The USC and Washington men’s basketball teams will meet for the second time in eight days on Wednesday.
The 13th-seeded Trojans (18-13 overall, 7-13 Big Ten) will play the 12th-seeded Huskies (15-16, 7-13) on Wednesday in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, and both teams are on the outside looking in when it comes to the NCAA Tournament.
USC will try to snap its seven-game losing streak, which most recently included an 89-68 rivalry loss to UCLA. The Trojans came out strong in the opening minutes, but eventually allowed Donovan Dent to score 25 points to lead the Bruins, who shot 57.6% from the field and 52.9% from long range.
Multiple players are missing for USC, including point guard Rodney Rice and guard Amarion Dickerson – who are both injured – as well as guard and leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara, whom USC announced was no longer with the team on the first of this month.
Head coach Eric Musselman said the injuries, combined with the Big Ten travel schedule, have made for a difficult second half of the season.
“What was the goal coming in? It was to make the NCAA Tournament,” Musselman said. “But that was also with a healthy group, and we’re still trying to figure out the landscape of the Big Ten, as is all the West Coast teams.”
Washington is also dealing with its share of injuries and currently has seven scholarship players healthy and available. Six-foot-11 center Franck Kepnang, who has missed the last three games due to injury, is not expected to play on Wednesday.
Even with the injuries, head coach Danny Sprinkle has been impressed with his team’s effort. The Huskies have won three of their last six games, and two of the three losses have come by six points or less – including a comeback effort fueled by a 29-8 scoring run against Oregon on Saturday.
“I’m damn proud of these guys,” Sprinkle told reporters. “A lot of teams would shut it down. And I’ve got a bunch of young cats out there fighting. And to come back in that environment in a rivalry game like that, and to be able to take the lead, I was impressed with their ability to fight through adversity and it showed character.”
USC is striving for unity as it enters the Big Ten Tournament.
Freshman Alijah Arenas, a 6-6 guard, has been the leading scorer in the last two games and put up 19 points in the last game against Washington and 20 points against UCLA. Ezra Ausar has been the leading rebounder recently with 11 boards in each of the last two games.
“We’ve just got to stay together,” graduate forward Terrance Williams II said. “I feel like sometimes, when adversity hits, sometimes we tend to go our separate ways. We’ve just got to stick together. That’s what I tell the guys. It’s a long year. A long Big Ten season. And we’ve gotta stay together.”
The winner of Wednesday’s game will move on to play fifth-seeded and No. 23-ranked Wisconsin, which is on a three-game winning streak, in the third round.
BIG TEN TOURNAMENT
Who: USC (18-13 overall, 7-13 Big Ten) vs. Washington (15-16, 7-13)
When: Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. PT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV/Radio: Peacock/USCTrojans.com/Listen
