Tag: Oziyah Sellers

USC guard Oziyah Sellers will enter the transfer portal as Trojans’ roster overhaul continues

The USC basketball roster continues to change with a second player transferring out of the program this week.

The roster changes just keep coming for USC basketball. We already know Isaiah Collier, Boogie Ellis, and Kobe Johnson are likely to depart for the pros. We already know that Kijani Wright has transferred out of the USC program. Now we have learned that USC guard Oziyah Sellers is also transferring. He has stated his intent to enter the transfer portal.

There will soon be a lot of gaps in the roster once Collier, Boogie, and Kobe make their expected decisions. Andy Enfield has some highly-touted recruits coming in, but with multiple players transferring out, that means even more roster spots will be open. Enfield will have to be ready to fill some roster slots with portal additions, and they will need to be splash hits, unlike D.J. Rodman, who did not have an especially strong season for the Trojans. USC needs portal hits such as Tahj Eaddy, Chevez Goodwin, and Drew Peterson, players who didn’t come to Los Angeles with great fanfare but who were hugely valuable to USC basketball. Enfield molded each of those players into winners. They helped USC reach great heights in 2021 (Eaddy) and 2022 (Goodwin, Peterson).

USC will have a dramatically different team next season as it enters the Big Ten. Enfield and his staff will have to work really hard to find good fits.

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Oziyah Sellers’ performance is a welcome sight for USC in win over Bakersfield

Oziyah Sellers gave USC a lift off the bench.

The USC Trojans entered Thursday’s game against Cal State Bakersfield without Bronny James, Vincent Iwuchukwu, and Kobe Johnson. A year ago, that would have been a crushing blow for this team, but things are different this time.

On Thursday, Isaiah Collier led the team in scoring, but it was Oziyah Sellers who made a statement. He gave Andy Enfield a tough decision to make on how many minutes to give him once everyone is healthy later in the season.

Sellers was second on the team with 16 points on 6-9 shooting from the field with four rebounds and three assists. This was a huge performance which created a smooth night for USC in an 85-59 win which was never close..

Sellers also received some preseason hype from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. The sophomore guard from Northern California didn’t wait long to make his presence felt.

In the opener against Knasas State, Sellers played just 16 minutes and had three points on 1-5 shooting from the field. On Thursday, one notable stat was his bagel: zero fouls.

If Andy Enfield and the Trojans can get these performances from bench players such as Sellers, this team will go a long, long way this season. It was a step in the right direction, and with games against UC Irvine and Brown coming up, we could see more minutes for Sellers and others as Enfield figures out how to tinker with the rotation.

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USC basketball will need Oziyah Sellers and other bench players to step up

This is important.

The USC Trojans began their season with a Monday night win against the Kansas State Wildcats in Las Vegas. The Trojans scored a valuable victory, although Kansas State suffered a hit with Nae’Qwan Tomlin being suspended following an arrest.

The win should still look very good for USC as the season goes along. The Trojans not only look like an NCAA Tournament team; they look like a highly-seeded NCAA Tournament team.

There are plenty of names on USC’s team to look out for. Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports and College Hoops Today revealed 25 under-the-radar breakout players and put Oziyah Sellers on the list. Here’s what Rothstein wrote about Sellers:

“Sellers only scored a total of 28 points last season, but has a chance to carve out a role for the Trojans because of his shotmaking ability. The 6-5 wing could be a major weapon for USC as a floor spacing reserve alongside Isaiah Collier and Boogie Ellis. Sellers is a potential X-Factor to monitor at the Galen Center. ”

Sellers is a sophomore who played sparingly in his freshman year, appearing in 23 games but averaging just 1.2 PPG. His best output came against Cal when he scored 11 points on 4-4 shooting from the field with a pair of 3-pointers. As Rothstein mentions, there is a lot to like about him.

USC needs to get something from Sellers and its other bench players in the coming weeks. Bronny James and Vince Iwuchukwu are unavailable. Boogie Ellis and Isaiah Collier will need help. They also need to get ample rest so that they aren’t overextended. When USC gets into Pac-12 play in January, the stars need to be fresh. Sellers and the bench have to play significant minutes in November and December and show they can improve. If they do, USC will have a much deeper roster when Pac-12 play arrives. Sellers needs to be good for USC to raise its ceiling.

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Oziyah Sellers shines for USC in victory over Cal

Sellers gave USC a boost vs Cal with 8 points on 3-3 shooting in the first half. This is what Andy Enfield needs from his bench.

The USC Trojans did exactly what they were supposed to do against Cal and more. The Trojans bounced back from two losses last week and crushed the Golden Bears, 97-60, on Thursday night.

USC scored 50 points in the first half alone, just eight less than they scored in the entire game against Oregon State last Saturday.

One of the bright spots was freshman guard Oziyah Sellers. He finished the game with 11 points on 4-4 shooting from the field. He scored 8 points in the first half on 3-3 shooting to give USC a much-needed offensive boost.

This was also the most minutes Sellers has played all season long, and he left a mark on the entire roster. He was one of four Trojans to finish the game in double figures as a scorer.

With Joshua Morgan and Reese Dixon-Waters still on the sideline, the Trojans needed some help from the bench, and Sellers delivered.

Drew Peterson (30 points) and Boogie Ellis (22 points) led the way and almost outscored Cal on their own.

Nonetheless, with two ugly losses last week, it was refreshing to see the Trojans get some help from other reserves. They will need every bit of it when the Pac-12 Tournament arrives, and hopefully, the NCAA Tournament thereafter.

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One key flaw for USC this season: offensive threats can’t stay on the floor very long

People inside the USC program marveled at Oziyah Sellers’ shooting ability, but he can’t find minutes because he hasn’t developed enough on defense.

USC has needed a knockdown shooter for a long time. Tahj Eaddy wasn’t an elite shooter, but he did hit a lot of very important perimeter shots in big moments for the 2021 USC team which reached the Elite Eight.

Having one guy who can hit important jump shots means so much to the Trojans, since they build their teams around a big man who can tend to so many details on defense and the glass. Opponents focus on containing the big man and unavoidably force USC to play through the perimeter to win games. If USC has the marksman who can stick 3-pointers, the Trojans’ ceiling rises considerably.

USC has a few players on this team who have notable potential as game-changing shooters: Harrison Hornery, Oziyah Sellers, and Malik Thomas. Of the three, Thomas has shown the most as an “instant offense” sparkplug this season. Hornery had a few brief moments of brilliance last season. Sellers impressed everyone as an elite shooter in high school. Andy Enfield marveled at his shooting ability before this season began.

Saturday night against Utah, the three players combined for a total of 10 minutes played. Thomas played seven, and Hornery and Sellers made very brief appearances that didn’t amount to anything.

One could make the point that on a night when USC hit 7 of 16 3-pointers — unusually good for the Trojans — the team didn’t need its shooters. Narrowly, that’s probably true. However, it still can’t be viewed as a good sign that the Trojans don’t have these players playing 10 to 12 minutes per game on a consistent basis. If they were integrated more fully into the lineup and the flow of the season, the chance for any of them to deliver a big performance at some point would be much higher. It’s hard to play minimal minutes and then be expected to make significant contributions. If these guys were getting 12 minutes every night, more would be asked of them.

It’s clear that Thomas, Hornery and Sellers can’t get extended minutes because Enfield doesn’t think they’re ready at the defensive end of the floor. USC would give up too much on defense to warrant playing these guys for what they can deliver on offense. If the Trojans can somehow change this particular equation in the coming weeks, they might find the extra measure of quality which can give them the high-end wins they need to change the outlook for their season.

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