USC Trojans News: USC Basketball's statement win, Boogie Ellis' career night, more

USC Basketball beat No. 19 (now No. 22) Auburn on Sunday, which was the first impressive win of the season for the Trojans. Does it mean anything? Well, it means something. It was a statement win, and showed that the Trojans have a pulse after often being defined as the team that embarrassingly lost to Florida Gulf Coast at home.

SC had played two ranked teams on the season before their tilt with Auburn. They lost both (Tennessee, Wisconsin), but both were close games (one even went to overtime). To finally be on the right side of this proves that this Trojans team does have potential. The question that remains, however, is if Sunday's type of performance is sustainable without Vince Iwuchukwu.

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It's simple: The reason USC Basketball beat the No. 19 Auburn Tigers is because of Boogie Ellis. Ellis shot nine of 15 from the field, and hit two of five three-pointers for the Trojans on Sunday. He had to put the team on his back. The rest of the guards shot nine of 27 from the field on Sunday and two of seven from beyond the arc. Ellis didn't have a lot of assist opportunities, and had to score himself.

He most certainly did it; scoring 28 points. He also played well on the defensive end; picking up two steals. 28 points were his career-high, and he also hit eight of 10 free throws. Free throw shooting was an element of his game that was shaky coming into this contest, and he showed improvement in a massive game where the top version of himself was absolutely necessary for SC to get the win.

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The new AP Top 25 Poll was released earlier this week, and USC Basketball was not on it. They did, however, receive seven votes. Those seven votes were tied for the 14th-most votes that any program not in the Top 25 received. The reality is, even with the Auburn win, SC does not deserve to be ranked in the Top 25.

While judging a team off of one game seems pretty harsh, getting beat by 13 points at home to Florida Gulf Coast is a very unfortunate bullet point to have on a resume. SC would have had to beat more than one of the three games they played against ranked teams to right that ship. The Trojans' net rating is 95. They still have a long way to go if they want to be a ranked team.