Alijah Arenas’ debut spoiled by USC’s loss to Northwestern
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As he laid in a hospital bed last April, lucky to be alive, Alijah Arenas dreamed of this moment. He thought of it in the weeks and months after his Tesla Cybertruck hit a tree and burst into flames in Reseda, leaving him hospitalized for six days. And he thought of it over a long summer and fall spent rehabbing the injured knee that failed him in his first week back to practice at USC.
Nine difficult months spent waiting for the day to finally culminated Wednesday night with Arenas roaring into the lane, with just one defender standing between him and the hoop. The five-star freshman had committed to USC with every intention of bolting for the NBA after one season, only for the setbacks of the past year to put his likely lottery status in doubt.
Now here, as he lifted toward the hoop early in his college debut, Arenas spun around that lone defender in mid-air and softly laid in a finger roll, reminding everyone in attendance of the talent they’d waited so eagerly to see.
But what unfolded from that moment on Wednesday night probably wasn’t how Arenas or any Trojan would have envisioned it, as Northwestern, a team previously winless in the Big Ten, spoiled the star freshman’s debut and left USC spiraling with a 74-68 defeat.
“Critical, critical loss tonight,” USC coach Eric Musselman said. “I can’t. I mean, just brutal.”
It certainly wasn’t the way the Trojans coach hoped his team would look upon returning its most talented player. Afterward, Musselman wondered aloud if he’d made the right decision to throw Arenas right into the fire as a starter and play him 29 minutes. He finished with eight points in his debut, shooting three of 15 from the perimeter in a performance that left him obviously gassed throughout. At one point he left to have his knee evaluated by trainers on the bench.
“He should be a high school senior,” Musselman said. “Reclassified, missed an entire summer, and then you’re throwing him in the middle of Big Ten play. … Should I have started him? Maybe not. Should I have played him less minutes? Maybe. But we’re struggling right now to find five guys with the way we’re shooting and blowing coverages.“
Alijah Arenas, a top USC recruit and son of ex-NBA player Gilbert Arenas, is out of a coma and recovering after a Cybertruck crash, his family said.
With losses in three of their last five coming into Wednesday, USC (14-5 overall, 3-5 in Big Ten) had hoped that its five-star freshman’s arrival would act as a salve at the start of its Big Ten slate. But there were only so many problems that talent could paper over for the Trojans, even if Northwestern had come into Wednesday night on the heels of a five-game losing streak.
Arenas’ debut didn’t suddenly correct the Trojans’ free-throw woes. After hitting just five of 14 from the stripe in a loss to Purdue on Saturday, USC responded by shooting 26 of 43 on Wednesday night, with Northwestern content to foul them pretty much whenever the Trojans drove inside.
Once again, no one, Arenas included, could get going from three-point range for USC either, as the Trojans followed up a three-of-20 showing from deep against Purdue loss by making their first two three-pointers … only to miss their next 11.
Musselman deemed USC’s effort from the stripe and three-point line nothing short of “horrific”.
“That can’t happen if we want to win,” Marsh said.
In the wake of a significant knee injury that will keep Alijah Arenas out for months, USC coach Eric Musselman talks about the bond he has developed with his star.
Nor can USC expect to have its leading scorer, Chad Baker-Mazara, foul out with nine minutes remaining in the game and expect to stay afloat.
“Sixth-year player, and he fouls out in 13 minutes,” Musselman said, frustrated. “It’s unheard of.”
It was Marsh, Arenas’ backup in the backcourt, who dragged the Trojans back from the brink against Northwestern after the Wildcats had led nearly the entire game. Just a week earlier, Marsh had dropped 17 in the second half of USC’s win over Maryland. On Wednesday, he was even better, piling up 19 after halftime.
But there was little he or USC’s five-star freshman could do in the final minutes as Northwestern fended off every push from the desperate Trojans, thanks largely to the efforts of senior forward Nick Martinelli, who torched USC for 22 points.
Still, USC hung on tight through the second half, never letting Northwestern’s lead grow to more than eight. Marsh drove the lane with a chance to cut Northwestern’s lead to a single possession in the final 15 seconds. But his lay-in flew wildly out of his hands.
The loss spoiled a debut that had been perhaps the most anticipated at USC in at least half a decade, since Evan Mobley graced the Galen Center court in 2021. But while Mobley led the Trojans on an Elite Eight run, his lone season at USC was played front of empty arenas because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Arenas, meanwhile, was just the sort of blue-chip prospect that Musselman and his staff had hoped to build around, the type that could convince folks to come watch USC hoops.
The path to that point had proven far more harrowing than anyone expected. But what felt like a light at the end of the tunnel Wednesday night didn’t feel nearly as hopeful for USC by the final buzzer sounded.
It left USC’s coach and his players instead wondering where this season might be headed next. And not necessarily in a good way.
“I don’t know,” Musselman said. “I guess I’ll just keep searching.”
