were especially effective in limiting the production of Arizona’s talented backcourt trio of Kylan Boswell, Pelle Larsson, and Caleb Love, who managed to score only 12 points combined. Love, who is fourth in the conference in scoring with an average of 19.63 points per game, was held to just two points throughout the night.

Kobe Johnson, a junior guard for USC, had a standout performance, contributing 19 points, 4 assists, and 6 steals (23 steals in his last six games).

After the game Johnson explained USC’s plan on how to slow down Love and the high-scoring Arizona offense:

“Every time we play Arizona, we know it’s gonna be a physical, physical game, so we knew  coming into it right away that we needed to be the more physical team. The game plan the whole week, so we did focus a lot on Caleb Love because we know how good of a player he is and how good he can be. So we tried to pressure him, trying to make them take some tough shots, which I think we did perfectly. So I think we all follow the game plan exactly how we should have and I think the results show for themselves,” Johnson said.

USC had a season-high 15 steals in the game, reaching double-digit steals for the ninth time this season. Arizona struggled to find a shooting rhythm against USC’s formidable defense, scoring only 65 points and shooting just 38.7% from the field, which is the Wildcats’ second-lowest shooting percentage and its low point total of the season.

Stat of the game: The Wildcats had 14 offensive rebounds — led by rebounding machine Oumar Ballo — but had only two second chance points on the night.

USC has won four of its last five games and five of its last seven to finish ninth in the Pac-12. They will face the Washington Huskies  (17-14, 9-11), the No. 8 seed in the conference, on Wednesday, March 13, in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.

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USC’s DJ Rodman signs NIL deal

D.J. Rodman enters the NIL space.

NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman’s 22-year-old son is D.J. Rodman. The younger Rodman, who is currently a senior a USC, signed a new deal with Crocs.

“I want to stand out in a way that no one else feels comfortable doing. I think Crocs really represent myself, that’s why I love them. They’re my favorite shoe, hands down.”

Rodman is part of a USC men’s basketball team which defeated UCLA on Saturday night in Pauley Pavilion. The win snapped a seven-game road losing streak for USC, which was able to earn a split of the season series with UCLA. The Trojans have two more weeks of games before the Pac-12 Tournament.

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The brand’s 2024 NIL class has a diverse roster of six of the best athletes in the country including:

Frederick Richard (Gymnastics) from the University of Michigan, Janiah Barker (Basketball) from Texas A&M, Jared McCain (Basketball) from Duke University, Mackenzie Mgbako (Basketball) from the Indiana University, DJ Rodman (Basketball) from the University of Southern California, and Grace McCallum (Gymnastics) from the University of Utah.

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Poor rebounding by Trojans spoils Isaiah Collier’s return in gut-wrenching OT loss to Cal

Cal got too many extra possessions. That’s the story from Berkeley.

Porous rebounding by the USC Trojans and clutch shooting from the Cal Golden Bears ruined Isaiah Collier’s comeback effort in an 83-77 overtime loss in Berkeley. The Trojans are 0-3 in games decided by six points or fewer and 0-2 in overtime games this season.

Collier was back for the first time in six games after injuring his hand against Washington State on January 10. In his absence, the Trojans missed his ability to drive the ball, challenge defenses inside and get to the free throw line.

Scoreless at the half, Isaiah Collier scored 17 points in the second half to erase a 16-point USC deficit and take the game to overtime.

In front of an announced sold-out crowd at Haas Pavilion, Collier put the offense on his back down the stretch, drawing fouls almost every time he drove the lane. After missing his first two free throw attempts in the first half, he was 12-14 from the line after halftime.  Unfortunately, the rest of the team shot just 3 of 8 from the charity stripe on the night.

After the Oregon State game in which the Trojans were plus-20 on the glass, the Trojans thought they had solved the rebounding woes that plagued them during their six-game losing streak in January, but they were wrong. Cal outrebounded the Trojans 54-27.  USC’s defense held the Bears to just 25 points in the second half, but poor rebounding — Cal had a 19-5 offensive rebounding advantage — gave the Bears extra possessions. Fardaws Aimaq dominated inside with 20 rebounds and USC as a team had only 27.

Cal was led by Jaylon Tyson’s double-double. He scored 27 points, shot 4 of 5 beyond the arc, and added 11 rebounds. Tyson, Jalen Cone, and Jale Celestine shot 59% — 11 of 18 — from the 3-point line.  The Bears hit four contested treys with the shot clock winding down in the second half and overtime to neutralize the Trojans’ smothering defense in the paint — the last triple from Cone in OT was the dagger.

D.J. Rodman has scored 31 points over the last two games.  His 17 points off the bench were crucial as Boogie Ellis continues to struggle after returning from a hamstring injury. Rodman was 3 of 4 on 3-point attempts during the game, but he saw his last triple go halfway down and bounce out with the Trojans trailing by four late in overtime to seal the game for the Bears.

On Saturday, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, USC will face the Stanford Cardinal at Maples Pavilion in an attempt to earn a split of the Bay Area road trip.

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DJ Rodman answers Andy Enfield’s challenge and solidifies his role on the team

D.J. Rodman answered Andy Enfield’s challenge. USC finally showed it could fight back and show some backbone.

On Thursday night, USC suffered a 78-69 loss to the Oregon Ducks, marking the Trojans’ sixth consecutive defeat. In the aftermath of the game, USC head coach Andy Enfield expressed his disappointment and frustration regarding the team’s lack of rebounding, particularly from his big men.

Coach Enfield made it clear that he expected a significant improvement in this area moving forward. Enfield did not mince words when he spelled it out after the game:

“Rebounding, our four bigs are not very good defensive rebounders and in fact are poor, and you can’t keep playing 15-20-25 minutes a game and having zero or one defensive rebound and so that really hurts us,” he said. “Arizona hurt us on the boards, UCLA crushed us on their offensive rebounds. Even when you play great defense, 36% tonight we held them, they had 17 offensive rebounds. Our four bigs are just not that good at defensive rebounding and they have to get better.“

He went on to explain that the Trojans have been led by great big men on the boards since he arrived at Troy. Clearly outlining his expectations, he emphasized the qualities he sought in his big men: “toughness, pursuit of the ball, and you have to have a desire [to secure rebounds].” He listed both Mobley brothers, Onyeka Okongwu, Nick Rakocevic, and Chimezie Metu, but singled out Chevez Goodwin as the toughest rebounder he has ever coached.

Two days after the Oregon loss, Enfield had something different to say.

In the postgame press conference after the Trojans’ 82-54 victory over Oregon State that snapped a six-game losing skid, Enfield talked about challenging 6-6, 225-pound forward D.J. Rodman before tip-off.

“We made a goal to get double-digit rebounds, which he did,” said Enfield, “That was impressive. I thought he was extremely active, he looked athletic, he boxed out, and he made some really great plays for his teammates.”

Rodman had started the first 20 games for the Trojans, but he was held out of the starting lineup for the second game in a row. He came off the bench to post a double-double, scoring 12 points, grabbing a season-high 14 rebounds (with 5 offensive boards).

The fifth-year graduate transfer from Washington State talked about his focus and his role on the team. Rodman explained, “These past however many games in the [Pac-12], I’ve been focusing on rebounding more. I’m not a high volume scorer — as everyone knows, I take what’s given to me — but one place I could make a difference was rebounding. I feel like I’m a pretty good rebounder. I haven’t had 10 rebounds in a long time. So, that was all I was trying to do. Rebounding is one of those things where I can make an impact and hopefully impact the whole game.”

In basketball, rebounding and the name Rodman go hand in hand. D.J.’s father, NBA great Dennis Rodman, led the NBA in rebounding seven straight seasons from 1992-1998. He was known for his relentless motor and hustle.  We saw a lot of his father’s game against the Beavers from D.J. —  diving on the floor for a loose ball, drawing two charges, and getting five offensive rebounds — but one thing is for certain: D.J. is the much better shooter than his dad.

The Trojans face the University of California in Berkeley on Thursday night.  The Bears are coming off an 81-66 win over Arizona State and they have won three of their last four games.  The game tips off at 8 p.m. Pacific time on the Pac-12 Network.

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DJ Rodman’s 3-point shooting highlights easy USC victory

DJ Rodman needs to hit perimeter shots for USC to be the best.

The USC Trojans were never threatened or tested by the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners on Thursday night. The Trojans rolled to an easy 85-59 win over Bakersfield in the Galen Center. It was a sign of a team which clearly has more — and better — weapons than previous USC squads.

In past seasons, USC would have had at least one bad 10-minute stretch against an opponent of Bakersfield’s caliber. The Trojans either would have started slowly or allowed Bakersfield to hang around longer than it should have. In this game, USC didn’t feed its opponent’s confidence at the start of the game, and it didn’t allow the opponent to get back into the game. This was a shutdown for 40 minutes. Good teams handle buy games with this level of steadiness and poise.

Among the standouts for USC in the 26-point win was D.J. Rodman. The forward who transferred from Washington State hit 3 of 4 3-pointers and all four free throws. Rodman finished with 15 points on a nigh when five Trojans scored anywhere from 11 to 19 points.

If Rodman is providing role-player scoring and is hitting perimeter jumpers, USC becomes a much better team. Let’s hope Rodman continues to find the touch from long range.

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DJ Rodman earns praise from college basketball insider

This is such an important piece of the puzzle for USC.

The USC Trojans men’s basketball team is ranked in the top 25 to begin the season, and the status of Bronny James is still up in the air. But, the return of Boogie Ellis, the addition of five-star recruit Isaiah Collier, and so many other moves have the Trojans in position to achieve at a high level.

Washington State transfer D.J. Rodman is a big piece of the puzzle, and Jon Rothstein of College Hoops Today and CBS Sports mentioned Rodman as one of his top glue guys to watch for this upcoming season.

“The Trojans haven’t had a classic ‘Glue Guy’ in recent years, but Rodman should fit the bill,” Rothstein wrote. “The son of former NBA star Dennis Rodman, DJ Rodman has the requisites to be a missing piece for USC at power forward. A transfer from Washington State, the 6-6 Rodman averaged 9.6 points and 5.8 rebounds last season.”

Rodman should give a big boost to the Trojans. He is familiar with the Pac-12 from his Washington State days, and he is the son of Dennis Rodman.

But, with all of the pieces the Trojans have, it will be important for Rodman to find his role and be a glue guy.

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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.

D.J. Rodman’s role this season with USC basketball should be very clear

There shouldn’t be any ambiguity for D.J. Rodman in terms of knowing what he has to do on the court.

We talked to college basketball expert Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated about USC basketball. When discussing D.J. Rodman’s role on the Trojan roster this coming season, Sweeney was clear in pinning down the forward’s role:

“I think it’s three and D as much as anything,” Sweeney began. “He shot it a little better than I anticipated he would last year. To make over 50 threes at a 38% clip is a big-time 3-point shooter in college basketball. If that translates again, he’ll be really good. We will look back and say that was an undervalued addition to this USC roster to get a guy like that a little on the later side in the portal. The thing that stands out when you look at D.J. just analytically, he’s always been a very efficient player. He doesn’t need to take a ton of shots to impact the game offensively. Again, that’s something USC really needs, right?”

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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.

D.J. Rodman could be the glue guy for this USC basketball team

D.J. Rodman might be the puzzle piece which enables all of his USC teammates to find a comfort zone.

College basketball expert Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated talked to us about USC basketball. Sweeney made a very important and central point about D.J. Rodman.

“There’s only one ball on the floor and we’re going to talk a lot about how much Boogie Ellis is going to need the ball and how much Isaiah Collier is going to need the ball,” Sweeney told us. “Oh by the way, Kobe Johnson and maybe Bronny James (exist too). They need someone who is willing to be opportunistic and never need his number called. D.J. Rodman probably can fit that role as well as anyone. As long as he’s bought into that, which history would suggest he should be, that’s a really impactful addition for USC. Now, can he rebound at a high enough clip? That’s a good question. Especially if he’s going to play the four a lot, how good a defender will he be? I think there’s certain things that are attached to him because of his last name about what he should be as a rebounder and a defender that haven’t always been backed up on film, but he has all the tools to be a very good defender and be a good undersized four man as a rebounder. He’s just got to do it consistently. If he does, I think he has a chance to make a pretty big impact, even if he’s only scoring six, seven points a game.”

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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.

D.J. Rodman gets DeMar DeRozan’s blessing to wear jersey No. 10 at USC

It’s quite a gesture for DeMar to allow D.J. Rodman to wear No. 10. Remember: Dennis Rodman wore No. 10 in the NBA.

The USC Trojans men’s basketball team has a ton of new faces this season, with Isaiah Collier and Bronny James being the most notable.

Washington State transfer D.J. Rodman is another big name. He is the son of NBA legend Dennis Rodman. With both Bronny and Collier choosing their jersey numbers, now Rodman has his: No. 10.

However, Chicago Bulls star and Trojan legend DeMar DeRozan gave Rodman his blessing to wear the jersey even though that number is retired at the Galen Center. It was and is a classy move.

Rodman is just one of a notable number of players to come to USC, although they lost some talent with Drew Peterson leaving for the NBA’s Miami Heat and Reese Dixon-Waters going to San Diego State.

Nonetheless, the Trojans team has a lot of talent, and Rodman should be a significant contributor after an impressive run with the Cougars. Now, he gets to wear DeRozan’s number, which is quite the show of respect from the NBA All-Star.

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One specific detail to remember about D.J. Rodman, the newest USC Trojan

It is worth remembering what D.J. Rodman did when he faced #USC last season as a Washington State Cougar.

As you know by now, D.J. Rodman, the son of Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman, revealed his intention to transfer to USC for his fifth and final season of college basketball. He made the announcement on social media.

“All these ups and downs, lefts and rights led me to Fight On,” he said on Instagram.

D.J Rodman averaged 9.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game for Washington State last season while shooting 38.1% beyond the arc in 31.5 minutes per game. It was his fourth season in the WSU program and his first as a full-time starter.

USC is adding D.J. Rodman to a lineup which has five-star guards Isaiah Collier and Bronny James. The Trojans have an absolutely loaded team.

With leading scorer and possible (2024) NBA first-round pick Boogie Ellis coming back for one more year, USC has significantly upgraded its roster. The Trojans also have starter Kobe Johnson and regular rotational big man Josh Morgan coming back from a team that finished 22-11 with a berth in the NCAA Tournament. These pieces, added together, are substantial, giving 11th-year coach Andy Enfield the core roster he needs to compete for a Pac-12 title and a Final Four berth next season.

As you keep all of these details in mind, it’s worth noting one more detail about Rodman himself: He scored 16 points versus USC on January 1 when he was with Washington State last season. Washington State had success shooting 3-pointers against USC. The Cougars spaced the floor and were not an easy matchup for USC’s defense. Rodman now brings his floor-spacing ability to USC’s offense, all while bringing toughness and rebounding ability on defense. He really is a superb addition to a roster which needed someone with his precise skill set.

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