Trojans Wire discusses what went wrong for USC men’s basketball on national podcast

Injuries were a problem for USC this season, but the Trojans were struggling before the injuries hit really hard.

The USC men’s basketball team plays the Oregon schools this weekend. The Trojans enter the month of February with zero chance of getting an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. They have been fully eliminated in that pursuit. Their chances of winning the Pac-12 Tournament are slim to none, given that they will have to play in the first round and therefore win four games in four days. The season isn’t technically over, but it might as well be, given how much of a disaster this has been for USC and Andy Enfield.

What went wrong this season? Enfield will cite injuries, and that’s not irrelevant to the discussion. Boogie Ellis and Kobe Johnson missed games in November. USC lost to UC Irvine with the two players out. The Trojans couldn’t get into a rhythm, and it cost them. Injuries were a factor. That’s true.

However: Boogie Ellis and Kobe Johnson returned to the USC lineup in late November. The Trojans had Boogie, Kobe, Isaiah Collier, and Vince Iwuchukwu all on the floor and relatively healthy for the Oklahoma game on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Bronny James then joined the team a few weeks later against Long Beach State.

USC blew an eight-point second-half lead to Oklahoma. It blew a double-digit halftime lead at home to Long Beach State. Collier, Boogie, Kobe, and Iwuchukwu were all healthy when USC got blown out at Oregon State, 86-70, on December 30. This ship was sinking before Collier and Ellis absorbed new injuries which wrecked the team’s Pac-12 season. The Trojans were already a failed team with a bad resume before injuries pushed the team off a cliff.

Trojans Wire talked about Andy Enfield’s failure with this team on the College Basketball Coast to Coast podcast a few days ago.

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