USC basketball has huge opportunity at Northwestern

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After a massive upset of No. 7 Michigan State on Saturday, USC men’s basketball will hit the road this week. Up first is a trip to face a Northwestern team on Tuesday that will be playing without its best player. On Saturday, Wildcats head coach Chris Collins announced that senior guard Brooks Barnhizer will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury. Obviously, then, he will not be in action on Tuesday night when the Trojans come to town.

Losing Barnhizer is a major blow for Northwestern. His 17.1 points per game were good for second on the team, to go along with 8.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 2.3 steals. The Wildcats had already fallen well off of their NCAA Tournament pace from the past two seasons, and losing perhaps their best all around player should only make things worse.

For the Trojans, on the other hand, it is a major break. Without Barnhizer, Northwestern is a matchup that USC should win. However, the Trojans cannot get caught looking ahead, as they face another top-10 test on Friday when they visit Purdue.

USC needs to stack several wins in a row to feel it has a decent shot at making the NCAA Tournament. The Trojans, if they are on the bubble at all, are on the wrong side of it. A little four-game winning streak would change that. This is a game USC basketball simply has to find a way to win with Barnhizer out for Northwestern.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC basketball knows Northwestern lacks Brooks Barnhizer

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/usc-basketball-huge-opportunity-northwestern-164333004.html

Author : Trojans Wire

Publish date : 2025-02-04 16:43:00

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