The USC men’s basketball team played its final non-conference game and the result was another victory. The Trojans defeated Southern University 82-51 on Sunday at the Galen Center.
USC (9-4) has now won four straight following a three-game skid and will open Big Ten play with a home matchup against the Michigan Wolverines on January 4.
Chibuzo Agbo led USC with 18 points, Josh Cohen had 17 and Desmond Claude scored 13.
Wesley Yates III added 11 points and two steals for the Trojans while Saint Thomas tallied a well-rounded line of seven points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and two steals.
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Agbo started off the game red hot for USC, scoring all of his 18 points in the first half, including four three-pointers.
“Buzo was great. The floor spacing and ability to make threes is super important to our team. They stayed a little more attached to him in the second half which gave him fewer opportunities,” said USC coach Eric Musselman.
Southern University (5-7) players Jordan Johnson, DaMariee Jones, and Dionjah Thomas each had 10 points.
The Trojans jumped out to a 26-9 run after Claude converted a free throw with 8:31 left in the first half and USC proceeded to take a 41-27 lead at halftime.
“I thought Saint Thomas did a great job passing the basketball, and then you look at Desmond [Claude], and same thing,” Musselman said. “He’s scoring the ball. He takes only seven shots tonight and gets 13 points. His ability to draw free throws attempted – super important.”
USC forced 19 turnovers which resulted in 27 points and the Trojans made 28-of-35 free throws on the day.
Clark Slajchert made a layup and gave the Trojans its largest lead of the game, 74-44 with 4:59 left in the second half and the Jaguars were unable to make a late run, resulting in an 82-51 win for USC.
“We wanna play well for 40 minutes,” Cohen said. “Even if we’re up big, we have to keep the foot on the gas and get going.”
The Trojans will enjoy a 13-day Christmas break before returning home to host Michigan in its Big Ten opener on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 5:00 P.M
“Big Ten play is a very physical league, so we know what’s coming into our building,” Cohen said. “Danny [Wolf] and Vlad [Goldin] – yeah, I’ve watched them for a long time. It’s going to be a great game. They play a very unique style of basketball with the two bigs in there, and we’ll be ready for them.”
