Senior forward Rayah Marshall propelled herself toward the Trojans’ home-opening tipoff, tapping it left to graduate guard Talia von Oelhoffen. Five seconds later, Marshall casually laid in a lob from von Oelhoffen for her 1000th career point. 

“Don’t make me cry on day one, but the milestone is great … 1,000 points is a big deal,” said Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb in a post-game press conference.

Eight players made their Galen Center debut repping cardinal and gold Saturday afternoon when No. 3 USC (2-0) reigned over Cal Poly (1-1) 90-35. But it’s year four for Marshall — she’s been here since the beginning.  

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Backtrack 1,096 days, Marshall and Gottlieb began their USC careers together in the Trojans’ 2021-22 home opener against Hawai‘i. Although USC won 90-50, only 1,147 fans were in attendance to view a team that hadn’t qualified for the NCAA Tournament in seven years.

“Our first season here together was a hard season, but we did beat Arizona, [which at the time, was No. 2 in the country],” Gottlieb said. “I remember grabbing [Marshall] and [now-senior center Clarice Akunwafo], and I said, ‘Enjoy this now, but at some point, we’re gonna be that.’ I’m sure they were like, ‘This lady’s crazy, right?’ And now, here they are, and here we are.”

Coming off an Elite 8 appearance and having already defeated a ranked team, the Trojans showcased this season’s top-ranked talent before a 5,215-person crowd. 

Marshall’s veteran status was evident. She dominated the paint with 15 points and seven rebounds in under 17 minutes and even took a moment at the top of the key to nail her first triple in 33 games. But Marshall’s quadruple-digit point was not the only scoring record surpassed this weekend. The Trojans dropped 40 first-quarter points — the most in program history.

“I just challenge them to be who we want to be,” Gottlieb said.

USC’s starters looked like the No. 3 team in the nation. Over 4 inches taller than the Mustangs on average, they began the game with a full-court press, and Cal Poly could hardly inbound the ball. The Trojans took twice as many shots as Cal Poly in the first frame and converted 63.6% of their looks.

As the game continued, USC maintained its lead but struggled to shoot efficiently. It finished the contest shooting 44.7% from the field and 21.4% on 28 attempts from behind the arc. Last Monday against No. 20 Ole Miss (1-1), the Trojans shot 40.0% from the field and went 1-11 from 3-point range.

“We didn’t shoot the ball great today,” Gottlieb said. “I know we have a team that can shoot the ball really well, but we went hard to the boards.”

USC did find different regions of the stat sheet to conceal its poor shooting. The Trojans out-rebounded Cal Poly 44-28 and forced 31 total turnovers. 

Sophomore guard JuJu Watkins is No. 5 in Division I with 4.5 blocks per game. And freshman guard Kayleigh Heckel lived up to her nickname — K9 — as she exacted five steals.

“Defense [is] a big part of our game, and we don’t want to outscore a team just by getting them by a couple points,” Heckel said. “We want to be able to hold them to less shots, to turn over the ball more.” 

The Trojan bench totaled almost 90 minutes as a unit and 35 points. Heckel led the way, tying Watkins in the scoring column with a team-high of 16 points, and may play a sixth-man role throughout the season.

“We see it as a sixth starter,” Gottlieb said. “The mission of this team is first, so some games we might go smaller, some games we might go bigger, some games we might play multiple point guards and other games you don’t.”

As the team sets its sights on another five-month season, USC has three more consecutive home games to build on its identity.

“Come to the games,” Marshall said. “ You’ve got to be there to see.”

Next on the non-conference schedule for the Trojans is Cal State Northridge (2-0) on Tuesday at Galen Center at 7 p.m.