On the first weekend of the 2025-26 season, the USC Trojans (2-0) routed the Manhattan Jaspers 114-83.
Coming off a season opening win, head coach Eric Musselman and his squad were riding high, but that was soon challenged when the Trojans found themselves locked into a back-and-forth battle.
Senior forward Ezra Ausar got the scoring underway with a powerful two-hand slam to bring up the energy levels of an underwhelming Galen Center crowd.
The trend of going basket for basket began early, with the Trojans and Jaspers ending up tied 7-7 six minutes into the contest. Just when USC thought they were building momentum after a quick slew of four points, Manhattan responded with four of its own.
The Jaspers wouldn’t let up, as they fell behind multiple times in the next three minutes, but tied the game at 14, 16 and 19, respectively. During this period, junior transfer Jordan Marsh got his first points in a USC uniform, draining a corner three.
After Jaspers guard Jaden Winston hit a long three to tie it at 19, Musselman ripped into his team during the huddle of a timeout. Just two minutes later, USC found themselves behind 23-22 with 8:30 remaining in the half, a shocking result to what was supposed to be an easy game.
“I thought we were a little sluggish until that 11 minute mark,” Musselman said. “In the two exhibition games and the other regular season game, we came out of the starting blocks at an elite level, and we did not do that tonight.”
That was when the 25 year-old graduate forward, Chad Baker-Mazara, used his veteran presence and took over the game. In back-to-back possessions, Baker-Mazara buried two huge shots from behind the arc, calming down the entire squad. After an and-one finish from Manhattan, he drained another one, springing the Trojans into a two and a half minute, 9-0 run that finally separated themselves from the pesky Jaspers.
After Manhattan finally responded with a pair of free throws, Baker-Mazara made another key play, drawing an and-one putback tip-in and making the ensuing free throw for the three point play.
Thanks to 20 first-half points from him, the Trojans ended the period on a 25-11 run, and led at the break 55-37. However, that did not satisfy coach Musselman. Ausar said that during the halftime break, Musselman “cussed them out and started throwing markers to light a fire under the team,” and it worked.
After a quick bucket from the Jaspers coming out of half, USC went on an 8-0 run highlighted by four points from junior guard Rodney Rice. They played the rest of the half in cruise control, dominating offensively.
Midway through the second half, the Trojans put the game away with a monster 20-4 run over a five minute span, giving them their peak lead of 35 points, up 92-57 at one point.
With just under six minutes to play, Baker-Mazara realized that he was only two points away from setting a new career high in a single game. His previous record was 25, and he went and asked Musselman to put him back in.
“Well, I didn’t know he was close, and then I found out, and told him he could go back in,” Musselman said when describing the decision to put his star in when they had the game under control.
Two minutes later, Baker-Mazara delivered, setting his new career high of 26 points with a jumper from the paint.
“I really appreciate [coach] for doing that. You always want to beat your career high,” Baker-Mazara said. “It was really special being able to do that.”
USC didn’t let up offensively, finishing the game with 114 points, their highest total since 1990. The Trojans will look to build on the momentum when they face Illinois State on Nov. 14 at the Intuit Dome.