USC Men's Basketball to Host Chattanooga in Home Opener Monday

LOS ANGELES - The new look USC Trojans kick off the 2024-25 season with a Monday night contest against the Chattanooga Mocs on Nov. 4 at the Galen Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT.

GAME COVERAGE
TV/STREAM: Big Ten Network (7 p.m. PT)
RADIO: ESPN LA 710 AM (8 p.m. PT) or USCTrojans.com/listen & USC Gameday App

NEW LOOK TROJANS -- The new look USC 2024-25 squad consists of 16 new faces and two returning members of last year's team - including 11 recruited from the transfer portal.

OPENING NIGHT HISTORY
USC is set to open the 2024-25 campaign at Galen Center on Monday, Nov. 4, the earliest USC Men's Basketball has ever opened a season in program history.

The Trojans are 17-7 in opening contests since the year 2000 and 82-36 all-time in season openers. USC is 23-5 in its last 28 home openers.

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.

A HISTORY OF WINNING -- USC has compiled a record of 1,712-1,262* 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.

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.

KATZ PRESEASON -- NCAA analyst Andy Katz named transfer Desmond Claude to his Preseason All-Big Ten Third-Team for 2024-25. Katz also named Eric Musselman one of his top-ten new men's college basketball coaches for the 2024-25 season.

USC VS. CHATTANOOGA HISTORY -- Monday's game will be the second all-time meeting between USC and Chattanooga. The Trojans won the previous meeting 73-46 back in 2009 (the game was played on November 23 during the Puerto Rico Tip Off event).

CHATTANOOGA SCOUTING REPORT --
- HC Dan Earl (third season - 39-29(.574) / 19-17 (.528) in conference play
- Mocs picked season in the Southern Conference preseason poll.
- The Mocs return the preseason SoCon Player of the Year, Trey Bonham and 2023-24 leading scorer Honor Huff.
- Huff averaged 17.4 points per game and earned All-Conference second team honors.
- Bonham posted 16 points, five rebound and 3.5 assists per game after missing the first month of action. Bonham received All-Southern Conference First Team honors last season.
- Chattanooga is seeking a second season-opening win at a power conference opponent's home in as many seasons, having opened with a win over Louisville last season.
- The Mocs have added 10 newcomers to this season's squad, including five from the transfer portal and two high school recruits.
- F Frank Champion is a two-time DII All-American who transferred from North Georgia. He finished as the program's all-time leading scorer and rebounder in the NCAA era.
- The Mocs finished last season with a record of 21-12 (.636). Chattanooga was second in the Southern Conference's regular season, finishing 12-6 (.667).
- In 2024, Chattanooga beat Wafford in the first round of the Southern Conference tournament before being eliminated in the quarterfinals by ETSU in an 85-84 overtime loss.
- The Mocs last made the NCAA tournament in 2022.

PRESEASON RECAP -- USC went 2-0 in preseason exhibition play, powering past UTSA 84-63 on Oct. 15 and No. 6 Gonzaga 96-93 on Oct. 26.

Against UTSA at the Galen Center, USC's Saint Thomas led the team in scoring, recording 21 points and two assists. Trojans Desmond Claude and Josh Cohen also hit double digits, with Claude scoring 14 points and Cohen contributing 10. In exhibition action, the Trojan defense kept UTSA to just 38.7 percent shooting from the floor, while USC knocked out a 54.9 percent effort on the day. As a squad, Troy also tallied four blocks, six steals and outrebounded the Roadrunners 40-26.

Against the Zags, USC led for nearly 30 minutes of the game, outrebounded Gonzaga 34-32 and blocked five shots. USC, who won the battle in the paint 38-32, also held the Zags to just 40.9% from the three, as the Zags were 9-22. Five Trojans hit the double digits during the exhibition, led by Williams' 20 points. Chibuzo Agbo scored 15 for Troy and led USC in rebounding with seven boards. Desmond Claude, Josh Cohen and Matt Knowling also hit double digits on Saturday, with Claude scoring 19 points and Cohen and Knowling each contributing 13.

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Players Mentioned

Chibuzo Agbo

Desmond Claude

Josh Cohen

Matt Knowling

Saint Thomas