Eric Musselman laments injury bug after USC’s late-season meltdown

USC has melted down at the end of the season. USC is coming off an 89-68 loss to UCLA, its seventh straight loss. This has taken the Trojans from a potential tournament team to likely missing out.

Now, head coach Eric Musselman is speaking out as to why USC struggled down the stretch, according to Ryan Kartje of The Los Angeles Times.

The Trojans were “the most injured team in college basketball,” Musselman said “It’s not an excuse. It’s a fact.”

The Torjans had been without Alijah Arenas until the end of January, and without Rodney Rice since November. Further, Desmond Clause and Wesley Yates have both missed time due to injuries this year. Meanwhile, Chad Baker-Mazara was dismissed from the team as they continued to free man. Terrance Williams is one of the few players who have played 30 or more games and spoke to the media about his team after the game.

“We just have to stay together,” said senior Terrance Williams. “I feel like when adversity hits, sometimes we tend to go our separate ways. We’ve got to just stick together, man.”

Musselman still thinks this is a quality team, and a team that should have been tournament-bound.

“We feel this is an NCAA tournament team if we were healthy,” Musselman said. “We have no doubt that it was — or would be.”

According to ESPN Bracketology, USC is not even in the first four or next four out. That is a major drop from when they were 18-6 and playing well. Further, the last seven games have not been close for the most part. Only two of the seven games have been within ten points.

USC will play on March 11 against Washington in the second round of the Big Ten tournament. With a win, they would then face Wisconsin the next day.

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