Eric Musselman honest about first-year fan interest at USC: 'I don't know if there was much progress'

With a .500 record and losing mark in the Big Ten, USC hasn’t had the kind of season they’d hoped for in year one under Eric Musselman. Still, he has reason to believe it can be better starting in year two.

Musselman spoke about the fan interest in the Trojans this season following their win over Washington on Wednesday. He admitted they didn’t do much to improve upon that from where it was when he arrived last spring.

“I don’t know if there was much progress,” Musselman said. “There will be next year because it’ll be, um, a lot of effort put in by all of us.”

Musselman knows it will improve from ’24-’25 with the Trojans averaging just over 5,000 people in attendance. For reference, that is almost 1,000 fewer fans than their women’s program is averaging, each game this season at the Galen Center. That’s based on what USC is wanting to work on ahead of ’25-’26.

To start, Musselman is expecting a better roster for their fanbase to come watch. That begins with having a foundation returning from this year’s team, as compared to taking 13 new players last offseason and bringing in a Top 10 recruiting class led by a Five-Star+ prospect at On3 in SG Alijah Arenas.

“You know, I think some of the, you know, some of the players coming in will be, be big draws,” said Musselman. “I think that’ll, you know – I think one guy can help us attendance-wise. I can’t talk about him. But, um, you know, I know that, um, you know, walking around, whether it’s on The Strand or whether it’s at an NBA game, I do think that people understand, um, who could be coming in here and I do think there’s a real good buzz about that.

“And, you know, this year, we didn’t really have anybody coming back but Harry. Um, feel really confident that, that some other guys will be back and so there’ll be some name-recognition on the roster. I think that’ll help.”

To finish, Musselman wants he and his second team to better connect themselves with the students at ‘SC. That should help their home environment alone if they can get them to come and buy into their games.

“You know, I haven’t done what I’ve done in the past with the student body – um, new year, travel but certainly this summer and into football season, I think you’ll see us out a little bit more,” said Musselman. “Like, I mean, we were out, not that we weren’t out but more of a conscious effort, um, to build what we need to build.”

USC will play one more game before, depending on the standings, appearing in the Big Ten Tournament where their season could end in Indianapolis. From there, though, it’ll be all about making all kinds of improvements, including their home-court advantage in LA, under Musselman.