Southern California seeks consecutive wins for the first time in a month when the Trojans host Minnesota on Saturday in Los Angeles.
USC (14-10, 6-7 Big Ten) returned home on Tuesday from an 0-2 road swing and scored an emphatic 92-67 rout of Penn State. The Trojans scored 52 second-half points en route to their most lopsided victory since an 82-51 blowout of Southern on Dec. 22.
Seven USC scorers posted at least eight points, including Desmond Claude with 16 in his return from missing the winless swing through Northwestern and Purdue last week due to a knee injury.
Chibuzo Agbo, who scored 21 points, and Wesley Yates III, who went for 12 points, five rebounds and four assists, also played through illness.
“Shoutout to the medical staff for getting Buzo and Wesley available just to put on the uniform,” USC coach Eric Musselman said. “Desmond, with the bone bruise, could have been out three weeks. It was around-the-clock rehab … Hopefully his knee will respond fine and we can get ready for Minnesota.”
The trio of Claude, Yates and Agbo are central to USC, leading the team in scoring at 16.2, 12.5 and 11.9 points per game, respectiviely. Claude’s 4.4 assists per game also lead the team.
The Trojans aim for back-to-back wins for the first time since taking down Illinois and Iowa on Jan. 11 and 14. They host a Minnesota team that has dropped three of its last four after having rolled off three straight wins from Jan. 16-25.
The Golden Gophers (12-12, 4-9) got 24 points from Lu’Cye Patterson and 22 points from Femi Odukale, but it was not enough in a 95-74 home loss to Illinois last Saturday.
“This hurts a lot,” Odukale told the Star-Tribune. “A couple possessions I felt like I could’ve stopped them with my defense and given extra effort. Just got to be better and look forward to the next one.”
During its winning streak last month, Minnesota beat ranked opponents Michigan and Oregon. The slide since has relegated the Gophers in fourth-to-last place in the 18-team Big Ten — currently holding the 15th and final spot to qualify for March’s conference tournament.
–Field Level Media
