The USC road trip to Eugene on Thursday did not work out well.
It wasn’t likely to work out well, not with Reese Dixon-Waters and Joshua Morgan both out of the lineup due to injuries. If they were both unable to play on Thursday, it’s unlikely they would be rushed into the lineup on Saturday at Oregon State. It’s more likely they would return next week for the Stanford-Cal homestand.
USC has to get through Saturday’s game at Oregon State with a shorter bench, against a team which almost beat the Trojans in December. Oregon State had an 11-point lead in that game before Kobe Johnson rescued the Trojans and staved off a disastrous loss.
Oregon State gets one more chance to destroy USC’s NCAA Tournament resume. This is the kind of bubble game a bubble team has to win: on the road against a bad team itching to play spoiler. If USC can get a win on Saturday, no one will remember the Oregon loss, and the Trojans will remain on course for the NCAA Tournament.
If they do lose, they’ll have to win five of their last six games and won’t have much margin for error.
If there is good news for USC going into Corvallis, it is that Vince Iwuchukwu played only 13 minutes versus Oregon in Eugene. He should be fresh and able to play 20 to 25 high-impact minutes. USC needs him and the other starters to play a sharp, focused game.
The Trojans can’t afford to lose this one.
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