4-star USC commit Trent Perry scores 42 in Harvard-Westlake quarterfinals win

Trent Perry, a top-tier point guard prospect committed to USC, scored 42 in Harvard-Westlake’s playoff win.

USC men’s basketball is struggling to push through a variety of injuries this season and continue winning after three straight years of NCAA tournament appearances and high expectations entering the season. Near the bottom of the Pac-12, the program’s scouting department must have been watching the Harvard-Westlake regional semifinals game on Saturday with a gleam in their eye.

Trent Perry, a four-star point guard committed to the Trojans, put up 42 points and made important free throws at the end of the game to lead the Wolverines to a 73-72 win over Carlsbad and secure an appearance in the regional finals.

According to Dan Lovi with the LA Daily News, Perry had 29 points in the second half. He also had seven rebounds and five assists in the game, according to the outlet.

Harvard-Westlake’s next game will be against Roosevelt, a team the Wolverines beat less than two weeks ago to win the CIF Southern Section Open Division championship. Their upcoming matchup will be on Tuesday: the State Open Division semifinals.

Perry, who is listed at 6-foot-4 and 175 pounds, will look to show out once again.

This season, USC has not lived up to expectations after returning multiple starters and recruiting elite prospects Isaiah Collier and Bronny James. A large part of that is due to injuries — Collier and veterans Boogie Ellis and Joshua Morgan have missed significant time this season, throwing rotations into flux.

With Perry, ranked the No. 38 player and No. 5 point guard on the 247Sports rankings, leading a Trojans recruiting class that also includes three-star power forward Brody Kozlowski and three-star shooting guard Liam Campbell, USC will hope to finish this season by showing progress in the conference tournament, and then pick it up next year in the Big Ten with some new talent.

USC basketball commit is invited to McDonald’s All-American Game

A USC commit enters the basketball spotlight in early April.

Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper lead the way among the high school stars ready to make a name for themselves at the McDonald’s All-American Game. The boys’ rosters were revealed earlier this week, ahead of the prestigious annual showcase in April. One of the other top names invited to the showcase was USC commit Trent Perry.

The Harvard-Westlake standout has a scout grade of 89/100 and is ranked No. 26 on ESPN’s list of top 100 prospects. During his junior season, Perry averaged 16 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, which earned him offers from some of the top schools: Duke, UConn, Notre Dame, Stanford, UCLA, and Virginia.

The McDonald’s All-American Game, which will be televised on ESPN, takes place April 2 at the Toyota Center in Houston at 8 p.m. Central time, 9 Eastern and 6 Pacific. It will be played after the girls’ edition of the same game, which starts at 5:30 p.m. Central time (6:30 Eastern, 3:30 Pacific) on ESPN2. Tickets are available at mcdaag.com.

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While USC basketball prepares for this season, it is building for next season

Andy Enfield is making progress in building next season’s roster.

Trent Perry of Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles committed to USC several days ago.

The local product and four-star recruit had this to say on staying home in Southern California:

“It’s close to home, represent the hometown team and I can just be myself,” he said. “The coaches really believe in me and we can make a big impact on the Big Ten.” Perry told 247Sports.

Perry chose the Trojans over a final six that included Stanford, Gonzaga, Oregon, Colorado and TCU.

Perry is ranked No. 42 overall in the ESPN 100 for the 2024 class. He is rated as the No. 10 point guard.

In 23 games with Vegas Elite on the Nike EYBL circuit last spring and summer, Perry averaged 12.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists.

Trent Perry is the second commitment in the 2024 class for USC men’s basketball, joining Top 100 guard Liam Campbell.

Andy Enfield had previously struggled to land point guards on the trail, but now he has a winning streak with Isaiah Collier and now Trent Perry.

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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 against Utah and into November.

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 against Utah.