Trojans Men's Basketball Outlast Wichita State in Inaugural Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic

In the Inaugural Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic between No. 21 USC Trojans Men's basketball and the Wichita State Shockers, it was the Trojans that came away with a tight 93-86 victory. 

The tandem of Alijah Arenas and Rodney Rice lit up the stat sheet, with both players scoring 30-plus points each. Rice scored a team-high 32 points on 7-of-17 shooting and with nine assists, while Arenas scored 30 points on 9-of-18 shooting and with four rebounds.

The entirety of the first half was as tight as can be. 

USC got the scoring started courtesy of freshman twins Darius and Adonis Ratliff, each landing a bucket within the first minute and a half of the game. By the first media timeout, the Trojans led 9-3 after Rice's first made three-pointer extended USC's lead at the 16-minute mark. 

Arenas scored the Trojans' next six points before the Shockers went on a short, yet effective, 5-0 run to put them within one at 17-18. Wichita State would tie the game at 20 following Michael Gray Jr's. first made three at the 12-minute mark. 

Gray Jr. went a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and led the Shockers with 10 first-half points. 

The Shockers would utilize the three-ball to their advantage, finishing off the first half going 4-for-7 from the three-point line compared to the Trojans' abysmal 1-for-7 half. 

Fast forward a handful of minutes, and Wichita State relied on Gray Jr's. three-point shots to give them an eventual 27-21 lead at the 10 minute-mark. Arenas kept USC within striking distance at the free-throw line, but the Shockers responded at every turn. 

At one point, the Shockers held a 41-30 lead, but a 9-0 run down the stretch had the Trojans within two with less than two minutes left to play in the first half. 

Rice splashed two free throws with 38 seconds left to play in the half, but a sloppy sequence from the Trojans defensively allowed the Shockers' starting guard, Jordan Frison, to an easy fast break layup and gave Wichita State a 45-43 lead heading to the tunnel. 

At the beginning of the second half, Rice picked up right where he left off, draining the next seven USC points to give the Trojans a 50-45 lead. Gray Jr. continued his hot shooting from three-point land, draining two more threes to keep the Shockers within one. 

From then on, it was truly a horses race to the finish line. 

A back-and-forth articulated slug match throughout the final 15-ish minutes at Lake Tahoe proved to be a brutal, yet endearing test for head coach Eric Musselman and his squad. 

USC scored 8 of their last 10 field goals to seal the deal. 

With the win, the Trojans improve to 2-0 and have one more road game against the California Golden Bears on Nov. 11 before heading back home to the Galen Center on Nov. 15.