USC Basketball: With Season On Brink, Star Searching For Answers

As well he should be.

Your USC Trojans were brutally blown out by the Stanford Cardinal, 99-68, on Saturday, dropping to a 9-15 record overall on the 2023-24 season. It was also their seventh loss in their last eight games.

Per Luca Evans of The Orange County Register, fifth-year star point guard Boogie Ellis was left grappling for answers following another demoralizing defeat.

“We gotta have more pride,” Ellis remarked. “USC’s never been like this. This is not what we’re about. This is not our standard.”

In the game, Ellis scored a scant seven points on 3-of-11 shooting from the field (1-of-6 from deep), four assists, two rebounds and a steal. In fact, Ellis -- the team's leading scorer -- has been limited to single-digit scoring across four of USC's last five contests.

During 20 games thus far this year, the 6'3" San Diego native -- a 2023 All-Pac-12 honoree -- is averaging 16.4 points on .429/.423/.763 shooting splits, 3.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.4 steals a night. 

In his final season of college eligibility, Boogie's team has only one path open to it if it still wants compete for NCAA Tournament glory: it needs to win the Pac-12 Tournament. Time will tell if USC can string together some victories by then.