USC Men's Basketball Set For Wednesday Night Game Against San Jose State

WEDNESDAY'S GAME -- USC welcome the San Jose State Spartans for a nonconference game at the Galen Center on Wednesday, Nov. 20.  Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. PT.

GAME COVERAGE
STREAM: Peacock (7:00 p.m. PT)
RADIO: ESPN LA 710 AM or USCTrojans.com/listen & USC Gameday App

NEW LOOK TROJANS -- The new look USC 2024-25 squad consists of 17 new faces and two returning members of last year's team - including 11 recruited from the transfer portal.

MUSSELMAN AT THE HELM: Eric Musselman was named the USC Men's Basketball Head Coach, Charles Griffin Cale Director of Athletics Jennifer Cohen announced on April 4, 2024.

Eric Musselman, 59, is a proven winner who has excelled at both the collegiate and professional levels, most recently at Arkansas where he led the Razorbacks to a 111-59 record in five seasons as the leader of the program.  The 111 wins in that stretch were the 13th-most among all Power 6 conference teams.  In eight of his nine seasons as a collegiate head coach at Nevada (2016-19) and Arkansas (2020-24), his teams won 20 or more games and he has compiled a 221-93 record for a 70.4 winning percentage.  Musselman has the 10th-best winning percentage of all active Division I coaches who have coached at least nine seasons.  Musselman has over 30 years of coaching experience, including 22 years as a professional and collegiate head coach.

USC - SAN JOSE STATE HISTORY -- Wednesday will be the fifth all-time meeting between the two programs, with USC holding a 3-1 series
advantage. The last time the Trojans faced the Spartans was in 1987.

SJSU (1-4) SCOUTING REPORT --

- Through five games, the Spartans are 1-4, having lost three straight contests to open the season before rebounding against Life Pacific for a win.

- Most recently, SJSU fell to UCSB 64-59 at home on Sun., Nov. 17.

- This season, Josh Uduje leads the Spartans in scoring (69 points, 13.8 per game). Uduje also leads the squad in FGA (58 / 11.6 per game), field goals made (27 / 5.4 per game), rebounds (26 / 5.2 per game) and defensive rebounds (20 / 4.0 per game).

-Picked to finish 8th in Mountain West preseason poll for 2024-25.

- Will McClendon leads the Spartans in minutes per game (32:44)

- Last season, the Spartans went 9-23 overall and 2-16 in Mountain West Conference play.

- SJSU welcomed eight transfers to the team this year -  Will McClendon (UCLA), Sadraque NgaNga (Seton Hall), Sadaidriene Hall (Stepehn F. Austin), Steven Vasquez (Fresno State), Donavan Yap (Fresno State), Chol Marial (Oregon State), Ameere Britton (CSU Monterey Bay) and Josh Uduje (Utah State).

- The Spartans also added three freshmen to the squad: Jermaine Washington, Cameron Patterson and Ben Roseborough.

-Robert Vaihola returns to the court after redshirting last season. Vaihola was a key contributor in the Spartans' historic 2022-23 season, averaging 7.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game.

- Josh Uduje was named Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year last season as a member of Utah State where he averaged 8.7 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.

- Will McClendon played in all 33 games for UCLA last season, starting in four of them. He averaged 4.1 points per game and had an assist-turnover ratio of 2.1.

NEW HEIGHTS -- USC has eight players listed on the roster which are 6-7 or taller.  USC's average height per player is 6'54"which ranks 28th among all schools, according to Kenpom.com. The Trojans are also the fifth tallest team on average in the Big Ten.

COHEN'S CORNER -- Through four games, #33 Josh Cohen is averaging 11.5 points per game, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists. Against Idaho State, Cohen led USC in scoring with 19 points and shot 66.7% from the field in 29 minutes played.

SAINT SHARES -- Trojan Saint Thomas has tallied 21 assists through four games as a Trojan. Against Idaho State, Thomas recorded nine first half assists. He's currently averaging 5.3 assists per game.

CLAUDE CAN SCORE -- Through four games, Desmond Claude has tallied 62 points, averaging 15.5 points per game (leads USC).

OH HOW THE TABLES TURN -- The Trojans have forced 62 turnovers, while committing only 25 through four games.
USC is also averaging 15.25 points per game off of turnovers.

MAGICAL BOTH WAYS -- Since the 2019 season, USC owns a 84-18 record when it scores 70 or more points.

TRANSFER TROJANS -- The Trojans are the most experienced Power 5 team in college basketball based on minutes played per game last season (327.6). The Trojan transfer class combined to average almost 150 points per game last season - the most incoming points of any transfer class in the nation.

USC added transfer talent from Michigan, Xavier, Yale, Northern Colorado/Illinois Chicago, UC San Diego, Texas Tech/Boise State, Washington, Bowling Green/Casper College/New Mexico State and Penn.
A HISTORY OF WINNING -- USC has compiled a record of 1,715-1,263* in its 118 years of intercollegiate basketball competition.  USC has had a .500 or better record in 83 of its first 118 seasons. * 21 wins and one loss in 2007-08 vacated due to NCAA penalty, original record: 1,733-1,260.

THE GALEN ADVANTAGE -- USC is 214-85 at the Galen Center since it opened on Nov. 16, 2006.  USC is also 107-26 in nonconference games at the Galen Center.

HOME STAND -- USC will play six-straight home games to open the 2024-25 campaign before traveling to the Palm Desert for the Acrisure Thanksgiving Classic. The Trojans are set to travel out of the state just once in 2024 - a conference trip to Washington on Dec. 7.

STRAIGHT THEFT -- Sophomore Wesley Yates III leads USC in steals this season with eight, averaging 2.0 steals per game in just under 20 minutes played per contest (average).

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Desmond Claude

Josh Cohen

Saint Thomas

Wesley Yates III