USC Basketball: Bronny James' Trojans Debut Has Already Sold Out
The USC men's basketball program had one of their best recruiting hauls in the university's history this past summer as they were able to land a consensus top-3 high school player in the nation in Isaiah Collier, a 6'11 force in Arrinten Page and of course, Bronny James himself.
Unfortunately, James' collegiate career has been on standby for the past couple of months after he suffered a cardiac event during a team workout back in July. The entire sports world came together to support the 19-year-old guard on not just his journey back to the basketball court, but also to his normal life.
Slowly but surely, the eldest son of Lakers superstar LeBron James began making public appearances at large events and positive updates from his family members started to hit the media. We even saw the Young Prince join his Trojans teammates for warm-ups a few weeks ago and not long after, the news became official: Bronny James was finally cleared to make a full return to the team and he would be making his 2023-2024 freshman debut this Sunday against Long Beach State.
USC has been a very popular spot this second half of the year when it comes to sporting events. Caleb Williams did his best to put on a show every game before potentially leaving for the NFL Draft and Juju Watkins is putting up historic numbers for the USC women's basketball team.
But it appears that LeBron James is the only one willing to push all his priorities to the side to watch Bronny throw on the red and gold uniform for the first time. It has been confirmed by school officials that USC's Sunday match vs Long Beach State has sold out days before tip-off!
"OFFICIAL: Sunday’s game against Long Beach State is SOLD OUT."
(Via @USC_Hoops)
Expect the environment at this game to be very similar to that of Sierra Canyon High School in the multiple years that Bronny played there. The King will be available in the stands without a doubt seeing that the Lakers have the day off but I wouldn't be too surprised to see other NBA legends, celebrities and musicians also make their way to the Galen Center on Sunday.
As for expectations, I believe Bronny will and should use this game as a means to get comfortable on the court again. He went through a major health scare and saw the game he loves taken away from him for quite some time. It was always evident that he enjoys playing hard on both ends and after some weeks under his belt, we will see that same defensive-minded play that he has shown over the years.
USC won't have to ask for a lot out of Bronny off the jump. Both Isaiah Collier and Boogie Ellis are the primary ball-handlers on the squad right now and both play above 30 minutes a game. Expect some form of a minutes restriction for the Young Prince in his debut and at least a couple of smooth scoring attempts.
The game is scheduled for 1 p.m. PST on Sunday... we will keep you updated if any new reports come out before then!
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