What’s gone wrong with the USC Trojans so far this season?
The last Pac-12 men’s basketball season begins on Thursday and in one of the openers, an under-performing USC Trojans squad comes into Matthew Knight Arena to play an injury-riddled Oregon team.
It’s not quite the scenario either team planned on when the season got underway, but the Ducks do get Keeshawn Barthelemy back this week with Mookie Cook and N’Faly Dante expected to be back soon.
As for the Trojans, it’s not injury, but chemistry. The talent is there, but as we discussed with TrojansWire editor Matt Zemek, coach Andy Enfield needs to figure some things out. We asked if there’s still time to turn this around and if they do, what needs to happen.
“Enfield has to rework his offense. Too much dribbling. Too many isolation plays. Not nearly enough ball movement,” he said. “One thing I thought Isaiah Collier would bring to the table was an ability to draw defenders on drives and then throw lob passes to the big men for dunks and layups. We have seen very little of that. Enfield has this roaring Ferrari at point guard but can’t figure out how to start the ignition and get the car out of the garage. It’s beyond depressing.”
That’s exactly the kind of offense Oregon is looking to hurt opponents with, but the Ducks haven’t had point guard Jackson Shelstad and Dante on the floor at the same time yet. Oregon can only hope the Trojans don’t figure it out until after the game on Thursday. If they don’t gain some chemistry this season or if it’s too late, Zemek says Enfield is skating on thin ice.
“The coach just hasn’t been up to the job, and unless USC can scramble and make the NCAA Tournament — it will need to have a monster Pac-12 season (maybe three or four losses maximum) — Enfield should be fired,” he said. “This was his huge chance to establish long-term job security and lift USC to a higher level. Instead, he is face-planting. There have to be consequences for that. This was a prove-it season. Enfield is proving he can’t hack it.”
College basketball is a game of adjustments and most of the time, last-minute, down-to-the-wire adjustments. Most Duck fans would take Dana Altman any day and it sounds like Trojan fans would take Altman too in this case.
