Eric Musselman addresses how Big Ten transition complicates first season at USC

Eric Musselman‘s first season leading the USC Trojans men’s basketball team hasn’t been without its pitfalls. Especially when it comes to Big Ten play.

Following Saturday’s lopsided 84-69 home loss to No. 24 Wisconsin, which halted a two-game conference win streak, Musselman opened up about the challenges the Trojans (11-7, 3-4 Big Ten) have faced in their first season as part of the expanded Big Ten. That includes a 1-3 conference record at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, which has become a home-away-from-home for California-based Big Ten faithful.

“They’re excited, you can tell. I mean, there’s been a couple of games now (where in) the last 3 minutes you hear the opposing crowd, very loud,” Musselman said in Saturday’s postgame press conference. “For them, it’s probably great. For us, not so great. Especially if you don’t win at home.”

USC hasn’t had much of a homecourt advantage in Musselman’s first season in Los Angeles, going 9-6 in its first 15 home games this season, including home losses vs. cross-state rival Cal, and Big Ten foes Oregon, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Despite conflicted home crowds, Musselman isn’t deterred and knows that has more to do with the Big Ten’s national reach than any loss in local support.

“I think all the Big Ten schools, the traditional Big Ten schools, have always had a great following. I can go back to 1970 when my dad was coaching at Minnesota and Williams Arena was sold out with 19,000 people. And then the hockey arena was sold out too, and the game was showed on closed-circuit TV,” Musselman said. “So I’m well aware of the great history of Big Ten basketball. I can’t speak for any other sport, but was in elementary school – third grade – traveling to Wisconsin when Kim and Kerry Hughes were playing there. I’ve been in that building.

“Now that they get to come out here, the travel is different. I don’t think we’re playing anybody that’s 12 miles away. They get to go play UCLA, to my knowledge, next. But it is what it is. We’re in the Big Ten now and we’ve got to figure it out. That’s our job.”

Eric Musselman explains how USC is handling Los Angeles fires

The city of Los Angeles has been devastated by fires that have been raging since January 7th. At this point, it seems as though everyone in the city has been impacted in some way by them, including Eric Musselman and the USC Trojans.

Right now, USC has been away from home, making a road trip where the Trojans upset Illinois. It would always be a meaningful win but it’s even more important now that the fires have become so devastating.

“Look, the stuff that’s going on in LA has affected us,” Eric Musselman said. “We have three staff members that their families have been evacuated. My wife, although it’s not in Manhattan Beach, but the first night, she’s calling me at two in the morning and four in the morning because she’s nervous about it. So, it’s affected everybody for sure. I think our guys are looking forward to getting back.”

A dry climate and strong winds have initially made the fire difficult to contain for the Los Angeles Fire Department. It began in the historic Pacific Palisades neighborhood and spread from there. Now, there are four separate major fires that have reportedly killed 16 people and consumed at least 38,000 acres of land as they continue to rage.

“One of our local players, his family is very concerned because it’s getting closer to to where they live. Coach [Will] Conroy‘s 24-hour lookout on his phone with local news, so this has affected everybody. We talked last night that when we step in this building that it’s our job to focus on the game. Look, it’s hard, like we played this game at 9 a.m. our time, and we got them up at 7:30 or whatever local time, which is 5:30 in the morning our time. So, we’re moving in the right direction.”

Dan Morrison contributed to this report.