Somehow, things just keep getting worse for USC’s basketball team.
Four days after coach Eric Musselman lamented the early season loss of leading scorer Rodney Rice to injury, the Trojans found themselves down their next-best player.
Guard Chad Baker-Mazara took a tumble early in the second half against No. 12 Nebraska on Saturday at the Galen Center, depriving USC of the player who had taken over as the top scorer in Rice’s absence.
Predictably, the short-handed Trojans faltered the rest of the way during an 82-67 loss to the Cornhuskers. It’s the fifth consecutive defeat for a team with fading NCAA Tournament hopes.
Baker-Mazara suffered an apparent leg injury after going down hard along the baseline with 16:59 left in the game. He had just blocked a shot by Nebraska’s Pryce Sandfort in transition when he went down.
After heading into the tunnel leading to the locker room, Baker-Mazara returned to take a seat near Rice alongside fans on the baseline near the team’s bench.
The Trojans (18-11, 7-11 Big Ten) couldn’t find any semblance of offense with Baker-Mazara out of the game. After leading by five points at halftime, they were outscored, 51-31, in the second half while shooting only 38.5% and missing all nine 3-pointers.
USC didn’t get enough of a boost from guard Alijah Arenas, who scored 14 points — all in the second half — after coming off the bench for the first time this season. Baker-Mazara’s 14 points in a little more than a half tied Arenas for most on the team.
There wasn’t much to cheer — unless you were rooting for Nebraska. The large throng of Cornhuskers fans continually chanted “Go Big Red!” in the second half, and they weren’t referring to USC’s shade of cardinal.
What it means
With USC having fallen to No. 61 in the NET rankings going into Saturday, this was a win the Trojans had to have for NCAA Tournament purposes.
They couldn’t get it, remaining stuck on just two Quad 1 victories. They also fell to 9-6 at home, where they continue to play some of their worst basketball.
Turning point
After an inspired first half in which they took a 36-31 lead, the Trojans fell flat coming out of the locker room.
Baker-Mazara getting hurt certainly didn’t help.
Nebraska went on a 12-2 run capped on a Berke Buyuktuncel dunk off a lob from Jamarques Lawrence. The Cornhuskers later added a 15-0 run on the way to leading by as many as 20 points.
MVP
Everything USC tried defensively on Sandfort failed. Badly.
The crafty Nebraska forward was a game-long menace, finishing with 32 points while making 12 of 21 shots and 5 of 10 3-pointers. His 3-pointer with a little more than nine minutes left gave the Cornhuskers an 18-point lead and prompted another futile timeout from Musselman.
Up next
The Trojans will play at Washington on Wednesday before facing UCLA on March 7 at the Galen Center in the second game in 12 days between the crosstown rivals.