Eric Musselman pressed on officiating concerns in Purdue loss: 'The game's on tape'

Eric Musselman and USC suffered a tough loss to Purdue in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament 76-71. The Trojans felt some calls didn’t quite go their way.

Musselman was pressed on the officiating during the game. However, the coach didn’t quite bite but mentioned to go look at the film.

Desmond Claude was a prime example of being physical in the game, but was whistled for four fouls. That was something that came as a surprise to Musselman.

“A pretty tough one. I didn’t know that Desmond was so physical, but he was tonight, I guess,” Musselman said postgame. “The game’s on tape, so anybody can watch it. It doesn’t do me any good to sit up here and get fined or whatever. The game is reviewable for anybody that wants to.

“When Buzo dug down in the post, that’s as clean as can be. Look, I’ve got to go face a locker room that their season’s over. I thought the game plan, even with guys in foul trouble, I thought we could have won the game, but we didn’t. Like I said, credit to Purdue, and we go home.”

Fouls and missed shots plagued the final two possessions for USC. They failed to tie the game in the end.

“I saw what everybody saw, you know what I mean,” Musselman said. “I appreciate it, Ryan, but it’s all on — my daughter’s at home. She watched it on TV. She’s a freshman in high school. My mom’s obviously living in San Diego watching it. All you’ve got to do is go on Twitter.

“Look, we played well enough to win. That’s all I can say. I’m going to keep reiterating give Purdue credit. We’re new, we’ve got to earn respect.”

Claude led the way with 18 points, three rebounds and two assists. However, he had four fouls. Wesley Yates III had 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Barring an invite to the NIT or Crown, Musselman and USC have to begin preparing for next season. Right now, it’s slated to be a long spring and summer.

“Just want to give Purdue credit tonight, but I’ve been doing this a long time, and the amount of text messages I got from an NBA head coach, an NBA GM — that was tough for us. I thought our team did everything we could to put ourselves in position to win the game,” Musselman said. I feel for the locker room. 

“This group came here to try to win this tournament, and I thought we put ourselves in position tonight to play one more day tomorrow. But I get it. They had a great fan base tonight, and they’ll have a great fan base tomorrow. Just unfortunate that we couldn’t pull out a victory.”