Southern California heads to Evanston, Ill., on Tuesday hoping to build on a Top 10 win when it faces the slumping Northwestern Wildcats.
USC (13-8, 5-5 Big Ten) arrives brimming with belief after a 70-64 home win on Saturday over then-No. 7 Michigan State. Desmond Claude finished with 19 points and six rebounds for the Trojans, improving his team-leading scoring average to 16.2 points per game.
“Our team is a confident team,” USC coach Eric Musselman said after his side dealt the Spartans their first Big Ten defeat. “You lose a hard-fought game against UCLA at home (82-76 on Jan. 27), how are you going to respond? And then how are you going to respond when you’ve got two road games coming back?”
The Trojans play consecutive road games this week, as they will stay in the Midwest to face No. 7 Purdue on Friday. While USC will aim to pick up its third Top 20 win in Big Ten play against the Boilermakers — adding to the Saturday victory and an 82-72 triumph at Illinois on Jan. 11 — the Trojans cannot afford to overlook Northwestern.
The Wildcats (12-10, 3-8) carry a three-game losing streak into the Tuesday game as they seek to salvage something from their three-game homestand. Northwestern fell to Rutgers (79-72 on Jan. 29) and then-No. 17 Wisconsin (75-69 on Saturday), games that followed an 83-74 loss at Illinois on Jan. 26. The skid coincides with Brooks Barnhizer’s foot injury that went from painful to season-ending.
Barnhizer, averaging 17.1 points and team highs of 8.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, scored at least 20 points in three straight games after sustaining the injury Jan. 12 vs. Michigan State. However, after he labored through performances of three points at Illinois and 10 vs. Rutgers, Wildcats coach Chris Collins revealed through tears after the Saturday game that Barnhizer’s Northwestern career was over.
“Not only was he not moving well, but I could see it was mentally killing him,” Collins said. “He and I got together over the last couple days and had some real heart-to-hearts, and the decision was made to shut it down.”
That leaves 19.4-points-per-game scorer Nick Martinelli and 14.7-point producer Jalen Leach carrying the Northwestern offense.
For USC, Claude leads a contingent of four Trojans scoring at least 11 points per game, a group that also includes Chibuzo Agbo (11.7 ppg), Wesley Yates III (11.3 ppg) and Saint Thomas (11.0 ppg).
–Field Level Media
