Masked or not, Trojans need Mobley
A broken nose is not expected to sideline USC’s leading scorer for Saturday’s pivotal meeting with crosstown hoops rival UCLA.
Isaiah Mobley should be ready to rejoin USC’s lineup by then, coach Andy Enfield said Thursday, but how comfortable the Trojans captain will be upon returning for the crucial conference matchup remains to be seen.
Mobley, who missed Tuesday’s game, was fitted this week for a protective mask that’s expected to arrive Friday. As of Thursday’s practice, it was still unclear if Mobley would have to wear a mask at all.
If he does, there won’t be much time to get acquainted with it. Enfield said he didn’t believe Mobley had worn a mask before.
“I broke my nose, I never got it repaired,” Enfield said. “It’s one of those things where you just have to learn to play with the pain for a few days if the swelling goes down, and it doesn’t affect your vision.”
USC almost lost its way in Mobley’s absence Tuesday, left to overcome a 13-point, second-half deficit to Pacific, a team that had won just three games since Thanksgiving.
“Without Isaiah, we lacked urgency,” point guard Ethan Anderson said.
In light of that brief brush with disaster, Enfield put the onus on the team’s top players to bounce back.
Mobley, who leads the Trojans in points (14.7), rebounds (8.5) and steals (0.9), is presumably the first name on that list.
“You need your best players to step up and play well,” Enfield said. “They’re your best players for a reason. To perform consistently in big games, they have to play well to have a chance to win.”
That will likely ring true Saturday, too, when UCLA returns to a sold-out Galen Center.
In each of the past two seasons, a top Trojans guard played hero, toppling UCLA with a breathtaking buzzer beater.
Mobley could be the one called on to don that cape Saturday. Whether that comes with a mask, too, is still to be determined.
In the week since a spitting incident resulted in a misdemeanor assault charge, UCLA redshirt freshman forward Mac Etienne has undergone counseling while also feeling the warm embrace of his coach.
“Look, it’s easy to just sit there and say obviously how disappointed I was,” Bruins
coach Mick Cronin said Thursday of the ordeal that occurred after his team’s loss to Arizona last week at the McKale Center, “but at the same time, it’s my job to care about him and love him.”
Cronin compared his role to that of a parent for Etienne, a New York native who enrolled in the middle of last season and contributed mostly off the bench before suffering a torn knee ligament in fall workouts that has caused him to miss the season.
Etienne accompanied the team on every trip until last week, when he flew home after he was accused of spitting on taunting Arizona students following the Bruins’ 76-66 defeat.
Police cited Etienne, who faces a charge of assault with intent to injure, insult or provoke.
Cronin said his support of Etienne did not equate to excusing his behavior.
“I take seriously our program’s need to be a shining light for our university,” Cronin said. “When people look at the four letters and when they’re looking through the lens of men’s basketball, I want it to all be positive, so that hurt.
“Right now, that’s what I’m trying to do with him and by the time he’s back on our bench, he’ll full know the responsibility that goes with that, that goes with being on our team, being a part of it, the way you gotta represent our university.”
Unhappy ending
Cronin said he was waiting for Pac-12 officials to respond to two issues that hurt his team’s bid for a comeback last weekend at the end of an 87-84 loss to Arizona State in triple overtime.
After UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. intentionally missed the last of two free throws with 2.2 seconds left in the third overtime with hopes of allowing his teammates to grab the rebound, Cronin said the clock started before Bruins guard Peyton Watson chased down the ball in one corner.
According to Cronin, Bobby Dibler, a veteran coordinator of basketball officials for the Pac-12 and other conferences on the West Coast, confirmed that the clock started prematurely, preventing Watson from passing the ball to nearby sharpshooter Jake Kyman for a shot at the buzzer.
There was also the matter of a T-shirt thrown from the crowd that Cronin said struck Watson on the play as he collected the ball and rushed a shot that was well off the mark.
“It was unfortunate,” Cronin said of the sequence, “but we move on and get ready for USC.”
Etc.
Cody Riley’s recent struggles transcend a cold stretch in which he’s shot only 30.8% over his last four games. The UCLA forward’s rebounding is also down significantly since his return from the knee injury that sidelined him for two months; Riley is averaging 3.4 rebounds per game, down from 5.4 last season, while searching for his old form.