The No. 21 USC men’s basketball team started the season on the right note with an 82-69 victory over Kansas State in Las Vegas Monday. The Trojans will look to stick to their winning ways as they have a matchup with California State University, Bakersfield, Thursday night at Galen Center. 

Head Coach Andy Enfield was pleased with the team’s performance and highlighted first-half scoring.

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“I thought we executed offensively very well in the first half and created shots for each other,” said Enfield in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “We missed a lot of open threes, but to score 40 points and miss a lot of open threes I thought offensively we executed.”

The Trojans (1-0) stormed out to a 14-5 lead against the Wildcats in the opening minutes of the first half and never looked back. USC didn’t trail the rest of the game after Kansas State (0-1) shot three free throws to take the lead in the first minute of the game. 

Fifth-year guard Boogie Ellis looked like his first-team All-Pac-12 self from last season, as he led the Trojans in scoring with 24 points. He also tallied eight rebounds and five assists. 

“[Boogie] worked very hard in the off-season and he’s improved on both ends of the floor,” Enfield said. “That was on full display on Monday night.”

There were also impressive debuts from freshman guard Isaiah Collier and freshman forward Arrinten Page. The high school teammates combined for 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Page gave the Trojans a huge contribution off the bench, securing five rebounds in only 14 minutes played. 

“It’s nice when you’ve played together for as many years as they have, to come to college and have that chemistry,” Enfield said. “I think overall our team chemistry is pretty good.”

Collier, the No. 1 high school recruit in this year’s freshman class, had a debut for the ages. He scored the first points of the game, muscling an and-one basket and flexing to the crowd. This was the first of many buckets for Collier, where he totaled 15 points and four assists in his first half of college basketball. 

Collier has already submitted his case for the first overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft, but he shuts out all of that noise.

“I just play my game really,” Collier said. “I don’t let that type of stuff involved with me and what I got to do on the court, so I mean, I just play my game.”

Apart from an almost flawless offensive game, the Trojans immensely struggled on the defensive glass. The Wildcats earned three or four shot attempts per possession in a few instances where the ball was on their side of the court. Kansas State had 23 offensive rebounds as a team, where the Trojans only had 10.

Collier gave a simple answer when referring to the first half rebounding struggles.

“Box out,” Collier said. “Rebound the ball and that’s all there is to it. … We just got to keep working on it and get better with it.”

USC did play to their defensive strengths and only allowed Kansas State to shoot a mere 31% from the field. Last season, the Trojans were seventh in the country in field goal percentage against, allowing opponents to only shoot 39%. 

The Trojans return to Galen Center to attempt a repeat from last season, where they went 15-2 on their homecourt — their most home wins since the 2015-16 season. The Trojans have excelled at home under Enfield, boasting a 126-40 record in front of Trojan fans. 

“I think as our crowds have increased over the last few years it’s given us [a] more advantageous home court advantage,” Enfield said. “I think our players thrive on that and they enjoy playing here at the Galen Center.”

The Trojans have had a brief playing history against CSU Bakersfield (1-0). The Roadrunners have only matched up with USC twice, with the Trojans taking both games. Their most recent clash was in the 2018-19 season, where the Trojans cruised to a 90-75 victory. 

The Roadrunners got off to a 1-0 start to their season after a 73-72 victory over Southern Utah (0-1). Their player of the game was senior guard Kaleb Higgins, who was their only scorer in double digits, totaling 27 points.

USC will look to dominate their early non-conference opponents and will get that started against CSU Bakersfield Thursday at Galen Center at 6 p.m.