With summer workouts underway, USC men’s basketball held a practice open to the media to showcase what new head coach Eric Musselman and this revamped Trojan roster have been working on. Here are some observations from the workout:
Injury updates
Junior guard Desmond Claude sat out today’s session with an undisclosed injury and Musselman said after practice that Claude is close, but waiting for clearance to start practicing. Musselman hopes to begin integrating him within the next four-to-six weeks.
Musselman sees the 6-foot-6 Claude as a full-time point guard, so for the time being, the former Arkansas coach has the opportunity to test his other guys in that role.
“Every day somebody’s playing the point position that if Des was healthy, they wouldn’t get those reps,” Musselman said.
In the absence of Claude and sophomore guard Wesley Yates, graduate forward Saint Thomas and freshman forward Jalen Shelley shouldered a lot of ball-handling responsibility across USC’s drills. At 6-foot-7 and 220 pounds, Thomas has substantial size for a potential offensive initiator, and Shelley is even listed as being one inch taller than his teammate, albeit much thinner.
According to Musselman, graduate forward Matt Knowling, who arrived at USC from Yale, will miss at least the next eight-to-12 weeks due to surgery, but is expected to be fully healthy for the team’s first game.
Size concerns
There is one main thing about the Trojans’ roster that jumps out: There’s not a single 7-footer on the list. That’s not unheard of in the college game, but the 7-foot-1 Vincent Iwuchukwu — who transferred from USC to Saint John’s this past offseason — played a sizable role in former head coach Andy Enfield’s rotation in the 2023-24 season and the 6-foot-11 Joshua Morgan — who ran out of eligibility — offered more prominent rim protection than anyone on this current roster seems capable of.
Musselman name-checked graduate forward Josh Cohen as the team’s biggest guy in practice today, with the UMass transfer handling the ball frequently around the elbow and keeping the offense moving. In a 3-point shooting drill, Cohen displayed good touch from range and has potential as a pull-up threat. Musselman also offered thoughts on senior forward Harrison Hornery and graduate forward Rashaun Agee.
“[Hornery’s] played well, he can shoot the ball and space the floor, but [he and Cohen are] certainly a different type of centers. And then after that, it goes to [Agee], who’s an undersized workhorse. And then from there, it’s small ball, which I’m comfortable dealing with, we’ve done it a lot.”
Musselman also discussed the importance of having graduate forward Terrance Williams II’s Big Ten experience as USC makes the transition to that conference. Williams played four seasons at Michigan, starting 31 games in 2023-24 and averaging 12.4 points per game, including 39.7% accuracy from beyond the arc.
“He’s played in the league, veteran, guy that makes open shots,” Musselman said, listing Williams’ traits.
Elohim flashes
He still has a lot of room to grow, but freshman guard/forward Isaiah Elohim made probably the best play of the practice in a five-on-five half-court drill, beating his man in a one-on-one, driving down the lane and throwing down a dunk with two hands.
Elohim is easily among the team’s better athletes and already has a solid frame at 6-foot-5 and 200 pounds. The quality of his defense and shooting will likely determine the size of his role, but Elohim has the bounciness and aggression to make a real impression as a true freshman.
NBA stars make an appearance
When Kevin Durant, James Harden and Chet Holmgren walk into a gym, people take notice.
The NBA trio trickled into the Galen Center as USC’s practice winded down, eventually taking to the court for a joint workout once the Trojans had finished. While the stars’ interactions with the USC players seemed minimal, members of the media couldn’t help but enquire about their presence.
“It’s good for our guys to be able to watch [and] jump in workouts with them,” Musselman said. “We’ve had a steady flow of guys almost every day and the great thing about being in L.A. is a lot of these guys have offseason homes here … We want to open our doors to them and it’s great for our program.”
Without reading too much into Durant and company’s presence, it certainly contributed to a renewed sense of energy around Galen Center ahead of Musselman’s first season and USC’s debut year in the Big Ten.