A lot went wrong for the USC men’s basketball team in Tuesday night’s loss to Northwestern. However, one area in particular stood out as a massive issue for the Trojans: rebounding.
Entering the game, the Wildcats had been averaging 34.5 rebounds per game. Against the Trojans, they had 22 offensive rebounds alone, and 43 total—nearly 25% more than their season average.
USC, on the other hand, had just seven offensive rebounds, and just 27 boards total. As a result, Northwestern was able to score numerous second chance points, while the Trojans largely had to rely on making their initial shots to even stay in the game.
Part of the disparity can be attributed to size. USC’s only player over 6’8″ to appear in the game was Josh Cohen, who played just three minutes. Northwestern, on the other hand, got a combined 36 minutes from 7′ centers Matthew Nicholson and Keenan Fitzmorris.
Even for a smaller team, though, USC simply cannot afford to have that level of rebounding disparity go against them. If the Trojans want to make a serious push towards a potential NCAA Tournament bid, they will need to be better on the glass moving forward.
