Trojans get back to winning ways after defeating Colorado

USC broke a two-game losing streak with a 68-61 win over Colorado Thursday night, seeing freshman forward Vincent Iwuchukwu’s return to the basketball court in the process. Iwuchukwu suffered sudden cardiac arrest during a workout in July and had yet to make his debut in cardinal and gold until Thursday.

“He’s an incredible person. He’s gone through a lot medically and he’s had so much support from our trainers, team doctors, our administration, his teammates,” said Head Coach Andy Enfield. 

“It was amazing. He’s been working really hard to get back and he’s been playing basketball all his life,” said senior guard Boogie Ellis.

“I personally really liked how the fans really gave him a standing ovation,” said redshirt junior forward Joshua Morgan. “I know that made his first game back … He’s probably going to remember that for a while.” 

Iwuchukwu went scoreless in his 5 minutes of play, but Enfield was not concerned about the freshman’s slow start.

“I think he’ll just get better and better,” Enfield said. “He’s a terrific player, he just hasn’t played the game in a long time … I don’t think his cardio shape is as good as it will be in a couple weeks … but it was just nice for him to get out there, get his feet wet a little bit, so to speak.” 

Ellis displayed both his scoring and passing abilities, putting up 14 points, 6 assists and 0 turnovers. Overall, the Trojans committed just 9 giveaways compared to Colorado’s 22.

“I thought Boogie was outstanding,” Enfield said. “He really controlled the flow of the game.”

“We always come to the game trying to take care of the ball. Just emphasizing, as a point guard and a leader on this team, I can’t turn over the ball,” Ellis said. “I was just emphasizing making the game easy, taking what the defense gives me and just making the right play.”

Morgan, who saw his playing time reduced in the second half of the Trojans’ 58-60 loss to UCLA, played with extra motivation on his way to a 12-point, 4-block and 3-steal performance. 

“He’s had a really good year for us this year, but like everybody else you have to produce and you have to play hard and you have to do what you’re capable of doing,” Enfield said. 

“I had a lot of motivation coming into this game. I feel like last game I kind of let my teammates down with how I played,” Morgan said. “So this entire week and this game I really had to make sure that when I came in, I wasn’t going to be a detriment, that I was going to make up for the last game. And I think I did that.” 

Ellis and Morgan ran the pick-and-roll offense well, with Morgan the beneficiary of 3 of Ellis’ assists.

“[Ellis] made the passes at the right time, he was able to get [Morgan] in some lobs, some post-touches,” Enfield said. “[Ellis] played a terrific lead guard game tonight.”

With a 1-point lead late in the game, fifth-year guard Drew Peterson hit a key two-point jumper as time expired on the shot clock to give the Trojans a 3-point lead. Peterson finished with 15 points, 3 assists and 4 steals.

In total, the Trojans had 12 steals and 9 blocks. Enfield claimed that turnovers are a remedy for USC’s difficulty rebounding the ball.

“We try to get our hands on a lot of deflections and steals and tonight it worked out,” Enfield said. “We know we’re not a great defensive rebounding team … Our bigger guys need to become better rebounders themselves and our guards have to chip in too.”

The Trojans will take on the University of Utah at Galen Center Saturday at 7:30 p.m.