Eric Musselman confronts the reality of the USC basketball season

It hasn’t been the best start to the season for Eric Musselman and the USC men’s basketball team.

On Wednesday night, the Trojans fell 68-60 at home to Oregon in the first Big Ten game for both programs. The loss dropped USC to 5-4 this season. With only three more non-conference buy games left before conference play is in full swing, things aren’t looking good for the Trojans in their first year under Musselman.

After the loss, Musselman was asked by Luca Evans of the Orange County Register about his prospects for this year’s team and he gave an extremely honest assessment.

“I don’t know how many Big Ten games we’ll win,” Musselman said. “What I know is that when you make that effort – from a cultural perspective, you know – I don’t think you leave the building, you think the team played hard, you think the team played hard, They think that the team put in a lot of effort and that the team didn’t finish the game. What we didn’t do.

“We were right there. And like I said, when you lead for 30 minutes, it’s the last 10 minutes of the game that we’re not used to winning as a unit.

“There will probably be other nights where we play really well, and whether we can come away with the win or not, I don’t know in the first year. But apart from the defense, the performance was there all the way.”

Given Musselman’s previous successes at Arkansas and Nevada, the Trojans’ program should be in good hands long-term. But if early results are any indication, USC fans may have to wait a year or two to get their first wins.