Shoulder surgery will end USC forward Aaron Fuller’s season

Forward Aaron Fuller, set to have shoulder surgery Thursday, is lost for the season, leaving USC’s basketball team with only seven scholarship players.

But it’s a Trojan without a scholarship whose role will change the most: walk-on guard Daniel Munoz.

In USC’s 65-62 loss at Oregon on Thursday, the Trojans’ first game without Fuller, Munoz played 27 minutes and scored two points on a pair of free throws.

Meager statistics, sure, but those were the first points of the junior’s USC career. Previously, Munoz, who played at Santa Margarita, had played five total minutes of mop-up duty in three games.

Munoz will set another personal landmark Saturday when he makes his first start for USC (5-14 overall, 0-6 in the Pac-12 Conference) when it plays Oregon State (12-7, 2-5) in Corvallis, Ore.

Munoz isn’t just filling in because USC has no other choice — although, really, it’s far short of options.

Munoz is actually filling a role USC hasn’t had since guard Jio Fontan was lost to a season-ending injury in August. “He’s a true point guard,” USC Coach Kevin O’Neill said.

In fact, O’Neill said by playing Munoz at point guard against Oregon, he was able to play Maurice Jones at shooting guard, which O’Neill has often called Jones’ natural position.

It seemed to work.

Jones had a game-high 22 points — his first game of 20 or more points in a month — and USC’s offense broke the 60-point mark for just the sixth time this season. “We played the best we’ve played in three weeks,” O’Neill said.

Still, without Fuller, the Trojans’ leading rebounder (5.9 rebounds a game) and its top inside-scoring threat, USC will have to shift its lineup around.

O’Neill said forward Garrett Jackson will play more at power forward, and freshman guard Byron Wesley will probably play that position too.

baxter.holmes@latimes.com

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