After a disappointing 2023-24 men’s basketball season, the Trojans aspire to get back on track in their Big Ten debut under first-year Head Coach Eric Musselman.

This past offseason, USC Athletic Director Jennifer Cohen named Musselman the new head coach of the men’s basketball program, following the departure of former Head Coach Andy Enfield to SMU.

Musselman cached five seasons at Arkansas, where he led the Razorbacks to three NCAA Tournaments, including two Elite 8 runs and a Sweet 16 run.  During his time with the Razorbacks, Musselman held an impressive overall record of 111-59, and at least one of his players has been selected in the past five NBA Drafts.

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By the time Musselman was hired at USC, there wasn’t much of a roster for him to work with because three players declared for the NBA Draft, and six more players entered the transfer portal. By mid-April, senior forward Harrison Hornery and senior guard JD Plough were the only players who decided to stay. Hornery averaged 3.3 points per game and 2.8 rebounds per game across 26 games last season.

With nearly zero players on the active roster, it was time for Musselman to work his magic in the transfer portal. Over the course of 30 days, Musselman and his staff — assistant coach and son Michael Musselman, assistant coach Todd Lee, assistant coach Will Conroy, assistant coach Anthony Ruta and director of basketball operations Caleb Cline — spent countless hours texting and FaceTiming potential transfers from a house near Manhattan Beach.

By the end of the transfer portal window, Musselman and his staff were able to land eight senior transfers, which combined for 3,700 points last season. USC’s 2024-25 roster now features 16 new players — 11 of which are transfers.

“We built this team to try to do as good as we can this year and also built this team with what we feel are good, young pieces,” Musselman said.

One of the key transfers Musselman landed over the offseason was junior Desmond Claude, a point guard from Xavier University. Claude won the Big East Most Improved Player award in the 2023-24 season and filled a key position at guard for USC.

Musselman also landed University of Northern Colorado graduate forward Saint Thomas who figures to be a big part of the Trojan offense. Last season, Thomas started in all 32 games for Northern Colorado with 19.7 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game, and 4.2 assists per game — almost averaging a double-double per game.

While USC remains unranked in the AP Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Poll, the Trojans hope to make some noise by beating some of their ranked opponents this season. A few notable marquee matchups this season include No. 14 Purdue, No. 17 Indiana, No. 22 UCLA (twice) and No. 25 Rutgers.

The main headline surrounding USC this offseason was how well its new players would mesh together on the court along with the brand new coaching staff. However, after a full offseason of practices, team chemistry seems to be the least of their concerns.

“We have a real togetherness and just a real bond that not a lot of teams have,” said freshman guard Isaiah Elohim. “We hang out with each other a lot. We laugh, we joke with each other, so I feel like that’s really gonna show on the court as well.”

Freshman forward Jalen Shelley shared similar sentiments when talking about the team’s camaraderie and how it may affect their ability to win games.

“To be honest, this is one of the closest teams I’ve been on, where everybody’s focused and bought in,” Shelley said. “Everybody [has] been going hard, and I think that’s what makes us good. I think us being connected is going to win us some games.”

As USC makes its Big Ten debut, Musselman acknowledges that he was hired to make NCAA Tournament appearances and eventually make deep runs in the tournament. The first step towards that goal comes in practice.

“We might have had one bad practice since I’ve been here. Most teams by this time have had double-digit bad practices,” Musselman said.

Despite a talented roster last season, the Trojans finished with an underwhelming 15-18 record. USC hopes that its new head coaching hire will take them in the right direction. Musselman has already gained respect from many of the players for his passionate and electric coaching style.

“Just being focused, paying attention every day and going hard. Coach Musselman pushes everybody every day, and it helps us be prepared,” Shelley said.

The USC men’s basketball team and Musselman will kick off the season against unranked University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Nov. 4 at 7  p.m. at Galen Center.