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Football D'Anton Lynn doing for USC what he did for UCLA as he now faces former team today

Ryan Young
A little game day read on D'Anton Lynn's impact this season and the personal storyline of going up against his former team today:

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DC D'Anton Lynn doing for USC what he did for UCLA as he faces former team

Looking at defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn's impact at USC as he prepares to face his former team.
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My notes on SC’s 82-68 win over San Jose State

S
San Jose State University (SJSU) founded in 1857 is the oldest public university on the west coast and the founding campus of the CSU system. Formerly Minn’s Evening Normal School 1857-62, Cal St Normal School 1862-1921, San Jose St Teachers College 1921-35, San Jose St College 1935-72, CSU San Jose 1972-74

SJSU has 154 acres in downtown San Jose, enrolls 36,062 (27,111 undergrad), $251 M endowment, USN&WR No. 4 in region, No. 1624 globally

Famous alumni include Stevie Nicks, Tom & Dick Smothers, Time’s 1984 Man of the Year Peter Ueberroth, authors Amy Tan - Joy Luck Club, James D Houston - Farewell to Manzanar, 1968 Olympic sprinters John Carlos & Tommie Smith (black power salutes on medal stand), first native American senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Dolby Laboratories founder Ray Dolby, Gorilla researcher Dian Fossey, coaches Bill Walsh & Dick Vermeil, golfers Julie Inkster, Patty Sheehan, Ken Venturi, QBs Jeff Garcia, Steve DeBerg

SJSU Athletics: NCAA Div I, Mountain West Conference (MWC) – former confs Cal Coast, Far West, Northern Cal Athletic, Cal Collegiate AA, Pacific Coast AA, Big West; 10 NCAA team and 50 individual titles. 22 Olympic medals: 8 gold, 7 Silver, 7 Bronze

Colors – Blue & Gold, Nickname – Spartans (since 1922, formerly Daniels, Teachers, Pedagogues, Normals, Normalites), fight song Spartan Fight Song, Mascot – Sammy Spartan

Basketball started 1909 (1193-1506, .442), 3 NCAA appearances (last 1996), 10 conf titles (last 1996), 12 NBA draft picks (4 1st rd: Darnell Hillman, Ricky Berry, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, Brandon Clarke)

Winningest coaches: Walt McPherson 262-207, .563, Hovey McDonald 143-80, .641, Bill Berry 143-144, .498. Former SC coach Stan Morrison was 62-172 in 9 yrs at SJSU

Current – Tim Miles (4th yr) 38-60, .388; Career 401-371; 2014 Big Ten COY (Neb), 2023 MWC COY (SJSU)

Currently: 1-4, (W: Life Pacific; L: W. Illinois, Pacific, Hawaii, UCSB). SJSU picked 8th in MW (1 Boise St, 2 New Mexico, 3 Nevada, 4 SDSU, 5 UNLV, 6 UT State, 7 Colo St, 8 SJSU, 9 Wyoming, 10 Fresno St, 11 Air Force

All-time: SC leads the series 3-1 (W 42-24 in 1935, last L 57-56 in1987)

SJSU NET n/a, KenPom 279, SC NET n/a, KenPom 76

SJSU Scores: 68.6 ppg (+0.8), 42.9% FG, 26.5% 3FG, 5.2 3’s/g, 79.8% FT. Rebounds 33.8 pg (+1.2), Assists 9.2 pg, TOs 7.6 pg (-2.0), Steals 5.4 pg, Blks 1.6 pg

SJSU Leaders:

Scoring: Josh Uduje 13.8 ppg (46.6% FG, 20.0% 3FG, 75.0% FT), Will McClendon 10.8 (34.7% FG, 16.7% 3FG, 89.5% FT), Donavan Yap 7.6 (34.4% FG, 42.1% 3FG, 88.9% FT)

Rebounding: Uduje 5.2, Robert Vaihola 5.0, Sadraque NgaNga 4.8; Assists Yap 2.2; Steals Yap 1.0; Blks – Chol Marial 0.8

SC scores: 78.0 ppg (+7.5), 48.3% FG, 29.0% 3FG, 6.3 3’s/g, 72.0% FT, Rebs 28.5 rpg (-4.5), Assists 18.3 apg, TOs 8.8 pg (+6.8), 15.3 ppg/TO, Steals 6.3, Blks 2.5

SC Leaders

Scoring: Claude 15.5 ppg (53.8% FG, 33.3% 3FG, 73.9% FT), T-Will 13.0 (62.5%
FG, 44.4% 3FG, 100% FT), Cohen 11.5 (66.7% FG, 0-3 3FG, 75% FT), Yates 10.5 ppg (50.0% FG, 20.0% 3FG, 100% FT), Saint 10.5 ppg (39.5% FG, 28.6% 3FG, 0%, 44.4% FT), Chibuzo Agbo 7.3, Knowling 6.0

Rebounds: Saint 5.5, T-Will 4; Assists – Saint 5.3, Claude 3.5; Steals - Yates 2.0, Saint 1.3; Blks – Cohen 0.8, Knowling 0.7

Pregame

Todd Lee makes second appearance as guest speaker to a largely empty Founder’s. I wore a yellow Muss Bus shirt last time he spoke, today I have a new red Muss Bus shirt (available at USCBasketball.com) – free plug haha

Coach praises Sunday’s Cal game crowd and a near full student section. Unfortunately, the team didn’t win. Cal was coming off a 16-pt loss to Vandy, SC was unbeaten. He says when 2 teams are evenly matched, the team that is the most desperate usually wins and SC needs to go into games as the more desperate team. It turned out Cal was more desperate and won the game aided by a stretch of poor SC execution at the end of the game. He mentioned the issue with the shot clock operator costing us 9 secs that could have made a differenc.

SJSU comes in 1-4 and look desperate to win. They like to slow game down and are a low assists, low TO team that gets to the FT line. SC will try to keep them off the FT line by playing tough D w/o fouling. Need to rebound better and knock down shots. He noted Buzo and T-Will as 2 guys who need to make shots (is he clairvoyant?) SC was close to gaining commitments from a couple of very good bigs but came up short. He is asked about Hornery and he says the coaches have gone back and forth on whether it’s Agee or Harry back up Josh and at this time they still feel Agee can help more. At some point Harry will get a look.

The starting lineup changes again with Buzo and T-Will coming off the bench. He feels they have been pressing and may benefit from watching a little. They will still play a lot. Muss likes to have good players off the bench to spark the team.

Entering the arena, I cursed to myself. Where are the fans? Students? Can’t they walk across the street and support their team? It’s an embarrassment! The attendance is announced as 3186, but is much less.

I spot Frostee Rucker, who attended Tustin HS and played for Pete Carroll, making All Pac-10 1st Team in 2005. He was a 3rd rd pick by the Bengals in 2006 NFL draft, played for 4 teams in 12-yr career. Very few media are here, are they expecting a blowout?

The Game

Surprise starter is Kevon Patton (USD), our most athletic player. Other starters are Saint, Cohen, Claude, Knowling. Patton jumps center and we control the tip to start the game! Saint turns it over on the first possession (his only TO vs. 9 assists), SC gets it back on a steal by Claude whose assist to Cohen gets SC on the board at 19:12. It is tied 2-2 when Patton bricks a 3 and Muss is not happy. He steals the ball from McClendon and goes in for a windmill dunk. It fires up the bench and small crowd. McClendon knows it’s rivalry week and the former bruin torches the net for 3 straight threes. Uduje’s jumper gives SJSU a 16-12 lead. McClendon and Uduje would score all night for SJSU- why they’re SJSU’s top 2 scorers. Muss would say that his teams ID the opponent stars and shut them down, this team has not been able to. They need to figure out a way to curtail the threes.

Muss started showing a man defense but slipped into a matchup zone which left the corners and the backdoor open for SJSU.

Off the bench T-Will had 13 in the 1H. Buzo would go off in the 2H. SC was up 33-28 at 4:01, went on a 9-2 run to go into half 42-35.

Second Half

Switched to man to man and mostly stuck with it. SC was more aggressive and SJSUs shooting cooled off. They shot 35.3% FG in the 2H, after 50% in the 1H.

After McClendon scored the first pts of the 2H to make it 42-37, SC reeled off 10 straight to lead 52-27 on a Knowling jumper at 15:59. McClendon would score just 1 more FG.

After scoring only 5 pts in the 1H, Agbo struck for 15 2H pts including three straight 3s to put SC up 13, 61-48. SC led by double digits for the duration to notch their 4th win.

Each team led 4 times w/ 4 ties. SC’s largest lead was 18 (70-52 at 6:51 on Buzo’s layup), SJSU’s largest was 4 pts in 1H. SC continued to score well in the paint w/ 38 pts to 26 for SJSU. With Cohen scoring 8 pts in only 9 min and Agee scoreless in 3 min, SC played small ball but finally outrebounded an opponent (35-26). SC had its best shooting performance, converting 57.1% FG, 45.5% 3 FG with 10 made threes.

The strategy of bringing T-Will and Buzo off the bench was successful. They both scored a team high 20 pts to give SC a 54-11 bench scoring advantage.

SC is still a work in progress and Muss continues to tinker with the lineup and may not have it solidified by the conference opener vs Oregon at Galen on Dec 4th. We all know we have holes with lack of rim protection and our ability to guard fast players. We are what we are at this point and will have to learn to make it work.

For the game:

SJSU shot 41.9% FG (26-62), 47.8% 3FG (11-23), 71.4% FT (5-7)
SC shot 57.1% FG (32-56), 45.5% 3FG (10-22), 88.9% FT (8-9)

SJSU

Scoring: Uduje 25 pts, 8-12 FG, 5-5 3FG, 4-4 FT, McClendon 18 pts, 7-15 FG, 4-8 3FG, Sadaidriene Hall 9 pts, 4-6 FG, 1-1 3FG, Latrell Davis 8 pts 3-8 FG, 1-3 3FG, 1-2 FT

Rebounds: Vaihola 9, Uduje 5; Assists Vaihola 5, McCendon 4; Stls J.Washington 3, Uduje 2; blks Hall 1

SC

Scoring: T-Will 20 pts, 8-12 FG, 3-6 3FG, 1-1 FT, Buzo 20, 7-11 FG, 4-7 3FG, 2-2 FT, Yates 14, 6-9 FG, 2-4 3FG, 2-2 FT, Yates 14, 6-9 FG, 2-3 3FG, Knowling 12, 5-6 FG, 2-2 FT, Cohen 8 pts, Saint 5

Rebounds: Knowling 8, Buzo 7, Thomas 6, T-Will 5; Assists Saint 9, Knowling 5; Stls Buzo 2; Blks Knowling 2
Post-game from Muss

So happy how Buzo and Will responded to coming off the bench. When they shoot like they did tonight we can win every game, when they don’t we can lose every game.

Yates continues to show that he is a future star. He is unafraid and our best creator and his instant offense and physique reminds Muss of former Detroit Piston Vinnie “the Microwave” Johnson. To be a more complete player he needs to be a more disciplined defender.

SC must improve on 50/50 balls and reaction to loose balls. Muss is not worried that Claude was held to 1 pt on 0-for-3 shooting nor that Saint had only 5 pts. He is great in the other categories leading the team in assists as a de facto lead guard and rebounding.


SC improves to 4-1, SJSU falls to 1-5.

Next up: Grambling State (1-2, play NM before SC) on Sunday 11/24 at 4 pm at Galen Center. Watch on B1G+

Fight On! Beat the Tigers!
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Football PODCAST: USC-UCLA preview with Tajwar Khandaker and Bruin Blitz beat writer Tracy McDannald

Ryan Young
Here's the pod -- I talk USC recruiting at the top and then Tajwar and I delve into Jayden Maiava, I tease a feature story I'm dropping tomorrow on Woody Marks and the background on his 1,000-yard season, we talk D'Anton Lynn, make predictions for Saturday and then Bruin Blitz reporter Tracy McDannald comes on to talk the UCLA side of the matchup.

LISTEN HERE
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Football Tajwar's First-and-10: Top takeaways from the Nebraska film

Ryan Young
Tajwar went especially in-depth this week so it took me a while to format, edit and put together, but great, great analysis and perspective!

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First-and-10: Our top takeaways from the film room this week

Our top takeaways from our detailed film review of USC's win over Nebraska last weekend.
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Football Lincoln Riley Thursday Zoom (UCLA week) transcript

Ryan Young
Sorry for delay, had a dermatologist appointment, and considering it took five months to get I figured I ought to see it through!

Here's the transcript from Riley's Zoom this morning:

We saw Ja’Kobi Lane not play as many snaps as he usually does, what was the reason for that?

“Yeah, I wouldn’t add anything to, what I said postgame.”

With early signing period getting pushed up two weeks, and the portal coming right after that, does this month feel busier than usual?

“Yeah, it’s a little different. I mean, I think the end of the year’s always been a little bit hectic, especially once we added in the early signing period. But, yeah, I think, my gut is it’s going to make the next few weeks a little bit crazy. Although, the big difference here this year looking ahead is that we’re not on the road. And so, it is. This, and these next couple weeks will be super busy, and then I’d imagine December’s not going to be quite as hectic as what it’s been just because the high school signing period’s earlier, and then we’re actually on-campus the entire time. We can’t go out recruiting. So, yeah, it’ll probably kinda push some of that up right now. Yeah, I think it’s um, more people’s game-prep is going to be, I don’t want to say affected, but you’re dealing more with actual game-prep. Like in the past, it was like, if you’re playing in a conference-championship game or something, maybe you really feel it within your game-prep. Whereas now, like, it’s – you got a lot going on for multiple games here at the end of the season, so. Something that everybody’s dealing with, we’re certainly trying to navigate it the best that we can.”

How much has change in college football changed rivalries?

“Yeah, good question. I don’t know that I have, like, a great answer. Um – obviously, there’s a lot of rivalries across college football that have been affected or eliminated. So that’s the extreme version. Man, you still feel the juice of a rivalry game. Like, I still think, there’s still a lot of the good that’s certainly a part of it. I mean, some of the unique things now of having – just, you weren’t used to like in the past, one year a player was on this team and the next year a player was on the other team of a rivalry. Like, that just didn’t happen much. So that’s just, a little bit new-age, and we all gotta get used to it. It’s part of it. It’s, at least right now, not going anywhere. I think the bigger question going forward, which I know we’ve all talked about a bunch, is like, as this new playoff system emerges, I think there’s going to be – we’re going to learn a lot here. I mean, I don’t think any of us probably can fully comprehend how different this playoff structure is going to be, and then the repercussions that are going to come out of that. Especially with how heavily-slanted two conferences are in the country compared to the rest of ‘em. There’s going to be a lot of changes, in my opinion, playoff structure. There’s going to be a lot of changes in scheduling strategy. There’s a lot that’s getting ready to happen after we go through a year of two of this, this new playoff system. And, you hope that, again, I’ll say the hope is that the rivalries can survive because they are a huge part of college football and college football history, but it’s going to continue to get tested, I think, depending on how that all works out. I still think that there’s a lot of juice behind the games, a lot of excitement behind the games, for fanbases, for players. I mean, it’s still something that I know means a lot to the schools that are involve din ‘em.”

Jayden predisposed to risk-taking, is your goal to refine that, is it a quality you don’t want to rein in because of the positives? Balance there?

“Yeah, I would rather them be aggressive by nature. Because if you’re not, you’re not going to make enough plays, probably, to win anyways. And so, I like that in his first start here, that he went out and he was decisive and he was aggressive. And that’s, I think that’s a great start. And I think, as long as you’ve got a guy that you feel like – you can, used a good word, just to refine it, understanding where are the times where we can and want to be aggressive, and having a guy that’s not hesitant at all to pull the trigger. And then, the hope is, as time goes on, obviously, that we can continue to just eliminate the couple of decisions a game here where all of a sudden, you’re putting yourself in a bad position. And the great ones find a way to do that. But you gotta be aggressive by nature. Because, the quarterback’s a position where you can, like, make the perfect decision and do everything right, but like, if you’re hesitant just by like that much” – holds up fingers close together – “it can still, like, not work out. And so, I think being decisive and aggressive and have a little bit of a fearless nature to you is, like, important. And I would rather start there and curve it the other way than push ‘em to be more aggressive. So, he’s, like I said, he did a good job in the first start, he’s gonna – we’re gonna coach him hard and push him to continue to improve, and he’s given me every reason to believe that he will.”
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Recruiting Where USC's commits landed in the new Rivals250 rankings

Ryan Young
USC is No. 13 in the reshuffled Rivals recruiting rankings with 22 commits in this 2025 class (and counting)

Here's where USC's commits landed in the new rankings:

No. 37 -- four-star WR Jerome Myles (Draper, Utah), up 67 spots!
No. 88 -- four-star QB Husan Longstreet (Corona Centennial HS), down 5 spots
No. 104 -- four-star LB Matai Tagoa'i (San Clemente HS), no change
No. 117 -- four-star WR Corey Simms (St. Louis, Missouri), down 9 spots
No. 189 -- four-star OT Carde Smith (Mobile, Alabama), new to the Rivals250
No. 223 -- four-star LB Ty Jackson (Loxahatchee, Florida), down 28 spots

Three Trojans commits dropped out of the Rivals250, meanwhile ...

-LB Jadon Perlotte went from 214 to out and also got knocked down from four-star to three-star
-S Kendarrius Reddick went from 224 to out
-DE Gus Cordova went from 233 to out and also got knocked down from four-star to three-star

If you want to go down the what-could-have-been well, here are where some of USC's decommits now rank:

-No. 6 QB Julian Lewis (but USC ended up fine with that switch)
-No. 9 DT Justus Terry
-No. 13 DE Isaiah Gibson
-No. 23 S Hylton Stubbs
-No. 112 CB Shamar Arnoux
-No. 127 S Anquon Fegans (but that was a long time ago)
-No. 161 DE Hayden Lowe

Rivals250 targets still remaining:

-No. 168 DE Tobi Haastrup
-No. 248 DE Joseph Mbatchou
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Recruiting shakeup! JuJu Lewis decommits from USC, Trojans flip Husan Longstreet from TAMU

Matt Moreno
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Major QB dominoes fall with Lewis, Longstreet decisions

There was major quarterback news Sunday as Julian Lewis de-committed and Husan Longstreet flipped.
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It was an eventful morning for USC that all took place in about 5 minutes with Julian Lewis backing off his pledge immediately followed by Corona-Centennial quarterback Husan Longstreet announcing his pledge to the Trojans. None of this was unexpected, but now it is all official. USC is all in with the local star.

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Visitor list: Five-star Jahkeem Stewart highlights USC visitor group for Nebraska game

Matt Moreno
USC hosts Nebraska this weekend and only has two more opportunities for official visit weekends during the season ahead of the early signing period, and the Trojans are looking to make the most of it. Five-star edge rusher Jahkeem Stewart is the headliner as he makes his planned official visit out to USC this week for the matchup with Nebraska, but the Trojans will have other defensive line targets on campus for official visits as well as some key 2026 recruits as well.

Here's the full list of this weekend's expected visitors when USC hosts the Cornhuskers.

Official visitors

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Football Wednesday practice of UCLA week

Ryan Young
We got Jayden Maiava, Elijah Paige (first time in months), Kamari Ramsey and Kyle Ford talking about their UCLA ties, Woody Marks, Jaylin Smith and Greedy Vance.

Uploading now.

Maiava shared an anecdote that he had 40 family and friends back to his apartment for a cookout after the game Saturday night. He was otherwise very concise in his comments.

We’ll have a lot coming. I also have Tajwar’s column to finish editing and posting tonight.
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My notes on SC’s 71-66 loss to Cal

S
The University of California Berkeley was established in 1868 as the state's first land-grant university and is the founding campus of the UC system. Cal has an endowment of $6.9 Billion and enrolls 45,307 students (32,479 undergrads). Their nickname is Golden Bears and their mascot is Oski the Bear. The WSJ ranks Cal 8th Best College, US News & World Report ranked Cal top public school (17th overall)

Famous Alumni include 36 Nobel Prize winners, Academy Award winning actor Gregory Peck, Actors Chris Pine, Stacy Keach, Jerry Mathers (Beaver Cleaver), Ashley Judd, John Cho; Will Vinton pioneer of ‘Claymation’, Doug Englebart inventor of computer mouse, Jay Miner father of Amiga computer, Microsoft billionaire Charles Simonyi, Dilbert creator Scott Adams, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Tom Anderson co-founder of MySpace, Crown Prince of Norway Haakon Magnus, Police drummer Stewart Copeland, Counting Crows Adam Duritz, Bangles Susanna Hoffs, Third Eye Blind’s Stephan Jenkins, Leroy Choi 1st Asian-American to perform spacewalk, Counter-culturalist Timothy Leary, Barry Kerzin personal physician to the Dalai Lama, Hearst Castle architect Julia Morgan, Rube Goldberg, TV producer Quinn Martin, American Idol contestant William Hung, etc.

Cal Athletics: 115 NCAA team titles & 290 individual titles, Olympic medals: 121 gold, 56 silver, 46 bronze. Medalists include Matt Biondi, Natalie Coughlin, Mary T Meagher, Missy Franklin, Anthony Irvin

Cal basketball began in 1907 (1676-1295, .564), 1959 NCAA Champions, 1960 Runners-up, 3 Final Fours, 19 NCAA Tournaments (last 2016), 15 regular season conference titles (last 2010), 2 AP 1st Team AA’s (Darrall Imhoff, Jason Kidd), 11 NBA 1st rd draft picks, 7 Pac-12 POY, 1 Pac-12 Defensive POY, 6 Pac-12 FOY. Retired Jerseys: No. 4 Alfred Grigsby (1991-97), No. 5 Jason Kidd (1992-94), No. 11 Kevin Johnson (1983-87), No. 40 Darrall Imhoff (1957-60)

Winningest Coaches: Nibs Price 1924-54 (449-294), Ben Braun 1996-2008 (219-154), Mike Montgomery 2008-14 (130-73), Lou Campanelli 1985-93 (123-108), Pete Newell 1954-60 (119-44, NCAA title)

Mark ‘Mad Dog’ Madsen (2nd season) is Cal’s 19th coach, and starred at rival Stanford, played for the Lakers and T-Wolves. Previous head coaching experience: Los Angeles D-Fenders (2013), Lakers asst (2013-19), Utah Valley (2019-23)

Cal had been a bottom feeder in the Pac-12 for 6 yrs but finished tied for 6th last season (13-19, 9-11) ahead of 9th place SC (15-18, 8-12). This 10-win improvement reinvigorated the fanbase and Madsen’s contract was extended through 2030. Cal’s first sellout crowd since 2017 witnessed Cal defeat SC in OT 83-77

Cal is currently a member of the 18-team Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) along with rival Stanford and Andy Enfield (SMU) – it’s just so weird! Cal is picked 16th, ahead of only Stanford and BC. Preseason predictions: Duke, UNC, WF, Clemson, UVA, Miami, Pitt, NC St, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Ga Tech, SMU, VA Tech, FSU, Cal, Stanford, BC

All-time: 272nd mtg of SC vs Cal, Cal leads 138-134. SC is favored by 9.5 pts tonight

Cal is 2-1 (W: CSUB, Cal Poly; L: Vanderbilt), NET n/a, KenPom No.115

SC: 3-0 (W: UT Chattanooga, Idaho St, UTA) NET n/a, KenPom No. 77

Cal scores 79.3 ppg (+5.0), 45.3% FG, 35.7% 3FG, 7.5 3’s/g, 75.5% FT and averages 37.9 rebs (+4.1), 21.0 assists, 5.8 steals, 13.5 TOs (-0.3), 3.8 blks

SC scores 83.3 ppg (+11.7), 49.7% FG, 30.3% 3FG, 6.3 3’s/g. 72.1% FT and 28.0 rebs (-5.7), 14.8 assists, 7.0 steals, 8.3 TOs +8.0), 3.0 blks

Fun facts: Andrej Stojakovic is son of 13-yr NBA player/FIBA HOF member Peja. Mady Sissoko is brother of former WOT player Kadi Sissoko. Hugh Vandeweghe is nephew of 14-yr NBA player Kiki. Stephon Marbury II’s 2-time All-NBA father played 13 yrs, then 8 yrs in Chinese Basketball Association, where he is currently coach of the Beijing Royal Fighters

Cal has 3 double figure scorers: Stojakovic 17.0 ppg, 40.8% FG, 25% 3FG, 92% FT, Jovan Blacksher 16.3 ppg, 50% FG, 52.2% 3FG, 77.8% FT, BJ Omot 10.8 ppg, 44.4% FG, 35.3% 3FG, 62.5% FT

Dort Lee leads Cal w/ 8.5 rebs pg, Sissoko & Stojakovic 5.8; Blacksher 3.0 assts pg, DJ Campbell 1.3 stls pg, Sissoko 1.5 blks

Terrance Williams leads SC scoring at 18.0 ppg (70% FG, 50% 3FG, 100% FT), Claude 14.0 ppg (56% FG, 0-3 3FG, 82.4% FT), Cohen 14.0 ppg (66.7% FG, 0-2 3FG, 75% FT), Yates 12 ppg (53.8% FG, 23.1% 3FG, 100% FT, Agbo & Thomas 9.0 ppg, Knowling 8.0 ppg

Thomas leads SC with 6.3 reb/g and w/ 6.7 assists, Yates leads w/ 2.0 steals, Thomas 1.7, Cohen & Patton lead w/ 1.00 blks

Pregame

Nice size crowd in Founder’s for the return of Young Muss as guest speaker. He was very brief. Cal has 2 scorers with pro potential Stojakovic and Blackshear - we want to key on them. They also have 2 large bodied bigs. In practice they worked on boxing out and rebounding better. Asked how we will better defend 3s he said they worked on touching on the closeouts, keeping a hand in the eyeballs, “tagging” - closing out and then backing off to cut off drives.

For the first time this season, all players are available. Thomas is supposed to wear the mask for his broken nose but has been practicing w/o it.

The arena has an almost respectable crowd of 5466 fans. Surveying the house I spot Jacque Hill, pro tennis player Sloane Stephens (won 2017 US Open, No. 79 in world rankings, but reached No. 3 ranking in 2018) and members of the women’s volleyball team, fresh off their upset of No. 11 Oregon. I recognized Ally Batenhorst, Adonia Faumuina, Mia Tuaniga. I love beating the Phil Knights in any sport!

The Game

I don’t think I have ever seen this, both teams’ starters are comprised of transfers! SC sends out

Saint, T-Will, Cohen, Claude and Abgo. SC has lost the jump ball in all our games. Cohen has no hops, 6-ft-6 Claude will jump instead - we’re now 0-4 for jump balls.

This game was close from start to finish. There were 13 lead changes and 9 ties. SC’s biggest lead was 5 at 7:22 in the 1st half, and Cal’s was 6 pts at 15:18 after a 7 pt run. Saint never donned the mask in this one.

SC’s inability to guard small, fast PGs continued as Blackshear put up 18 pts in the first half and for the first time in his career Muss ran a zone defense on a few occasions to shore up the middle and put a Band-Aid on their lack of rim protection. They were much better in the 2nd half as Blacksheer would only get one additional pt, finishing with 19, second to leading scorer Stojakovic.

SC had 3 players score in double digits led by Claude with a 20 pts on 7-14 FG, 3-6 3FG (his first made threes of the season) and a costly 3-6 from the FT line as a pair of the misses came with 2:15 left in the game and SC down 66-64. Saint had 15 pts on 7-17 FG and 1-2 FTs but continues to be poor from long range going 0-4 on 3FG, a couple of which could be seen as poor choices for the game circumstances. Yates scored 10 pts on 4-10 FG, 0-2 3FG, 2-2 FT. I felt he should be on the floor more than the 16:23 Muss played him. He is one of our true shot creators.

SC still could have and should have won this game but after Saint scored two baskets while backing his opponent down to give SC the 64-63 lead at 6:30, SC made only 1 basket the rest of the game. They threw up misses on almost a dozen shot attempts and had those two critical missed FTs by Claude. They wasted their best defense of the game down the stretch.

SC shot 43.9% FG (25-57), 28.6% 3FG (6-21), 71.4% FT (10-14).

Cal shot 49.1% FG (27-55), 33.3% 3FG (7-21) and 76.9% FT (10-13).

Most of the other stats were fairly equal, but poor 3-pt shooting has been an issue. They expected more out of Agbo and Slajchert, whose poor defense kept him on the bench, so he could not replicate his 42% 3FG shooting from last season). This was a tough loss for Muss and SC. Their first game against Power 5 competition ended in a 71-66 loss.

SC and Cal are both 3-1 after this game.

Up Next: San Jose St, Wednesday 11/20 at 7 pm at Galen Center

Fight on! Beat the Spartans!
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