USC Men’s Basketball Heads To Evanston To Face Wildcats

Men’s Basketball | February 03, 2025

EVANSTON, Ill. – USC Men’s Basketball (13-8, 5-5 Big Ten) will head back to the Midwest for the first of two games this week. The Trojans will start with the Northwestern Wildcats, who are 12-10 on the year and 3-8 in Big Ten play. These two teams have not played each other since Dec. 27, 2000, when the Trojans lost by two in Evanston.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Trojans took on the hottest team in the Big Ten Conference in No. 7 Michigan State. USC took control of the game early as Desmond Claude grabbed the first four points of the game. From there, the Trojans built on their lead, going up by as many as 15 in the first half. This tough Michigan State team would not go down without a fight. The Spartans got within two of the Trojans before USC could pull away again. This resulted in USC pulling out the 70-64 win over the No. 7 Spartans.
 
Claude led all the Trojans in scoring as he posted 19 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists and a block. Two other Trojans earned double-digit points, and they were Wesley Yates III and Chibuzo Agbo. Yates finished the day with 15 points to go along with five rebounds and 100 percent shooting from beyond the arc, while Agbo notched 14 points, five rebounds and a steal.
 
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS

• Northwestern is currently 12-10 on the year while sitting at 3-8 in Big Ten play. The Wildcats are 10-3 at home this season, although they are currently on a three-game losing streak.
• The Wildcats are an aggressive, pass-heavy team. Despite leading the Big Ten in turnovers per game (9.8), Northwestern ranks fourth in the Big Ten in assist-turnover ratio (1.51), in turnover margin (4.0), and steals per game (7.8). Under Coach Chris Collins, Northwestern forced 13.8 turnovers per game and grabbed 10.9 offensive rebounds per game, which ranks in the top six in the Big Ten in each respective category.
• Junior forward Nick Martinelli leads the Big Ten in minutes per game (37.5) and total field goal attempts (329). Martinelli also ranks second out of all Big Ten players in total field goals made (157) and total points (426) this season. The Illinois native is averaging 19.4 points per game, which is the third-highest mark of any Big Ten player.
• Senior guard Brooks Barnhizer is crucial to the team’s efforts as he ranks…