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USC basketball team looks for improvement in Coach Andy Enfield’s third season

Jordan McLaughlin returns to the USC lineup after an injury-plagued season.

Jordan McLaughlin returns to the USC lineup after an injury-plagued season.

(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
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In early 2013, when Andy Enfield was hired to coach a USC basketball team depleted of talent, he had a decision to make.

He could try to restock quickly with junior college transfers who would function as a bridge to the future.

Or, he could build with younger players who might develop more slowly, with the payoff coming later.

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Enfield said he chose the long play, and that meant sacrifices in his first two seasons.

USC was 12-20 last season, 3-15 in the Pac-12 Conference, improving just barely on its 11-21, 2-16 campaign the season before.

“Let’s be perfectly honest,” USC Athletic Director Pat Haden told The Times in September, “the last two years have been dismal.”

During painful stretches last season, Enfield showed frustration on occasion but spoke often of a plan.

“We brought the young freshmen in last year,” Enfield said. “We had no seniors and one junior. Our goal as a staff was to start with young players, develop them and let them play through the mistakes, and that’s what we did last year. It’s a process.”

On Friday, USC will host San Diego to open a new season that, in some ways, will be a referendum on that process.

The Trojans are as deep and talented as they have been in years. The bar is not particularly high, but there is cause for optimism.

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Jordan McLaughlin, whose anticipated first season was marred by injuries, is back after two shoulder surgeries. If he can remain sound, he’ll command a backcourt that includes two players who enjoyed breakout seasons in 2014-15.

In McLaughlin’s absence, Julian Jacobs emerged as an offensive leader. And Elijah Stewart showed explosive athleticism, as a freshman leading the Trojans in blocked shots with 37. By season’s end, he also was a productive scorer.

“Whoever’s hot that night, they don’t mind passing it,” Stewart said.

Freshmen Chimezie Metu and Bennie Boatwright inject some needed size and athleticism in the frontcourt.

Haden said the last two USC teams lacked Pac-12-caliber players. This season, he said of the Trojans, “We can’t use that as an excuse.”

Said Enfield: “We need to win some more games than we did last year and show the improvement that we’ve made. Our players were competitive. They played hard and competed last year to be in games. This year we need to compete to win games. And I think we can do that.”

USC vs. SAN DIEGO

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When: 5 p.m., Friday.

Where: Galen Center.

On the air: TV: Pac-12 Networks. Radio: TuneInRadio.

Update: USC is 16-4 in its last 20 home openers but lost last season, 76-68, to Portland State. San Diego has two starters back from a team that was 15-16 and finished fifth in the West Coast Conference.

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