USC Men’s Basketball Team Finds Last-Minute Replacement Opponent in UC Santa Cruz
The call came Monday morning, just six days before USC was slated to play its final nonconference contest. In light of the deadly shooting on Brown’s campus, its men’s basketball team wouldn’t make the trip west. If coach Eric Musselman hoped to test his Trojans again before the new year, he and his USC staff had less than 24 hours to find a replacement. This unexpected turn of events led to a frantic search for a new opponent, with the coaching staff scrambling to find a team that could fill the void left by Brown.
Given the constraints, USC had to get creative in its search for a new opponent. The team’s coaching staff initially hoped to find a Division I program to take Brown’s place, but rules limiting the amount of regular-season games a D-1 program can play narrowed that list considerably. As a result, the staff had to consider alternative options, including local schools and teams that had faced lower-division opponents, which wouldn’t count against their games limit. According to a person inside the program, only “a select few” schools fit the necessary criteria, and even then, it would require buying out their game contract with another school.
Challenges in Scheduling a New Opponent
Coach Musselman explained that playing a Division I team would also risk affecting his team’s strength of schedule come tournament time. A worse matchup or a smaller margin of victory could have negative consequences, making it essential to find the right opponent. Additionally, with road trips to No. 2 Michigan and No. 6 Michigan State looming after the holiday break, Musselman wanted to ensure his team didn’t start that gauntlet coming off an extra four days away. “From a basketball standpoint,” Musselman said, “we could ill afford tonight to start our break.”
After consulting with scheduling experts, the staff decided that the best option was to find a team from the lower ranks of college basketball that was willing to take on the Trojans. This approach would allow USC to fill out its nonconference schedule without affecting its tournament resume. With this criteria in mind, the coaching staff settled on UC Santa Cruz, a 6-6 Division III team with losses to Chapman, Redlands, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
USC Dominates UC Santa Cruz
Despite being significant underdogs, the Banana Slugs didn’t go down without a fight. They came out firing from three-point range, hitting eight in the first half alone, and were down by just three points with seven minutes remaining in the half. However, USC’s advantage in every other category except outside shooting eventually caught up to Santa Cruz. The Trojans slammed home multiple alley-oops and dominated the glass, finishing with a 36-rebound advantage. Gabe Dynes finished with 16 points, five rebounds, and four blocks for the Trojans (12-1), while Jacob Cofie had 14 points and seven rebounds, and Ezra Ausar scored 15 points.
In the end, USC’s 102-63 victory over UC Santa Cruz was a welcome outcome, given the challenges the team faced in finding a replacement opponent. As the Trojans head into their holiday break, they can feel confident in their preparation for the upcoming road trips to Michigan and Michigan State. For more information on the game, visit Here
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