USC Trojans Cap Off Exhibition Slate With Victory Over SDSU

The USC Trojans Men's Basketball squad capped off their exhibition games with a classy 85-68 win over the San Diego State Aztecs. 

Head coach Eric Musselman went with a starting lineup that consisted of Alijah Arenas, Rodeny Rice, Jacob Cofie, Adonis Ratliff, and Darius Ratliff. 

The Trojans went 2-1 in their three exhibition slate, most recently defeating the UC San Diego Tritons with an 80-74 final score. In that contest, the tandem of Arenas and Rice led the Trojans in points — Arenas with 22 points and Rice with 26 — in the win. 

Fast forward to Friday and the duo was back at it against the Trojans. 

Rice led all USC players with 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting and added five assists and two steals. The senior guard has averaged 24.0 points during these exhibition games. 

Arenas, on the other hand, was right behind his teammate — recording a double-double with 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the floor and 12 rebounds. 

In all three exhibition games, both Rice and Arenas have led USC in the scoring department. 

The Trojans found their rhythm in the first half, capping off the first 20 minutes with a 51-31 lead entering the tunnel. SDSU kept pace with USC, only being down by seven by the second media timeout in the first half, but a Trojans 6-0 run forced an Aztecs timeout with a 36-23 Trojans lead. 

USC extended that run to an 11-0 run following an Arenas three-pointer. By halftime, Arenas was leading the team with 15 points, with Rice right behind him with 13 points. 

By the first media timeout of the second half, USC picked up right where they left off, quickly ballooning their lead to a 60-39 deficit. But that's when the Aztecs would begin punching back. 

SDSU went on a 9-0 run, cut USC's lead to 62-48, and found themselves back in the game. They ended that run by going on a 14-2 run, with the Trojans still leading 66-53. 

USC would not let up from there, as Arenas lit up the scoresheet offensively and the Aztecs' scoring faltered in the process. 

That does it for the exhibition games, and now USC looks ahead to their season opener on Nov. 2 against the Milwaukee Panthers at the Galen Center. The Trojans will open up their season with the first two games at the Galen Center before heading on the road against the California Golden Bears.