At the end of a long, emotional week, USC’s men’s basketball staff emerged one by one from the Galen Center tunnel just before tip-off Tuesday, relieved as ever to be back home. Days earlier, as wildfires ravaged their city, the team was 2,000 miles away, stuck first in a southern Indiana hotel then in a similar one in Illinois, reduced to periodic updates from assistant Will Conroy, who had downloaded local news apps to his phone.
The uncertainty made for an unnerving few nights. Assistant coach Quincy Pondexter initially wasn’t sure whether his home in Pasadena survived the Eaton fire. Conroy’s family had evacuated, as did the girlfriend of USC’s director of basketball ops, Caleb Cline. Players were on edge too. Guard Clark Slajchert, who grew up in Oak Park, watched the Kenneth Fire warily, worrying about his family. Together, as a team, they talked through the tension, counting down the days until they returned.
“We were super anxious to get back home,” coach Eric Musselman said.
Somehow, with that weight still heavy on their shoulders, the Trojans managed to earn their first road win over a ranked team in 15 years last week at Illinois. They flew home the next day to find their families safe and their homes still intact. And by Tuesday night, as USC’s offense came alive in a 99-89 victory over Iowa, it was clear they’d found more than just emotional respite upon their return to L.A.
Something certainly changed in recent weeks of a season spent trying anything and everything to find the right formula for a roster rebuilt on the fly. The USC that blew past Iowa, shooting a stunning 65% from the floor, looked nothing like the group that put up 36 points against Saint Mary’s six weeks ago. Nor did anyone then expect the Trojans would outrebound any team by a margin of 17, as they did Tuesday.
So much has been ironed out in the meantime, beginning with the emergence of freshman Wesley Yates III, who reminded in the win over Iowa just how much he’s raised the ceiling of USC’s offense. Yates finished with a career-high 21 points, dominating equally from in the lane and behind the three-point line, where he knocked down four of five attempts.
He was one of three scorers with at least 20 points, once again justifying Musselman’s decision last month to insert him into the lineup. In five Big Ten games since, he’s averaged more than 18 points per game.
“Wes’ minutes and evolution has changed our season, to be honest with you,” Musselman said. “We don’t know where it goes from here. Right now, he’s changed things.”
But in the final minutes Tuesday, with Iowa refusing to bow out quietly, Yates bricked two critical free throws. A 19-point deficit for the Hawkeyes, who came into the game as one of the top shooting teams in college basketball, was cut to just five in less than six minutes.
An 86% free throw shooter, Yates barely had missed from anywhere on the court. The first snag finally came in the middle of the Iowa run that Musselman and his team had been expecting all game.
It was a critical moment for a team that’s often struggled with its late-game resolve. But when Musslman gathered his team in a huddle during a timeout, he barely had to speak. Players took the words right out of his mouth, he said, barking to each other about buckling down on defense and limiting fouls.
“That,” Musselman said, “is when you know you’ve turned a corner.”
It wasn’t long before USC finally speeded away from Iowa, with Desmond Claude and Saint Thomas taking control to close out the Hawkeyes. Claude, fresh off his own career-best game in Illinois, continued his stellar stretch with a team-high 25 points, giving him 57 over his last two. Thomas, meanwhile, played arguably the most efficient game of his career, scoring 24 points on nine-for-10 shooting while adding nine rebounds and seven assists.
“Once we fully locked in and continued to get more comfortable with each other, you see what happens,” Claude said.
That evolution is ongoing. At one point Tuesday, it seemed USC would run away with a lopsided victory. Just before the half, with the Trojans leading by 16, the Galen Center crowd rose to its feet for an ovation.
USC had to work to earn that ovation in the second half, as Iowa caught fire and mounted a comeback. It required Claude and Yates playing all 40 minutes, while Thomas was close behind with 37.
But after a nerve-racking week, there was no shaking the Trojans in their return home. The tension eventually lifted, leaving USC with a second straight Big Ten win — and plenty of reason to hope for more.
