Ruben Report: USC Trojans come from behind to win first game in Greece

The play was ragged at times but the Trojans overcame an eleven-point first-half deficit to beat a good Serbian team Mega Mis 76-73. USC was without Bronny James and Vince Iwuchukwu, who is still recuperating from a back issue. Freshman forward Brandon Gardner was in uniform but didn’t play. Isaiah Collier showed glimpses of how good he can be and Boogie Ellis had an excellent game. Kobe Johnson played very well at both ends and the bigs contributed on offense at times.

The Trojans have a lot of height but they were clearly the smaller team in this game. The two teams will play again on Friday before USC leaves for Croatia for the final game of the trip.

A few things stood out. Arrinten Page is taller than he was listed when he signed with USC. He looks to be the same height as 6-foot-11 Josh Morgan. DJ Rodman looked smaller than his listed 6-foo-6 plus. And Kijani Wright has slimmed down and is much quicker and is leaping higher for rebounds.

The Trojans were behind by four at the half and by the same margin after three quarters; the game was played under international rules. The USC defense was good; most of the Mega points were scored inside by their big front line. The offense has some kinks to work out though the extra days of early practice time and these games will help a lot. Recall last year USC lost its opener to Florida Gulf Coast at home.

The USC Guards Dominated

Boogie Ellis led the Trojans with 25 points and looked like the pre season conference player of the year that he is supposed to be. He made a variety of shots and was USC’s only three-point threat. He also drove and scored at the rim. And Ellis appeared to benefit greatly from Isaiah Collier’s play at the point.

Isaiah finished with 20 points and showed flashes of being the best point guard the Trojans have had in decades, or maybe ever. Collier made one mid-range pull up from about eight feet; the rest of his scoring was on drives where his strength was apparent. He is not the typical skinny college point guard. He is built and is much quicker than he appears and he can really finish at the rim. Collier missed all of his outside shots, which is the only knock on him coming out of his high school. He played good defense and has excellent court vision and the ability to deliver the ball. He had several turnovers but I expect him to get more comfortable with his teammates the more they work together.

Kobe Johnson was excellent. He finished with 11 points and made the only three besides Boogie. He got his hands on a number of Mega passes and had several steals. If Bronny doesn’t return for some time or at all, USC will need Kobe to score even more.

The above trio had all of the Trojan points in the first half until Harrison Hornery made a shot on a Collier feed and Kijani made two free throws in the last minute

The Rest Of The Trojans Were Solid But Will Need To Contribute More

This team won’t reach its potential without Vince. And maybe it won’t without Bronny. There is not enough scoring from the rest of the squad.

DJ Rodman didn’t make a big mark on this game. He started at forward but outside of one basket, his main contribution was making two free throws with 26 seconds left to give USC a two-point lead. Josh Morgan made one of two from the line for the final margin.

Josh finished with 5 points including perhaps his best play as a Trojan. He received the ball near the three-point line left of the key and drove hard and quick to the right side of the rim for a monster dunk.

Kijani scored 6 points and looks much improved over last season. His improvement will be very big especially if Vince isn’t ready to go at full speed when the season starts in about three months.

Oziyah Sellers played a lot of minutes but didn’t have much of an impact on the game. He doesn’t appear to be a plus defender and missed several shots. He made a pull-up jumper for his only two points.

Harry looked a bit quicker than last season and for a short time he was on the court as part of a three big rotation. Arrinten is very athletic and if he really is 6’11” as he appeared to be he can play the four or five.

And One

The TV commentators were not on site and didn’t provide much insight. They didn’t have the in game stats and talked in generalities. The gym was very small with seating on one side of the court only and I’d guess the “crowd“ was in the 100-200 range.

The Mobley brothers were at the game; Evan was interviewed at halftime and he was far more outgoing than he was in his one season as a Trojan. The NBA seems to have helped him become a better interview.

The July practices and this trip will help the team and coaches greatly going forward. Isaiah needs to learn more about his teammates to be as effective as he can be. If Oziyah can make some shots it would make a big difference. But as of today, the team needs more outside scoring and scoring threats.

The post Ruben Report: USC Trojans come from behind to win first game in Greece appeared first on On3.