The mask comes off, and the shot goes in.
Graduate forward Saint Thomas, who has been wearing a face guard since breaking his nose in the preseason opener, went without the mask for the final minute of the game. In the final 20 seconds, he sank a three that solidified USC’s 75-69 victory against Idaho State. The Northern Colorado transfer played all but 15 seconds the entire game, putting up 10 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
“Saint was unbelievable at the point guard position with nine assists in the first half,” Musselman said. “He doesn’t see the game like a normal college basketball player. He sees second, third, fourth options, whereas maybe other guys only see one option. He [sees] the game like a coach.”
Thomas handed three of those nine assists to graduate forward Josh Cohen, who ended the night as USC’s leading scorer with 19 points. USC has had a unique leading scorer in the four games of the preseason and regular season, a testament to the team’s depth and versatility.
Cohen opened up the game for USC with six points in three minutes and stayed consistent throughout the game, shooting 66.7% from the field and tallying four rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
Idaho State sophomore guard Dylan Darling proved to be the most dominant player on either side of the court with 22 points and seven assists.
“[Darling] did a great job across the board… his assists, his shooting percentage, he played super hard, drew fouls,” Musselman said. “We got to get better defensive plays out of our point guard, [Claude], have to step up and be a great player on both ends of the floor.”
The Trojans sent Darling to the charity stripe 10 times, nine of which resulted in a free slice of momentum for the Bengals. It didn’t stop there, though, as 14 of Idaho State’s 35 first-half points came courtesy of Trojan fouling. USC had 14 of its own chances in the half, but 43% free throw shooting wasn’t enough to reciprocate the damage.
What started off as a strong first-half showing for the Trojans — including numerous 6-0 runs — quickly became an unrecognizable dynamic. Idaho State managed to chip away its 12-point deficit with an 8-0 run, meanwhile, USC had failed to sink a shot from downtown. It wasn’t until four minutes before halftime that sophomore guard Wesley Yates III gave USC its first three of the night. The team had failed to score on any of its six previous 3-pointer attempts.
It may have been the team’s first three, but the shot gave Yates III a tally of nine points, who finished the night with 13.
“[Yates III] is super, super talented,” Musselman said. “He’s coming along way quicker than we thought. Tonight, with the injuries, [it] gave him an opportunity to step up offensively.”
The transfer from Washington made a name for himself in Monday’s game against Chattanooga with nine points and three assists and continues to be an aggressive force on the court, but Musselman acknowledged the need to distribute that force.
“We’ve got to understand when to gamble, what hand to gamble with,” Musselman said. “You have to gamble with the hand that’s closest to the ball if you’re jumping in a passing lane… There’s a lot of technique, things we have to certainly improve on. But after two games, we don’t expect them to be where we need to be.”
Thomas, one of the most experienced players on the team, echoed the importance of harnessing the younger players’ excitement into offensive plays without contributing to defensive errors.
“Some of our young guys were getting out there for the first time and being excited trying to go get steals and dunks, but you have to be more solid on defense and not foul,” Thomas said.
Despite USC’s shooting dropping to 34.6% in the second half and a 25% 3-point shooting in both frames, the Trojans managed to hold a lead for 35 minutes thanks to a cushion from 12-16 free throws and 10 first-half Bengal turnovers.
Idaho State slowly closed the margin and grabbed the lead at 8:45 in the second half for the first time in over 28 minutes. The Trojans fought the Bengals up until the final few minutes. It wasn’t until unmasked Thomas sank a three with 18 seconds left that the Trojans made it a two-possession game to send the Bengals home.
“It was very difficult to see out there, and it’s been bothering me the past couple of games,” Thomas said. “I know I was gonna have to step up and either hit a big shot or some free throws. [I] decided I just had to take off the mask.”
USC is back in Galen Center at 8 p.m. on Wednesday against UT Arlington.