NCAAB Team Profiles: USC Trojans
The NCAAB season is in full swing, which means we need to start looking at every team to consider the March Madness Odds.
The USC Trojans have made great strides in the games. Which means they should continue their legacy as high-performance players. To figure out which of the players is the key to their ongoing success, we need to pull apart their profiles.
Rejean Tramain “Boogie” Ellis
Boogie has had a fantastic start to his basketball career already. He originally played for Memphis between 2019 and 2021, where he won the American Athletic Conference freshman of the week award and the Jordan Brand Classic. He then switched to USC where he was awarded the NIT Champion title along with the ACC Sixth Man of the Year Award. So far this season he has scored an average of 14.4 points per game.Keep an eye on Boogie, as he will likely continue to grow in potential.
Drew Peterson
This season Peterson has been setting new career highs left, right, and center. His career high points are 27 points in a day. His career-high rebounds are 13 rebounds in a game. In his last 5 games, Peterson has had an average of 11.8 points per game but as a whole, his average is 13.8. His average rebounds are 7.7 a game.
Reese Dixon-Waters
Dixon-Waters is a steady player. He has strong control over the ball, and due to his efforts, the Trojans won 3 of the last 5 games he played in. His current average is 9.7 points per game, 3.1 rebounds, and 0.5 assists. Reese isn’t doesn’t stand out from the crowd just yet, but this small forward is the glue that forms the team.
Joshua Morgan
Morgan is another steady player. He has a high field goal percentage which even reached 100% in the Trojan’s losing games. This suggests that Morgan is on point even if his teammates cannot push through their opponents. His point average so far is 9, his rebounds are 6.4 on average and his assists are 0.8. Morgan mostly plays as a center, but this 20-year-old can swap and change jerseys to match the needs of the team. Morgan is versatile while also being a strong scorer for the team.
Tre White
White has been a high scorer for the Trojans even though his current average is just 8.2 per game. In his last game against the Titans, White scored 15 points within 30 minutes of playing. He also grabbed 6 rebounds with 2 assists for a field goal average of 66.7%. His second-highest point-scoring game was against Tennessee, and even though the team lost, White scored 11 of the 66 points for that game.
Kobe Johnson
4 of the last 5 games that Johnson has played in have been winners. In two of these games, he had field goal percentages of 100%, and in the match against Oregon State, he scored 17 baskets. All of these details are fantastic, but with the total average of 7.5 points per game, you wouldn’t know how impressive Johnson is. When Johnson plays for less than 15 minutes, his scores are less than 10 points a game. When he plays for 15 minutes or more that figure jumps to a least 15 points a game.
Malik Thomas
Thomas is a shooting guard who hasn’t had much time on the court this season so far. This is his second season of playing, which means we cannot blame a rookie’s entry for this slow start. The most he played was 15 minutes against California. At that time he didn’t make a great impression. Hopefully, as the season progresses we will see more from Malik Thomas.
Kijani Wright
Wright is another small forward for this team. The rookie hasn’t made his stamp on the court yet as his points per game aren’t reaching 3. However, in his last game against the Titans, Writer scored 6 points with a field goal percentage of 75%. This is a good turnaround for the newbie, and we hope to see more positive changes as the rookie continues.
Harrison Hornery
Hornery isn’t a rookie but often plays like it. The 21-year-old center player has barely touched the court this year but that isn’t the reason for his slow progress. Looking at the previous year, Hornery’s stats are almost identical. He had an average of 1.6 points per game, 0.9 rebounds, and 0.1 assists per game. This session Horney has an average of 1.6 points per game, 1.4 rebounds, and 0.3 assists. Sure the numbers are slowly increasing, but the rate is so minuscule that this doesn’t change his chances to push further in his basketball career.
Iaroslav Niagu
Niagu is the USC Trojans’ lucky rookie. The 19-year-old Russian player’s last 5 games were all wins. The opponents were Alabama, St Marys, California, Oregon State, and California State. Granted the center player was only on the court for a maximum of 10 minutes, but no other player has a 5-game winning streak on the team. Looking at the stats, Niagu’s numbers are looking poor. He has scored an average of 0.4 points per game, 1.4 rebounds, and blocked 0.2 times. In most games, Niagu didn’t even attempt to score.
Oziyah Sellers
Sellers is the final Trojan player this season, and the rookie is playing as a small forward. He hasn’t made a massive impression on the court just yet, as his longest time on the court was just 7 minutes. In his last 5 games, he hasn’t scored any points, caught any rebounds, or assisted the team.
Summary
Rejean Tramain “Boogie” Ellis, Drew Peterson, and Reese Dixon-Waters are the main players on the Trojan team. Without them, USC will not be where they are in the league. However, if the Trojans don’t allow their other teammates to play at all, then next season might come as a shock when the top players leave.