Eric Musselman "overly concerned" about USC's defensive rebounds after a close 75-69 win against Idaho State
The USC men's basketball team improved to 2-0 with a 75-69 victory over Idaho State on Thursday night at the Galen Center in Los Angeles. It was not in ideal fashion, however.
The Trojans had solid displays from Josh Cohen, Saint Thomas and Wesley Yates III. Cohen led the team in scoring with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, Thomas was balanced with 10 points and nine assists and seven rebounds, while Yates provided 13 points.
Despite the win, head coach Eric Musselman pointed out the rebounding, turnovers, steals and attempted shots as areas the Trojans need to clean up during the postgame press conference. He focused more on the defensive rebounding aspect, where his team lost, 28-16, in that statistic.
“When you look at rebounds, turnovers and steals, the field goals attempted is something that you have to look at. We have to rebound the ball better. I mean, that’s plain and simple.
“You can’t have two defensive rebounds from your centers, especially when you play in the Big Ten. So I’m overly concerned about our defensive rebounding, for sure. But there were some positives with our 20 assists. That’s a lot of assists in a college basketball game and causing 17 turnovers — so there were some positive things.”
Cohen, despite having a 6-foot-10 frame, only secured four boards off the glass. It marks the second straight game he only grabbed four rebounds following the season opener against Chattonooga, well below the 6.8 rebounds he averaged during his time at UMass. He was the first player to transfer to USC to play for Musselman this past summer.
USC's performance last season, expectations this year under Eric Musselman
Last season marked a year of inconsistency for the Trojans, finishing with a 15-18 record as they lost to Arizona in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament.
Bronny James, son of NBA star LeBron James, regularly came off the bench for USC and went on to get selected in the second round by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2024 NBA Draft.
After failing to meet expectations, USC fired Andy Enfield after the season, hiring Eric Musselman from Arkansas to help bring the program back to contention status.
In five seasons, he led the Razorbacks to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, making consecutive Elite Eights in 2021 and 2022. He finished his stint with a 111-59 overall record.
Having already secured two wins in his first two games as USC's head coach, he'll look to have the Trojans continue their progress when they host UT Arlington on Nov. 13 at 11 p.m. ET.