Missing the final prize: USC’s senior basketball players lost a last chance to prove themselves in the postseason

Four-year basketball seniors Nick Rakocevic and Jonah Mathews woke up in their Las Vegas hotel room five days after Mathews made the shot that shook Los Angeles: a game-winning 3-pointer against then-conference leader UCLA in front of a home crowd of almost 8,000 and with only one second left in the regular season. 

Mathews, who became USC’s 3-point record holder during that final regular-season game, had no idea that the buzzer-beater would be the final shot he would take in a Trojan uniform.

“I wasn’t thinking that was going to be my last shot,” Mathews said. “I was thinking I have a bigger shot coming.”

After receiving a first-round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament, the USC men’s basketball team was set to play Arizona in the quarterfinals March 12. But on the morning of the game, Mathews woke Rakocevic to watch the Power Five tournaments topple one by one. ACC. Big Ten. 

“Give it 30 minutes,” Rakocevic told Mathews. “They’re about to cancel the Pac-12 Tournament, too.”

Sure enough, five hours before tip-off that day, the Pac-12 announced the suspension of all conference play in response to the coronavirus outbreak. In another four hours, the NCAA would cancel both its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. 

The announcements shattered the hopes of a USC team carrying momentum into their postseason.

“We were about to go win the Pac-12 Tournament [and] go to the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament,” Rakocevic said. “That’s what I feel like everybody believed in. That’s what we were going to do … When I found out [the tournaments were canceled], it was just heartbreaking.” 

A No. 45 NET Ranking practically guaranteed the men’s team a run in the NCAA Tournament, and for the players with dreams to go pro, the tournament was intended as their showcase for scouts. Redshirt senior guard Daniel Utomi transferred from the University of Akron to USC for his last year of eligibility, citing USC as the best place to support his pro basketball aspirations. 

“Everyone wants to play in the NCAA Tournament,” Utomi said. “That’s where a lot of people make their money at … You get a couple of games in the tournament, everybody’s watching. Who knows what happens?” 

The men’s players weren’t the only ones to have their season swept out from underneath them, however. Although a much younger squad, the USC women’s basketball team also boasted its share of standout seniors. While the team had already fallen to UCLA in the quarterfinals of their Pac-12 Tournament, they were poised for a trip to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament in late March — that is, until COVID-19 took its reign over the sports world. 

Like Utomi, Aliyah Jeune, a graduate transfer guard from Morehead State, arrived at USC for her last year of eligibility to further her basketball career.

“[The cancellations] took away an opportunity … for me to showcase my talent more,” Jeune said. “I was hurt, I missed the last five games of the regular season, and then the season got canceled … My dream is going pro. I’m still trying to reach that dream.”

Nevertheless, Jeune said that after receiving her master’s in entrepreneurship and innovation from USC, she doesn’t know if she could benefit from another year of eligibility if the opportunity presented itself. Rakocevic agreed. His college career ended when the NCAA Tournament was canceled during the bus ride back from Las Vegas.

“I played my four years there and I did what I said I was going to do, and it was time for me to go on to my next journey, to the next level,” Rakocevic said. “I’m sad that’s how it went out, especially it being my last year, but it was time to move on after they ended it like that. I knew even if they brought back the eligibility, I still would’ve ended up signing with an agent.” 

As it turns out, Jeune, Rakocevic and the other seniors will not be given the choice to extend their college playing careers. The NCAA voted March 30 to give spring-sport athletes an additional year of eligibility but said their decision would not apply to winter-sport athletes in spite of their shortened postseason.

Since the decision, many of these seniors have been focusing on the next step in their basketball careers. Jeune signed with an agent just last week. Mathews said he is about to sign with an agent and move to an apartment in Santa Monica. Utomi explained that’s all one can do amid the pandemic.

“You sign with an agent, but until this coronavirus stuff goes away, we don’t know,” Utomi said. “Everything is on pause.” 

Despite nationwide gym closures and limited access to facilities, players are expected to keep up with their training if they want a future in the sport.

“[The hardest part has been] not being able to find a basket, not being able to shoot anywhere,” Mathews said. “I haven’t gone this long without working out.”

Yet if there is one thing these seniors can agree they will miss most, it’s their teammates. Jeune said that out of the three collegiate teams she’s played for — Rutgers, Morehead State and USC — the coaching staff at USC nurtured the most family-like atmosphere.  

“I wanted to spend more time with my teammates, even after the season, to get to know them better,” she said.

For Mathews and Rakocevic, who have known each other for more than seven years and roomed together on every road trip, the circumstances were even more jarring. 

“When I committed to [USC], I texted [Rakocevic] for like a month,” Mathews said. “Like ‘Bro, come on, we need you. You have to commit.’ The first day, we just hit it off. For us to reach 1,000 points on the same night [and] be the winningest players, to do it all together was super special. I don’t know a lot of players that can say that.”

Rakocevic, too, reflected on his senior-year experience as though Mathews were standing in the room beside him.

“This last year was different just because it was more weight on me and Jonah’s shoulders,” he said. “We knew that we had a bunch of young guys that we wanted to lead and show them how to win big games.”

As team captain, Mathews had one final piece of advice for his team following the seniors’ premature swan song:

“Knowing I’ll never have a USC practice again, it hurts,” he said. “So I would tell [my team] to take advantage of all the practices, all the things you don’t want to do. Because in the end, you think, ‘I want to do that. I should have done that.’ And that’s something you don’t want.”

“Just enjoy it,” Mathews added. “Because it’s over in the blink of an eye.”