Joshua Morgan's shot-blocking has reached insane new heights for USC

Joshua Morgan picked up three more blocks for USC Basketball on Sunday during their Pac-12 home opener against Oregon State. Interesingly, that was just a middle-of-the-pack type of game for Morgan. There was nothing middle-of-the-pack about it when it comes to how Morgan compares to the rest of the country, as again, he had three swats.

There was, however, everything middle-of-the-pack about it when it came to his overall performance throughout this season. Morgan has played nine games. He's had four of those nine where he's had more blocks than what he had on Sunday, and four at the same amount of blocks or less. That's how dominant of a shot-blocker he is.

He actually showed up to the game as a top three shot-blocker in the nation, per the Pac-12 Network broadcast. He had 3.62 blocks per game. Even with a performance that was not even at the top of his standards when it came to blocking shots on Sunday, he still maintained a blocks per game average above 3.5 (3.56).

The Senior has been a true defensive anchor for the Trojans in the front court, and it continued on Sunday with his dominant defensive performance again. It's not even just the blocks. His defensive rating was at 88.8 heading into the game against the Beavers, which shows that he's also altering shots and preventing bigs and slashers to even consider trying the paint.

Joshua Morgan has 10 blocks in USC Basketball's two Pac-12 games.

Those were the last two games for USC Basketball, so Joshua Morgan's even hotter despite the competition getting fiercer. The Pac-12 has not been a great conference this year, but still, it's most definitely impressive to see that he's not just racking up blocks against mid-major cupcakes.

Heck, his 3.75 blocks per game against Power 5 teams is more than his 3.4 blocks per game against non-Power 5 competition this year. Morgan has been everything for the Trojans' defense.

He's been efficient on offense, too--shooting 58.3% from the field coming into the Pac-12 home opener, and shot 56% from the field in the Pac-12 home opener. On a team where the backcourt was supposed to be what carries this squad, Morgan has had a very much-appreciated breakout.