USC Men's Basketball Picks Up 10th Win With 68-61 Decision Over Washington State

Sunday, December 14

Los Angeles, Calif.

4:30 p.m.

USC

10-1,1-1Big Ten

Washington State

3-8,0-0WCC

Washington St.

Southern California

USC Men's Basketball Picks Up 10th Win With 68-61 Decision Over Washington State

December 14, 2025 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights Press Conference

Jacob Cofie notched his third double-double of the season in the victory.

LOS ANGELES – USC Men's Basketball (10-1, 1-1 Big Ten) pulled out a gritty 68-61 win against the Washington State Cougars (3-8) in the Galen Center on Sunday, Dec. 14.

The Trojans fended off second-half Cougar comebacks with a strong showing in the paint. Thirty-two points for USC came from down low, and the Trojans went 27-34 at the free-throw line. USC outrebounded Washington State 35-28, and both teams shot just over 39% from the field.

Jacob Cofie racked up a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds, marking his third double-double. He was joined in scoring by Chad Baker-Mazara's 19 points and Ezra Ausar's 13 points. Jaden Brownell set a season-high with five boards, and Jordan Marsh's five assists tied his season-high.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Off the tip, USC scored on its first possession off a slam from Jacob Cofie, who scored eight of USC's first 10 points as the Trojans took an early 10-7 lead. At 11:26, Washington State dropped in a layup to tie the game 11-11, which was the last field goal it would hit for the next four minutes. USC went on an overwhelming 15-0 run, sparked by Jordan Marsh's lefty floater.

In the double-figure surge, Chad Baker-Mazara and Cofie combined for the next 13 points, earning a 26-11 lead at 7:30. The Cougars struck from the three-point line to break their scoring drought, but USC answered with free throws from Ezra Ausar and Baker-Mazara to tug the Trojans along 30-14 at 5:35. In the last three minutes, Washington State carved a nine-point stint, finding its scoring touch beyond the arc. Despite back-to-back triples from the Cougars, USC led 33-26 at halftime.

Washington State struck first to open the second frame, cutting into the deficit steadily to make it 34-33 at 18:31. After Ausar's made free throw, Cofie found Ausar at the rim. His successful three-point play gave USC a needed boost, and Marsh kept it rolling for the Trojans with a splash from downtown to make it 40-35. Cofie continued to deliver in the second half — on his way to a double-double — collecting a couple of lobs from Marsh to make it 47-40 at 11:33. The Cougars pulled themselves within three with consistent drives to the basket.

With under nine minutes to go, Marsh came up with a crafty layup to end the Trojans' four-minute field-goal scoring drought. Following a Cougar jumper, Brownell sank two free throws, and Baker-Mazara finished with the soft touch at the elbow to put USC up 53-46. Both teams traded bonus shots down a two-minute stretch, broken up by a bucket from Brownell in transition. A couple of free throws and a three-pointer revived Washington State, bringing the score to 61-58. All Cougar hopes were then crushed by a monster chase-down block by Baker-Mazara at the 1:20 mark. The Trojans held onto their lead as the seconds ticked down, hitting five straight free throws to earn their 10th win of the season with a 68-61 victory.

NOTABLES

Jacob Cofie earned his third double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 rebounds, powered by a career-high nine defensive boards. In the first half, he scored 14 of his 21 points while shooting 7-for-8 from the field.
Chad Baker-Mazara went 11-for-11 from the free throw line, giving him 10 or more free throws for the third time this season and the fourth time in his career. He concluded the game with 19 points, six rebounds, five assists and a team-high two blocks.
USC used its size advantage to outscore WSU 32-22 in the paint.
This game marked the ninth time in 11 contests that Ezra Ausar scored in double figures, as he finished with 13 points and five rebounds.
This was the seventh game of the season in which the Trojans had 30 or more free throw attempts.
USC's defense held Washington State to its second-lowest field goal percentage this season, as the Cougars only shot at 39.6 percent from the field. The Trojans also kept Washington State from rebounding, holding them to one of their lowest performances of the season with 28 boards.
USC is now 83-51 against Washington State all-time and Coach Musselman is now 1-0 against the Cougars.
Today's starting lineup featured Ezra Ausar, Chad Baker-Mazara, Jerry Easter II, Ryan Cornish and Jacob Cofie. This lineup is now 2-0 on the season.
With only one made three, tonight marks the fewest made threes in a win since Feb. 11, 2021, when the Trojans made one three against Washington.

QUOTABLES
Coach Eric Musselman on the positives from the win…
"Our offensive metrics are phenomenal, and our defensive metrics – especially the last six games – have not been good. But we've been scoring at such a high rate that we've gotten by winning games with our offense. And tonight, the real positive is we had to grind the game out when we weren't scoring and shooting very well."

Coach Eric Musselman on Jacob Cofie's performance…
"Tonight was super important. We made a conscious effort to go to him. He went out and had a good game, but he was much more aggressive tonight at the rim. We needed him to be an aggressive offensive player, and he was great on the glass, too."

Jacob Cofie on his strong first half…
"I knew I didn't have a great game the last two games, so I knew that I wanted to ball out today. In my head, I knew it had to start on defense, and the offense will come. Coach Musselman just told me to play hard, and the rest would fall into place."

Ezra Ausar on his ability to draw fouls…
"It's all about being aggressive. I don't think I shot enough free throws today, honestly. The goal is to shoot at least 15 per game. I missed a lot of shots at the basket, but I'm looking forward to challenging myself throughout the week."

Ezra Ausar on being ranked…
"I've never been ranked in college before, so it matters to me. It seals your position as to where you stand, statistically. But at the end of the day, we're trying to accomplish our one goal to beat the team in front of us every night. Obviously, the ranking will come with the games that we win. We gain respect from other teams as well."

Jacob Cofie on being ranked…
"I feel like we were ranked for a bit, but we lost it. We had that game. Losing our ranking doesn't define us, but we deserve it, and we're going to get back to where we want to be."

UP NEXT
USC's non-conference homestand continues with a home game against UTSA on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Fans can watch on Big Ten Network or listen through ESPN LA 710.