USC basketball: Trojans sign Fairfax High guard Brendyn Taylor

Brendyn Taylor, a guard from Los Angeles Fairfax High, has signed a national letter of intent with USC, the school announced Wednesday, the first day of the regular signing period for basketball.

Taylor, 6-feet-2 and 170 pounds, averaged 18 points a game last season.

“He has a great upside,” Coach Kevin O’Neill said in a statement. “He is an athletic wing whose best days are ahead of him.”

Taylor, the son of former NBA and ABA player Brian Taylor, is part of a class that also includes November signees J.T. Terrell and Strahinja Gavrilovic.

Terrell, a 6-3 guard, averaged 24.4 points a game for Peninsula College in Washington after transferring from Wake Forest.

Gavrilovic, a 6-8, 220 forward from Serbia, attended San Diego Rock Academy but did not play on the basketball team.

The new players join a program that was decimated by injuries last season. The Trojans finished 6-26, the most lost losses in school history.

The Trojans are expected to be improved with the return of 7-footer Dewayne Dedmon and point guard Jio Fontan from knee injuries and forward Aaron Fuller from a shoulder injury.

Since the end of the season, forwards Garrett Jackson, Curtis Washington and guard Alexis Moore have been granted releases to transfer.

Forwards Ari Stewart and Eric Wise, who redshirted last season after transferring from Wake Forest and UC Irvine, respectively, will be eligible.

The Trojans have one available scholarship and will probably fill it with another transfer.

ALSO:

Was firing Bobby Petrino the right thing for Arkansas to do?

Run-in with Mark Cuban preceded Lamar Odom’s dismissal by Mavs

Frank McCourt‘s relationship with new ownership group doesn’t sit well

USC basketball: Trojans sign guard Brendyn Taylor