Southern California welcomes Big Ten Conference counterpart Northwestern to Los Angeles on Wednesday as both teams look to get on track in league play.
The Trojans (14-4, 3-4 Big Ten) pushed fourth-ranked Purdue to the limit on Saturday but couldn’t get over the hump, leading to a losing record in the conference. USC had reached .500 after starting 1-3 in the Big Ten with a 70-69 overtime victory at Minnesota on Jan. 9 and an 88-71 blowout of Maryland on Jan. 13.
“The fight, the toughness, the scrappiness,” Trojans coach Eric Musselman said. “It’s there… All we can do is get our guys to play as hard as they possibly can, which I think they did. We have to clean up the small execution stuff.”
USC’s issues included shooting just 5 of 14 free throws on Saturday. Chad Baker-Mazara, the Trojans’ leading scorer at 18.9 points per game, shoots 90.6% at the free-throw line for the season with 5.9 attempts per game. He did not get to the line against Purdue, however, as he came off the bench for a second straight game due to a neck injury.
Baker-Mazara’s potential limitations continue a concerning trend for a USC team dealing with an abundance of injuries this season. Rodney Rice is out for the year with a shoulder injury he sustained over Thanksgiving week, and blue-chip freshman Alijah Arenas has yet to make his debut because of a knee injury he suffered in the summer.
The wounded Trojans aim to capitalize on the woes that have Northwestern entering Wednesday’s game on a five-game losing streak.
The Wildcats (8-10, 0-7) stayed winless in Big Ten play after their tough week ended with a 77-58 loss at home to No. 7 Nebraska. Saturday’s defeat was Northwestern’s second straight game against a team ranked No. 11 or higher in the latest AP Poll, with the Wildcats losing to Illinois on Jan. 14, 79-68.
The two home setbacks against highly ranked competition came after a 77-75 overtime heartbreaker at Rutgers on Jan. 11.
“Nobody’s letting go of the rope,” Northwestern coach Chris Collins said. “It’s been a really difficult week, three games in six days. You come home against two of the best teams in the country, and you battle but come up short. The guys need to clear their heads… before we go to the West Coast and try to figure some things out.”
The Wildcats aim to develop a more consistent offense to support the Big Ten’s top scorer, Nick Martinelli. He averages 23.7 points per game and has scored 20 or more in nine straight contests, but Northwestern’s second-leading scorer, Arrinten Page, has had games of just two, seven, and no points across the last four games.
Page, who played the 2023-24 season at USC, has averaged 12.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game but didn’t record either in just nine minutes against Nebraska.
