LOS ANGELES — USC women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb used some pre-game inspiration from “Ted Lasso,” challenging the 10th-ranked Trojans to get out of their comfort zone.

It worked.

JuJu Watkins scored 25 of her 31 points over the final two quarters and the Trojans routed Arizona State, 81-63, on Friday night at the Galen Center.

Playing her first home game since scoring a career-high 51 points in an upset of Stanford last week, Watkins started slowly. She had just six points on 3-of-12 shooting at halftime, including two airballs in the first quarter.

She also finished with seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and went 8 for 9 at the free-throw line as the Trojans (17-4 overall, 7-4 Pac-12) won their third in a row.

After being held to just nine points in the first quarter, Arizona State closed to 38-31 on Trayanna Crisp’s 3-pointer to open the third.

But the Trojans answered, going on a 12-2 run to extend their lead to 50-33. Watkins scored six and McKenzie Forbes had four, including a steal and layup. Forbes finished with 18 points.

“Our energy was really good,” Gottlieb said. “We established ourselves inside the paint.”

Watkins scored USC’s final five points of the third for a 59-45 lead in front of “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis. She put on a show, battling in the paint and snaking through defenders to score.

“I’m totally starstruck,” Gottlieb said. “I was excited to see him here tonight.”

Watkins and Forbes combined to score the Trojans’ first 13 points of the fourth for a 72-50 lead. USC stretched its lead to 81-56 on Watkins’ layup before she sat down for good after playing 37 minutes.

“We just found another gear,” Gottlieb said. “We know we have an interior athletic presence and talented bigs and we challenged them to assert themselves.”

The Sun Devils (10-13, 2-9) have dropped nine of their last 11 games and remain mired in last place in the league. They were led by Jalyn Brown with 24 points. Crisp added 17. Crisp, Jaddan Simmons and Journey Thompson each had four fouls as ASU had just seven players available.

The Trojans led by 19 in the second quarter until they were outscored 14-5 over the final minutes to go into halftime leading 38-28.

BIG PICTURE

Arizona State: The Sun Devils couldn’t keep up with the bigger Trojans and got outscored 46-30 in the paint.

USC: The Trojans’ defense forced 13 turnovers, had six blocked shots and outrebounded ASU 42-28, led by Rayah Marshall with 16 boards. She added 13 points. “I came out in the first quarter and it was tough to get my feel for offense,” Marshall said. “My teammates told me to keep shooting the ball.”

UP NEXT

USC hosts Arizona on Monday at 6 p.m.

Inside the most hostile of environments on Wednesday night at Cal’s Haas Pavilion, a packed gym jeering like a cage match and booing Bronny James every single time he touched the ball, this USC basketball team somehow managed to string together enough stops and Isaiah Collier drives to flip a 15-point deficit into an overtime battle. They rarely quit on games, and players and coaches have stuck around long after the close of practices for pow-wows to try to figure out what’s gone wrong; for bickering over playing time and Boogie Ellis’ comments that this team needed to “have some more pride,” they have still battled through the nightmare.

On the other hand, they are fatally raw. This can’t be understated. There was a stretch, in that second-half comeback against Cal, when Bronny James missed two free throws, USC got a stop, then Kobe Johnson missed quite literally a point-blank uncontested layup, then USC got another stop, and then Johnson missed two free throws. They continue to be dominated on the glass; James, at a generous 6-foot-4, led the Trojans with five rebounds. They continue to leave points at the line; they shoot 70% as a group.

“It’s frustrating,” Enfield said afterward, when asked about the inconsistency of a Trojans team (9-14 overall, 3-9 and last place in the Pac-12) that competes is its own worst enemy at times.

“When you say, how do you fight through it, or how do you prepare – our guys, their attitudes have been great,” Enfield said, later, to another question. “I mean, they wanted to win this game. They fought. In the locker room afterward, they were very upset that we lost the game, and I think they’re going to come out Saturday and play as hard as they can.”

There is desperately little time – eight games, starting with Stanford (11-11, 6-6) on Saturday night, and a Pac-12 tournament – to make something of this Jekyll-and-Hyde group. And that trip to Las Vegas, in March, is the absolute last chance this USC team has to make the NCAA tournament, an expected goal before the start of the season. When asked after the loss to Cal, Collier said he still felt the group could win the conference tournament, because what else could he say, really?

Except he actually seemed to mean it.

“I feel like this game is a huge lesson for us,” Collier said.

Squint, very narrowly, and there’s a non-zero chance. Collier and Ellis are back healthy, and USC has its full roster available for what seems like the first time all year. If USC beats Washington in March to finish as the 10th seed for the Pac-12 tourney, the Trojans would most likely play a team like Stanford or Cal in the first round, assuming current standings continue somewhat close to form. Win that game, and they’d play the No. 2 seed in the next round, most likely Washington State or Oregon. The Pac-12 is incredibly middle-heavy in this final season, and USC could conceivably not have to face Arizona – easily the best team in the conference – until the tournament championship.

“This is college sports,” Enfield said after the loss to Cal. “You don’t win every game. You gotta fight through the adversity.”

USC AT STANFORD

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

Where: Maples Pavilion, Stanford

TV/radio: ESPNU/790 AM

Sheer joy erupted this Sunday night, through storm and wind and smiles breaking free from ponchos, USC’s Spirit of Troy student band braving the elements to surprise the women’s basketball team as soon as it got off the bus from a trip up north. Fresh off conquering Stanford and Cal, teammates formed a sort of impromptu dance circle around freshman JuJu Watkins, swaying to the instrumental of DJ Khaled’s “All I Do is Win.” Watkins, somehow, ended up with a mock Trojan sword in her right hand; she hit a little jig, senior McKenzie Forbes grabbing her hand and combusting in laughter.

They are the best show on campus these days, the greatest source of pride around USC, a once-dormant program rising to national contention as Watkins has single-handedly accelerated a program rebuild set in motion by third-year coach Lindsay Gottlieb. The freshman is a magnetic blend of natural charisma and prodigal skill, nearly breaking basketball Twitter with a record-breaking 51-piece against Stanford; the world has woken up to Watkins, and her rising tide is soaring all boats. A few days ago, Gottlieb gathered her team for a preview of Watkins’ SLAM Magazine cover, teammates trading awestruck grins as Watkins bowed her head in a mixture of embarrassment and humility.

“I think it’s important – like, how many faces of the game at this age have been young African-American women?” Gottlieb said in early January. “Like, she should have her own Nike shoe, at some point. She should be the center of a campaign.”

Behind Watkins, Forbes and junior big Rayah Marshall, they are the trailblazers. They are the upstarts. They are the hunters, dancing in the rain.

Check that. They were. 

There is no way to operate under the radar anymore, when Watkins physically broke the radar after vanquishing then-No. 4 Stanford. Teams in the Pac-12 are throwing entire defensive schematics at Watkins, forced too to respect Forbes, USC (16-4 overall, 6-4 Pac-12) faced with the reality that it is ranked No. 10 in the country and close to the top of a rebuild that started just two years ago.

“Now, all of a sudden, it’s shifted to, ‘Dang, we know they’re good, and we’re going to put all our eggs into trying to stop them,’” Gottlieb said Jan 31. “And so, we’re talking to our team about, ‘OK, then, what’s next for us?’”

After USC lost to Washington in a sloppy game on Jan. 28, continuing an up-and-down stretch in the Pac-12, Gottlieb hosted the toughest film session of the year that following Monday. On-court adjustments needed to be made, sure; but the group’s mentality had to shift, the coach reflected. Washington – and other teams – were taking aim at USC. Not the other way around.

“Sitting at 4-4, I should have everyone’s attention,” Gottlieb said on Jan. 31. “We’re not ahead of – like, now our standards for ourselves are really high.”

They responded in kind over the weekend, Watkins carrying them against Stanford and then a variety of Trojans chipping in against Cal.

“We’ve got plenty of opportunities to also be the hunter,” Gottlieb said, “but we gotta also understand that, in the midst of that, we’re the hunted quite a bit.”

The X-factor in the middle of that, with a deep run into the NCAA tournament legitimately possible, is Marshall, who got off to a dominant start but has looked disengaged offensively ever since missing USC’s rematch with UCLA in January. In her first 11 games, she averaged 13 points a game on 51.3% shooting; in six games since her return, she’s averaged 3.7 points a night on 31% from the floor. The Pac-12 is ripe with dominant bigs – conference success down the stretch will hinge largely on Marshall’s ability to rediscover a presence and rhythm in the paint.

“I need to do a better job of freeing her up and getting her good, early looks, and I think she needs to be confident and fight her way to some easy ones and get to some things she knows she can get,” Gottlieb said. “And I’m sure she’ll get her rhythm back, and her confidence back.”

She’s got a prime opportunity Friday night against Arizona State (10-12, 2-8), a team without much of an interior presence and without a single player who averages even five rebounds per game.

No. 10 USC vs. ARIZONA STATE

When: Friday, 7 p.m.

Where: Galen Center

TV/radio: Pac-12 Los Angeles/790 AM

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  USC guard Bronny James, right, watches the ball get away as Cal guard Zach Brooker defends during the first half on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Cal guard Jalen Cone, right, shoots as USC guard Bronny James defends during the first half on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  USC guard Bronny James drives as Cal’s Jaylon Tyson defends during the first half on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  Lakers star LeBron James watches warmups from the stands before USC’s game against Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Cal guard Jaylon Tyson, center, is defended by USC guard Boogie Ellis, left, and forward Joshua Morgan during the first half on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Cal guard Jaylon Tyson, right, shoots as USC forward Joshua Morgan defends during the first half on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  USC coach Andy Enfield shouts to his players from the sideline during the first half of their game against Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Cal’s Grant Newell dunks during the first half of their game against USC on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  USC’s Bronny James holds the ball as Cal’s Jaylon Tyson defends during the first half on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  Lakers star LeBron James and his wife, Savannah James, watch their son Bronny James play for USC during the Trojans’ game against Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  Cal guard Jalen Cone shoots next to USC guard Bronny James during the first half on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Cal guard Jalen Cone celebrates after scoring during the first half of their game against USC on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Cal’s Jalen Cone celebrates after a basket during the first half of their game against USC on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  USC guard Bronny James brings the ball up the court during the first half of their game against Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  Cal forward Fardaws Aimaq dunks during the first half of their game against USC on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Cal guard Keonte Kennedy shoots as USC guard Oziyah Sellers defends during the first half on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Cal coach Mark Madsen gestures from the sideline during the first half of their game against USC on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Cal guard Jalen Cone looks to pass the ball as USC forward Vincent Iwuchukwu defends during the first half on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Lakers star LeBron James shouts to his son, USC guard Bronny James, during USC’s game against Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  USC guard Bronny James, right, shoots as Cal forward Fardaws Aimaq defends during the second half on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Cal guard Keonte Kennedy (3) celebrates after scoring during the second half of their overtime win against USC on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  USC guard Isaiah Collier soars to the basket for a dunk during the second half of their game against Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  USC guard Isaiah Collier, right, and Cal guard Jalen Celestine vie for the ball during the second half on Wednesday night in Berkeley. The Trojans erased a 16-point second-half deficit to force overtime before losing, 83-77. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  USC forward Kijani Wright shoots over Cal forward Fardaws Aimaq during the second half on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Cal’s Jalen Celestine, center, is congratulated by Jaylon Tyson, left, after scoring during overtime of their game against USC on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  Cal guards Jaylon Tyson, right, and Jalen Celestine celebrate during their overtime victory over USC on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  USC’s Bronny James handles the ball as Cal’s Jaylon Tyson defends on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  Cal’s Jalen Cone, top, passes the ball as USC’s DJ Rodman defends on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  Cal’s Jalen Cone (15) celebrates after he made a 3-point shot during overtime in their game against USC on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  Cal’s Jaylon Tyson drives as USC’s Kobe Johnson defends on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  Cal’s Jaylon Tyson shoots over USC’s Kobe Johnson during their game on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  Cal guard Jaylon Tyson celebrates after their overtime victory over USC on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Cal coach Mark Madsen, right, hugs Lakers star LeBron James after Cal defeated USC and James’ son, Bronny James, in overtime on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  USC guard Bronny James greets his father, Lakers star LeBron James, after their overtime loss to Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  USC guards Bronny James, left, and Boogie Ellis warm up before their game against Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Lakers star LeBron James stands in the crowd before USC’s game against Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

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  USC guard Bronny James warms up before their game against Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

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  Lakers star LeBron James and his wife, Savannah James, watch their son Bronny James play for USC during the Trojans’ game against Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

BERKELEY — Nothing was working in front of the cacophony of jeers and swells from a packed Haas Pavilion, and Isaiah Collier couldn’t be a savior, because that was simply too much to put on a 19-year-old’s shoulders.

USC’s freshman point guard was back, surprisingly quickly, after not having played for a month with a hand injury. And he looked it for the better part of 30 minutes on Wednesday night against Cal, his touch gone rusty. He had just a handful of points by the time he careened to the basket a few minutes into the second half, pausing in mid-air and deciding to dump off a pass in the paint, the ball flying out of bounds. And assistant coach Eric Mobley glanced at him incredulously from the bench, holding his left hand high in a motion with only one meaning.

Go up with it. 

And for 13 subsequent minutes in a miraculous comeback against Cal, Collier shredded the pressures that had fallen on his shoulders ever since he had entered USC’s program, tasked as a freshman with leading a free-flowing Andy Enfield offense in a season that was slipping away. He played free, firing himself at the rim like a cannonball with arms and legs, each drive and whistle on an incredulous Golden Bear chipping away at a double-digit Cal lead. And miraculously, USC pushed a once-sloppy game into overtime minutes.

But they fell one play short, one gut-wrenching play short, and Collier and USC (9-14 overall, 3-9 Pac-12) walked off Cal’s jubilant home floor holding a debilitating 83-77 overtime loss.

“This is college sports,” Enfield, the USC coach, said postgame. “You don’t win every game. You gotta fight through the adversity. A lot of teams go through this, a lot of players, coaches … no one feels sorry for us, so we don’t expect it.”

With under 30 seconds left in a barnburner in overtime, the ball again in the freshman’s hands, Collier got a wide-open lane to the basket and went up with a layup – only for Cal’s Fardaws Aimaq to get enough of an arm in front of Collier’s attempt to send it clanking short. Collier thought he got fouled. Enfield thought he got fouled, saying after the game there was contact to Collier’s head. But no whistle sounded, and the Golden Bears (10-13, 6-6 Pac-12) closed out a win, senior Jaylon Tyson bellowing and waving his arms to an arena in sheer delirium.

USC’s hopes looked cooked by the first play of the second half, Aimaq snaring his own rebound and kicking out for a 3-pointer that extended Cal’s lead to 14 points. With 10 minutes left, Collier knifed for an and-one finish to cut Cal’s lead to six and quiet the crowd – only for Tyson to immediately re-ignite them with a 3-pointer in Johnson’s face to beat the shot clock. A pass to DJ Rodman went right through his hands in the corner. Tyson fired a loose ball off of USC’s legs to earn an extra possession. A collection of red zip-ups on USC’s coaching bench drooped their heads.

“It is frustrating … stuff like that, that’s just us,” Enfield said postgame, referring to one second-half stretch when USC missed four free throws and then a layup. “That’s our team. Meaning, we control that. It’s not what the other team is doing.”

Then Collier, in the most brilliant stretch of his young USC career, simply shifted into turbo. He didn’t start, this night, returning after a month-long absence from a hand injury sustained on Jan. 10 against Washington State. But he closed. And closed hard.

Trailing by 11, he skied to the rim for another and-one finish. Seconds later, he nabbed a steal off a brilliantly timed full-court press and ascended for a thunderous cock-back tomahawk dunk. He scored eight of USC’s next 10 points, eschewing an innate table-setter’s nature and re-activating dormant genes of a hard-hitting youth football safety growing up in Georgia, clapping his hands and bellowing after parading to the free-throw line. Miraculously, after falling behind by 16 early in the second half, Collier’s push and a swarming USC defensive effort pulled the Trojans to within a single point on a final possession – and after a rebound, Collier again attacked the basket, bellowing in ecstasy after drawing yet another whistle.

“You saw his competitive spirit … no one’s perfect, but he sure tried as hard as he could to help us win,” Enfield said.

He made his first free throw, tying the score at 67-all with 27.7 seconds left. But he missed his second, and the game headed to overtime after Tyson missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

And USC and Cal went back and forth in the extra frame, trading punches, a raucous crowd responding with every blow. With less than a minute left, Cal’s Jalen Cone drained a corner 3-pointer to put the Golden Bears ahead by four, only for the Trojans’ Rodman to respond right back with a 3-pointer of his own. It was tantalizingly close, a tremendous display of resilience from a USC team that had too often wilted.

But Collier missed a layup, and Rodman missed a late 3-point attempt that would have again cut Cal’s lead to one, and the Trojans were left with nothing to show for perhaps their gutsiest performance of the season.

“I feel like we can still accomplish a lot of things … it’s our first game back since February with a whole team,” Collier said.

BY THE NUMBERS

Collier finished 4 for 13 from the field but 12 for 16 from the foul line. He had 14 points in the last 7½ minutes of regulation. Rodman had 17 points. … Tyson had 27 points to pace Cal, while Jalen Celestine had six of his 11 points in overtime, including three free throws in the last 24 seconds.

An OT thriller in Berkeley

Cal outlasts USC in front of a packed house & behind Jaylon Tyson's 27 points. Highlights @sproutsfm pic.twitter.com/ebwdKGaqKb

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) February 8, 2024

But Noelle was shocked, really, because Walker had shown no signs of wavering on his pledge to Michigan State. A wide receiver and outside linebacker at Portage Northern High in Michigan, he had committed to the Spartans on Sept. 9 – all but hours before USA Today broke news of sexual harassment allegations against head coach Mel Tucker. Noelle sat her son down, that same day, and asked him what he wanted to do. Walker told her he wanted to stay committed. Loyalty ran deep.

Two weeks later, though, Tucker was officially and unceremoniously fired by Michigan State, setting off a month-long period in limbo before the Spartans hired Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith. The staff changed. And suddenly, amid uncertainty over those changes and with less than a month left until early signing day, USC swooped in with an all-out push – with Lincoln Riley, newly hired defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn and linebackers coach Matt Entz all flying out to visit Walker.

“He was like, ‘I just feel like there’s a reason USC reached out to me,’” Noelle said, and it was enough to persuade Walker to stay away from putting pen to paper with Michigan State on the early signing day in December.

And it was enough, too, to get Walker to officially flip from Michigan State to USC on signing day on Wednesday, signing his national letter of intent to complete USC’s 2024 class. It wasn’t the only last-minute pivot; Carlsbad defensive lineman Ratumana Bulabalavu, who de-committed from Washington after head coach Kalen DeBoer departed for Alabama in the carousel caused by Nick Saban’s retirement, signed his NLI to USC a day after officially committing.

Los Alamitos High cornerback Isaiah Rubin, who had previously committed to the Trojans, also signed his letter of intent on Wednesday.

On paper, top to bottom, USC’s 2024 class is noticeably light on offensive talent and blue-chip recruits, particularly missing out on some of the top talent in California. But after recruiting just eight defensive players in 2023, Riley placed clear emphasis on drawing defensive talent after the winter hires of Lynn, Matt Entz, Doug Belk and Eric Henderson, leading to a class with depth at nearly every defensive area: 13 of USC’s 2024 commits come on the defensive side of the ball, their most since 2019.

“It’s going to be scary for everybody else,” Walker said Wednesday.

Few defensive linemen in the 2024 class have been as prolific as Bulabalavu in high school, a 6-foot-4, 260-pound pass-rusher who racked up 60½ sacks his past three years at Carlsbad’s Army and Navy Academy. He’s been recruited in large part by returning edge coach Shaun Nua, and he stands as the first defensive line commit brought in during the Henderson era, the former Rams assistant coach hitting the 2025 recruiting trail with ferocity since his hire in mid-January.

Walker’s flip addresses a key need for both USC’s 2024 class and immediate depth: USC had just one freshman, Desman Stephens (Michigan), incoming at inside linebacker. Walker said USC recruited him to fit as a will (weakside) linebacker in Lynn’s defensive scheme; at 6-3 and 210 pounds, he recognized he’d have to put on some weight entering the fall.

“Coach Riley flying out, Coach Lynn flying out, Coach Entz, it just kinda showed love … it just showed they wanted me more, I guess,” Walker said.

The 6-1, 170-pound Rubin, a four-star recruit, is ranked the No. 25 player in California by 247Sports and No. 26 by ESPN. He is touted as the No. 32 cornerback in the country by 247Sports, No. 37 by ESPN and No. 48 by Rivals.com. In addition to playing defensive back, Rubin is considered a talented kick return specialist.

For yet another night across a month-long breakout, Sellers had shouldered increased shot-making responsibilities, scoring 12 points in a blowout of Oregon State on Saturday. That wasn’t Enfield’s focus, though. The young man could score. That’s why they recruited him, Enfield said later.

“He actually had three rebounds tonight – so, you know, first three rebounds of his career, so it was pretty impressive,” Enfield cracked postgame, taking a pause and then doubling down in the middle of a subsequent question. “It fell into his hands, by the way.”

He tripled down, later, on another question about Sellers: they were his first three rebounds “since grade school,” actually. And after practice on Monday, Sellers broke into a full-bore grin when asked about Enfield’s ribbing.

“Andy, he makes his jokes,” Sellers smiled. “That’s pretty funny.”

Ah, that old saying, though: behind every joke is a shred of truth, or however it goes. Sellers’ profile in high school at Southern Cal Academy, through recruitment, was a shooter. He didn’t play much in 25 games during his freshman year at USC, taking a total of 31 shots – 19 of them from 3-point range – because his game hadn’t evolved much. You can’t play at this level as just a shooter, Enfield said after the Oregon State game, unless you’ve got four other players on the court who do everything.

Even now, Sellers pointed down to the opposite end of the court after practice on Monday, he hears the same chatter from opposing benches every game.

Shooter! Shooter! Shooter!

“I still can do a better job,” Sellers said, “so I want to keep proving that.”

Simply put, the sophomore doesn’t seem to like people putting him in a box. And after a quiet freshman year, a lanky Sellers added 15 pounds to his 6-foot-5 frame, emerging as a sneaky breakout candidate in a USC rotation ripe with guards. Still, production didn’t exactly come in waves in increased minutes through this season’s first two months.

Then freshman point guard Isaiah Collier went down with a hand injury in a loss to Washington State in early January, and a switch flipped.

“It was definitely a conversation with the coaches, and myself realizing that I have to step up and take a bigger role,” Sellers said.

Ever since, across a six-game stretch playing 20-plus minutes per night, Sellers has looked like a completely different player, averaging 11.5 points per game and assuming increased ballhandling responsibilities. His reputation from opposing benches has been well-earned, as he’s draining 3-point shots at a 45% clip this season; but Sellers’ development as a future three-level scorer has been clear, often utilizing a couple of dribbles and a high release to flash a silky midrange game.

His development defensively, as well, prompted Enfield to slot Sellers into USC’s starting lineup against Oregon State in lieu of struggling captain Kobe Johnson. And a three-guard alignment of senior Boogie Ellis, freshman Bronny James and Sellers seemed to unlock a perimeter movement and flow that had come in fits and starts for USC (9-13 overall, 3-8 Pac-12) all season, with three shooters each capable of driving and kicking off the catch.

“You can’t play that small if you don’t defend and rebound,” Enfield said after the Oregon State win. “And so, those are our three smallest guys, and I thought they really were tough on defense and they shared the basketball.”

If Enfield turns to Sellers and James again against Cal (9-13, 5-6) on Wednesday night – likely, as what’s not broken need not be fixed – it will leave Johnson on the bench for the second straight game, an odd arrangement for one of USC’s captains. The junior wing didn’t check in against Oregon State until 15 minutes into the first half. Still, Enfield emphasized Johnson’s importance at practice Monday.

“If we’re going to have success on this road trip, we need Kobe to play well,” Enfield said.

USC (9-13 overall, 3-8 Pac-12) AT CAL (9-13, 5-6)

When: Wednesday, 8 p.m.

Where: Haas Pavilion, Berkeley

TV/radio: Pac-12 Network/790 AM

Two years later, he tugged on a USC hat in front of a wall of Team USA jerseys – and made history, yet again.

Frech, a Paralympian and world record holder in the T63 high jump, announced to his 131,000-plus Instagram followers on Monday that he has committed to USC’s track and field team. According to Team USA, the 18-year-old Frech is the first above-the-knee amputee in history to commit to a Division I track program.

“I’m excited to continue my academic and athletic career competing against able-bodied athletes at … the University of Southern California,” Frech said in an Instagram video, unzipping his jacket to reveal a USC shirt. “Let’s go, Trojans! Fight on, baby!”

It’s a truly monumental get for USC track coach Quincy Watts, as Frech will join USC following the Paris Summer Olympics. That will be his second stint as a Paralympian, as Frech finished fifth in the men’s T63 high jump with a mark of 1.80 meters (5 feet, 9 inches), before setting the world record at the 2023 Para Athletics World Championship at 1.95 meters (6 feet, 4 inches).

According to his website, Frech was born with congenital limb differences and missing fingers, having his left leg amputated when he was 2½ years old and a toe transplanted to his left hand. He’s since become a widespread inspiration and viral sensation, documenting his track journey through his social media accounts. In 2013, he and his father Clayton founded Angel City Sports, an organization that provides equipment and clinics for para-athletes. The organization has hosted the Angel City Games, an event for adaptive sports and athletes with disabilities, annually since 2015.

At the end of the day, the caption on his Instagram announcement spoke for itself.

“HISTORY.”

Ultimately, in a landmark push to grant Northwestern football players employee status back in 2015, the NLRB declined to assert jurisdiction. In one simple decision, the board shut down more than a year of legal battles – including a regional director’s ruling in favor of the employee designation. And thus, the USC lawyer professed a decade later: this case was a “square peg in a round hole.”

Precedent is out the window, now.

On Monday, Laura Sacks, the NLRB’s regional director in Boston, ruled that members of the Dartmouth men’s basketball team were employees of the university and therefore could vote on union representation. It’s a landmark decision after players filed a petition to unionize in September – the first legal stamp on NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo’s Sept. 2021 position that certain college athletes were employees under the National Labor Relations Act. And it provides a clear path forward for the NLRB’s fight on a different front: an ongoing hearing attempting to prove USC football and basketball players are employees of both the university, the Pac-12 and the NCAA.

The Dartmouth decision was a “good omen” for the USC case, said Ramogi Huma, director of the National College Players Association, who first filed a complaint against USC over the designation of “student-athletes” in 2022.

“This push, we’re 2 for 2,” Huma said, referring to Dartmouth and the NLRB regional director’s decision in the Northwestern case. “And we’re soon going to be 3 for 3.”

It’s a multi-pronged effort that continues to poke holes in the NCAA’s longstanding definition of amateurism, setting up a distant future when athletes could bargain and negotiate everything from contracts to labor protections. And the Dartmouth ruling is “very significant,” according to Michael LeRoy, a professor at the University of Illinois and expert in sports labor law – the first true ruling in the Abruzzo regime declaring that college athletes are employees.

The case could set direct precedent, too, for the NLRB-USC-NCAA hearing. Sacks’ decision came in large part because “Dartmouth has the right to control the work performed by the men’s varsity basketball team,” as stated in her findings; that’s been the key point of the NLRB counsel’s argument against USC. Former football players have testified extensively to the degree to which USC controlled their schedules, building a record that looks significant in the wake of Sacks’ stance. And Huma felt the NLRB’s case against USC was even stronger, given that the Dartmouth decision was reached despite the school not offering athletic scholarships – which the NLRB is arguing, in the USC hearing, is a form of compensation.

“Our case is different from the Dartmouth case factually, legally and procedurally,” USC wrote in a statement provided to the Southern California News Group. “We remain confident in our position and look forward to presenting another week of testimony when the live hearing continues later this month.”

The NCAA is “in the process of reviewing (Sacks’) decision and its potential impact on all schools and student-athletes,” an NCAA spokesperson said in a statement.

The ruling won’t have immediate ramifications. Dartmouth will appeal the decision, according to a spokesperson, and Huma estimated a final outcome could take up to three to four years. November’s presidential election could play a major factor in the outcome, too: the Joe Biden administration has been heavily for athletes’ rights, and another candidate winning could swiftly restructure the NLRB under different policy.

Still, Monday’s decision was a major step toward a complete restructuring of college sports.

“Twenty years from now, when the history of college athletics is written from a removed perspective, this case will be talked about as the start of a snowballing effect,” LeRoy said.

Watkins made 12 of 27 shots from the floor with two 3-pointers for the Trojans (16-4, 6-4 Pac-12 Conference). She added five assists, four rebounds, four steals and blocked two shots.

Watkins came in averaging 27.2 points per game, second in the nation only to the 32.4 average of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. Watkins was coming off a season-best 51-point performance, scoring all but 16 points in the Trojans’ 67-58 victory over No. 4 Stanford.

McKenzie Forbes totaled 12 points, five rebounds and five assists for USC. Kaitlyn Davis pitched in with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Joanna Krimili hit five 3-pointers and scored 21 to lead the Golden Bears (13-10, 3-8). Marta Suarez contributed 18 points and nine rebounds.

Krimili hit three 3-pointers and scored 11 to help Cal jump out to a 26-15 lead after one quarter.

Watkins sank 5 of 9 shots with two 3-pointers, scoring 14 points in the second quarter to get USC within 39-37 at halftime.

Davis made a layup and two free throws and Rayah Marshall and Watkins had layups in an 8-0 run to begin the fourth quarter and the Trojans never trailed again.

USC returns home to play Arizona State on Friday. Cal will take a four-game losing streak to Washington State for a Friday matchup.

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  USC guard Boogie Ellis (5) drives against Oregon State guard Dexter Akanno center Chol Marial during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

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  USC forward DJ Rodman (10) drives against Oregon State forward Michael Rataj (12) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

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  USC guard Bronny James (6) drives against Oregon State guard Jordan Pope (0) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

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  USC forward DJ Rodman (10) goes for a loose ball against Oregon State guard Josiah Lake II (2) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

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  USC guard Bronny James (6) drives to the basket against Oregon State center Chol Marial during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

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  USC forward Kijani Wright (33) dribbles against Oregon State forward Tyler Bilodeau during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

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  USC guard Kobe Johnson (0) goes to the basket against ,Oregon State forward Michael Rataj (12) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

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  USC guard Bronny James (6) dribbles during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Oregon State in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

LOS ANGELES – Besides the obvious of snapping a six-game losing streak, USC’s men’s basketball team may have done something equally as beneficial Saturday night.

Their 82-54 rout of Oregon State gave them a chance to feel better about themselves for a change. The frustration, the bad body language, the tension that comes with what could still be a season-defining slump? All gone, at least for one night, replaced by the opportunity to take some deep breaths and actually enjoy a Saturday evening for the first time in a while.

“Basketball is supposed to be a competitive sport, (and) have some fun doing it,” USC coach Andy Enfield said. “And if you lose too much, you don’t have much fun.”

It hasn’t been fun for a while, with injuries – 45 man games lost to injury or illness through Saturday – leading to scrambled lineups, players coming back and trying to re-integrate themselves into the mix, and frustration that in turn led to sagging spirits and bad body language.

It absolutely was not fun Thursday night against Oregon: The Trojans lost 78-69 and Enfield questioned his players’ toughness afterward, “behind closed doors, out in the street and everything else,” he said.

A particular irritant: USC’s big men, 6-11 Arrinten Page, 6-11 Joshua Morgan and 7-1 Vincent Iwuchukwu, had three, five and four rebounds apiece. DJ Rodman, at 6-6, led all comers that night with seven.

“Bigs got to rebound, OK?” Enfield said Saturday night. ” You can’t have a good rebounding team (without) your bigs. The bigs got to start it off. Your guards, it’d be nice if your guards rebound too. But you know Drew Peterson led us in rebounding last year, 7½ a game. And Drew’s not on our team right now. So big guys need to rebound the ball.”

The bigs weren’t much better rebounders Saturday night. But Rodman, for whom hunting the ball off the glass is a family trait, rose to the occasion – pun intended – with 14. USC outrebounded Oregon State 44-24 with 20 offensive rebounds. Kijani Wright, at 6-9, had five. Morgan had four as did 6-10 Harrison Hornery, who didn’t even play against Oregon and finished with a game-high 14 poins in 14:40 of playing time.

“I just told (Rodman) before the game, we need double-digit rebounds, so can you get 10 or more?” Enfield said. “He said, ‘I got you, coach.’ “

Said Rodman: “I’m not a high volume scorer, as everyone knows. I take what’s given to me. But one place I could make a difference was rebounding. I feel like I’m a pretty good rebounder. I mean, I haven’t had ten rebounds in a long time. So, that’s all I was trying to do.”

Maybe one reason Enfield laid down the challenge to Rodman was that the Trojans were going small from the start, using a three-guard lineup of Boogie Ellis, Oziyah Sellers and Bronny James. Those three led the Trojans in minutes, and they provided some energy from the start of a game that the Bruins never trailed.

It was USC’s 11th different starting lineup this year, and it also had this wrinkle: Kobe Johnson, one of the team’s captains and a starter in 19 of the previous 21 games, not only didn’t start but didn’t get into the game until 4:57 remained in the first half. Enfield didn’t address the move but it seemed to be more strategic than anything, and Johnson wound up playing 14:06 with four points, a rebound, four assists and a steal.

Still sidelined is Isaiah Collier, who suffered a hand injury against Washington State on Jan. 10, game 1 of the losing streak, but Enfield expressed optimism – hope? – that Collier would be back soon from a hand injury, possibly this coming week at Cal and Stanford. At that point they’ll have to work him back into the mix, but they should be accustomed to the process by now.

“Unfortunately, we’ve had a lot of experience of integrating players back on our team this year, so I’m sure we’ll figure it out or try to figure it out,” Enfield said. “As coaches, you just sometimes you put lineups out there and it works and sometimes it doesn’t work as much. So it’s a little unpredictable, but we just want to get him back, get him out there. He’s a big part of our team. And, you know, we can’t be the team we thought we could be without our full team roster being healthy and gelling together.”

But there’s this: You don’t realize how important a victory is until you’ve gone a while without one. Saturday night’s rout, which enabled the walk-ons to get in for the final two minutes, ended three full weeks of frustration.

“I mean, USC doesn’t lose six games in a row,” Hornery said. “We don’t lose two in a row. So we had to break the streak. And the fans are disappointed. The school’s disappointed in us, so we had to come out and prove ourselves.

“It is a relief, obviously. I mean, it takes a toll on you mentally losing that many games in a row. And I know I’ve never I don’t think I’ve lost three games in a row in my career since living in the U.S.”

For the record, Hornery came here from Australia to attend high school. He attended Mater Dei, so I suspect that comment was not embellished.

This is a start, and no more than that, he added: “We’re not acting like this is our championship. We just need to get something going into March and going into (the) Pac 12 (tournament) and just try and make a point.”

But you’ve got to start somewhere.

“Hopefully this will give our guys some confidence, and make them feel good that they can play at this level if they do the right things,” Enfield said.

jalexander@scng.com