USC Basketball Lands Minnesota Transfer Charles Buggs

Minnesota forward Charles Buggs became the latest player to transfer into USC basketball, giving the Trojans a valuable reinforcement in the front court.

The spring of bad news for USC basketball has become the summer of good news, with yet another transfer, this time Charles Buggs from Minnesota, joining the Trojan program.

Buggs, a graduate transfer who will be eligible to play right away, committed to play for USC Thursday, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.

Buggs played in 28 games for the Gophers as a redshirt junior, starting 21 games and averaging 5.9 points per game. He was second on Minnesota with a field goal percentage of 46.2% and third among shooters with 31.9% from 3-point range.

The addition of Buggs comes just days after it was revealed that Duke point guard Derryck Thornton will transfer into USC. However, unlike Thornton, who will have to sit out a season due to NCAA transfer rules, Buggs can have an immediate impact for the Trojans this coming season.

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USC needed reinforcements for the 2016-17 season thanks to a mass exodus of players including Julian Jacobs and Nikola Jovanovic, who declared for the NBA Draft, and Katin Reinhardt, Darion Clark, Malik Martin and Malik Marquetti, who all opted to transfer out of the program.

Standing 6-foot-9, 230 pounds, Buggs could help bridge the gap from losing Clark and Martin. He will likely serve as a rotational player in his final season with Bennie Boatwright and Chimezie Metu returning as sophomores and incoming freshmen Harrison Henderson and Nick Rakovevic joining the squad.

In addition to Buggs and Thornton, the Trojans also added Lousiville transfer Shaqquan Aaron, who sat out the 2015-16 season as a transfer and will be eligible to play this year.

The Trojans will hope to replicate last year’s better-than-expected results despite the departures, having made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011.