USC’s first true road test of the season came with some real resistance, but the Trojans handled it.
No. 21 USC went into Haas Pavilion on Wednesday and beat UC Berkeley 77-65, moving to 3-0 and stringing together three straight wins to open a season for the third year in a row. It also marked USC’s first true road win over a non-conference Power Five opponent in nine years.
Cal, sitting at 2-2 after major roster turnover, wasn’t about to roll over. The Golden Bears had won 22 games last season and were 17-5 at home a year ago, and they made USC work for every clean look early and late. Still, the Trojans had the answers when the game tightened.
“This was a huge week for us because it’s early in the season; we’re still trying to learn who we are,” Head Coach Eric Musselman said in a postgame news conference. “We’re extremely excited where we are now.”
The Trojans’ backcourt kept them on track again. Sophomore guard Alijah Arenas and senior guard Rodney Rice, fresh off 30-point outings in Lake Tahoe, led USC in scoring once more.
Arenas was the night’s most productive scorer with 19 points on 8-for-16 shooting, continuing a run of efficient play by hitting at least 50% from the field for the third straight game. He scored in a variety of ways, getting to the rim and working the midrange with confidence.
Rice didn’t match Arenas’ efficiency, but he still delivered 18 points and remained the safety valve when USC’s offense bogged down. Even on a night that felt quieter for him, he was still the guy the Trojans could lean on in one-on-one situations.
USC also got a major lift from Jacob Cofie. The junior forward played all 40 minutes and filled the box score with 12 points, six assists, three blocks and two steals, while also grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds. He was the center of everything USC did, especially with the ball moving through him on offense.
“[Cofie] was absolutely phenomenal - not just on the glass, but then he was our trigger man offensively that we were trying to play through. He was like a point center tonight for us, playing point guard at the center spot,” Musselman said.
That kind of production mattered even more because USC didn’t get much from the Ratliff twins. Freshmen Adonis Ratliff and Darius Ratliff, who opened the season with a combined 39 points against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, were largely erased in Berkeley. They played fewer than eight minutes, scored no points and combined for five fouls, leaving USC to adjust on the fly.
The Trojans still controlled the interior. Their size showed up on the glass, where they outrebounded Cal by 17 and finished with 53 rebounds, the most in a game during Musselman’s tenure. Junior guard KJ Lewis added 16 points, and junior guard Jadis Jones gave USC valuable minutes off the bench with six offensive rebounds among his 11 boards in 29 minutes.
Cal made USC sweat in the second half. Junior forward Sammie Yeanay and junior guard Nojus Indrusaitis helped the Bears trim the margin to one possession with less than 10 minutes left, but USC’s defense slammed the door from there. The Trojans held Cal to 4-for-23 shooting from 3-point range and allowed only three made field goals and nine points over the final eight minutes during a 16-5 closing run.
“Taking away the three was paramount,” Musselman said. “We changed up our rotation; we wanted to play a little bit small ball to be able to stay with their 3-point shooters. Coming into the game, we felt like [the rotation change] allowed us to take away the threes and crowd the perimeter a little bit more.”
USC now heads back home to face Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which is 0-3, on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Galen Center.
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