USC falters vs. Wazzu as star Collier (hand) exits

• Paolo Uggetti, ESPNJan 11, 2024, 01:52 AM ET

LOS ANGELES– On a night when USC was playing short-handed and shot 37.9% from the field, star freshman Isaiah Collier hurt his right hand and could not complete the game as Washington State handed the Trojans their eighth loss of the season, 72-64.

With 12 minutes left and USC down 2 points, Collier turned the ball over, committed a nasty and left. He eventually went back to the bench sporting a brace on his right-hand man and some ice.Coach Andy

Enfield did not broaden on Collier’s injury after the game, while a USC representative said Collier’s injury had actually been officially diagnosed as a right hand contusion.Enfield stated that forward Joshua Morgan, who has anchored the group’s defense and is balancing 2.3 blocks, was eliminated 3 hours before tipoff with a concealed illness.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated In the face of an 10-5 Cougars team(1-3

Pac-12)that brought plenty of energy to the Galen Center, much of the load was left for senior Boogie Ellis to carry. Ellis, who finished with 18 points and 5 rebounds, was dipping into “about 60%,”according to Enfield, after tweaking his hamstring last weekend.”Boogie hasn’t practiced all week,” Enfield said.”It doesn’t excuse our missed free tosses, open shots or a few of the errors we made. “Without Morgan patrolling the center of the court, the Cougars outscored USC in the paint 34-28 and

shot 47% from the field, while also outrebounding the Trojans 38-32. The Wazzu bench scored 36 points to USC’s 16.”We’ve been pretty bad defensively this year, “Ellis said.Offensively, things were not much better.

USC missed out on 8 free tosses and shot 29%on 3-pointers.

Just Ellis and Collier (12 points )reached double figures.With LeBron James in participation, Bronny James went scoreless and shot 0-for-3 from the field while grabbing 2 rebounds

and tape-recording 1 assist in 15 minutes. He took a seat with 7 1/2 minutes left and didn’t return till the final 29 seconds since the Trojans went bigger down the stretch.In his last 2 games versus WSU and Stanford, Bronny has actually shot 0-for-7 from the field following a 10-point efficiency against Cal.

“All players go through stretches where they make and miss shots, “Enfleid said of Bronny.”It’s a process. “Last season, USC did not lose its 8th game up until Feb. 11. But after Wednesday night, the Trojans are 8-8 and 2-3 in the Pac-12. Any progress USC may

have made with its last two wins feels damaged by Wednesday’s outcome, which was the Cougars ‘first time beating the Trojans

on the roadway in nearly nine years.The Trojans, who have actually made the NCAA tournament the past three seasons, are in danger of missing out on March Madness.”At the end of the day, no one feels sorry for us

, “Ellis stated.”We simply got ta go keep working, keep pushing.”Information from The Associated Press was consisted of in this report

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