USC Basketball: Transfers Clear up Room for Signee J.T. Terrell

The Trojans were maxed out with 13 scholarships a week ago, but with Garrett Jackson, Alexis Moore and Curtis Washington declaring their intent to transfer, USC is now fully able to add their commitments, in addition to the players already signed.

Mark Dolejs-US PRESSWIRE

While the Trojans struggled to score this past season, finishing 343rd in the nation in scoring, USC might not have a problem getting the ball in the net next season, when former Wake Forest guard J.T. Terrell hits the USC campus. Terrell, a sophomore at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Washington, averaged 24 points at the JuCo level and signed with the Trojans back in November.

Terrell left Wake Forest last summer after a DUI, as he was looking to expand on his successful freshman year in the ACC during the 2010-2011 season. With the Demon Deacons, Terrell averaged over 11 points and showed solid shooting prowess, with 50 buckets from distance in 32 games. A 32 point effort in Winston-Salem against Iowa was a season high, as well as an ACC Freshman high.

With the Trojans, he’ll give Kevin O’Neill one of, if not the best back court in the Pac-12, as Terrell will play the two, while Jio Fontan will return to the point. USC hasn’t had a strong dual-threat set of scorers along the perimeter since shooting guard Gabe Pruitt and swingman Nick Young took the Trojans to the Sweet Sixteen back in 2007. The Trojans really have had trouble getting scoring from all five positions in the Kevin O’Neill era, while back in 2007 and 2008, the Trojans were balanced offensively under Tim Floyd. With the inclusion of Fontan and Terrell, the Trojans will take pressure off of the inexperience of returning forwards Aaron Fuller and Dewayne Dedmon.

As far as the rest of the class stands, the Trojans have signed Strahinja Gavrilovic and have a commitment from Brendyn Taylor. That puts the Trojans exactly at 13 scholarships, with three incoming players and three transfers (Jackson, Moore and Washington) cancelling out. Should Evan Smith depart as he rumored to, the Trojans would then have one scholarship available to dangle at Shabazz Muhammad, even though he already has one foot in Westwood.