USC men’s basketball put the cherry on top of its Thanksgiving with a 71-63 win over Seton Hall in the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego. Fifth-year guard Boogie Ellis led the team in scoring with 22 points, but redshirt senior forward Joshua Morgan and junior guard Kobe Johnson stole the show with their defensive efforts.
The No. 23 Trojans successfully snapped Seton Hall’s four-game win streak, leaving the unranked Pirates 4-1 after finishing last year’s season 17-16.
The first half remained competitive as both teams initially struggled to make shots and played physical defense. Kobe Johnson had three steals at the half and scored the Trojans’ first six points with two 3-pointers in early back-to-back possessions.
Seton Hall struggled offensively, finishing the first half shooting only 28% from the field and going 0-for-6 behind the arc. The Trojans went 5-for-13 from beyond the arc and shot 39% to give them a 32-22 lead at halftime.
The beginning of the second half continued with the momentum in favor of the Trojans. Ellis opened with a 3-pointer, followed by a block by Morgan during Seton Hall’s opening possession. The Trojans eventually went on a 10-0 run in the first three minutes of the half.
However, by the 7:50 mark, the Pirates went on a 14-2 run of their own. Multiple USC turnovers and a string of missed shots aided the Pirates’ run. USC finished the game with 19 turnovers, eight of them occurring in the second half. By the final four minutes of the game, the Pirates erased USC’s 20-point lead and trailed the Trojans by three.
Then, the Trojans defense took off, and their shots started to fall.
In what might have been the play of the game, Morgan recorded back-to-back blocks in one possession; he blocked Seton Hall senior guard Dre Davis for his ninth block of the game before blocking graduate center Jaden Bediako for No. 10. Not only did Morgan set a new career high, he also set a new record for most blocks in a game for USC men’s basketball. Onyeka Okongwu was one of four previous record holders with eight blocks, doing so in 2019.
The Trojans smited the Pirate comeback attempt and secured the win. Johnson was another bright spot in the Trojans’s defense, as he finished with five steals, six rebounds and 13 points. Standout freshman guard Isaiah Collier went 5-of-8 from the field with 15 points and five assists. Ellis was 6-for-15 from the field along with five rebounds and two assists.
USC improved to 4-1 on the season. It’s a strong start for the Trojans, who have not had a consistent starting lineup the entire season and are still waiting for Bronny James’ anticipated debut.
USC will face Oklahoma in the championship game of the Rady Children’s Invitational Friday at 12:30 p.m. The 5-0 Sooners defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes 79-67 Thursday in the first game of the invitational.