USC guard Isaiah Collier to miss 4-6 weeks due to hand injury

USC is expected to be without guard Isaiah Collier for four to six weeks due to a hand injury, the school announced. He suffered the injury on Wednesday against Washington State.

Collier has been an important piece for the Trojans as a freshman, ranking second on the team with 15.4 points and a team-high 4.1 assists per game. In 23 minutes against Washington State, he had 12 points and three rebounds prior to his injury.

A USC spokesperson initially said Collier suffered a hand contusion, according to ESPN’s Paolo Uggetti.

Collier was a Five Star Plus+ prospect on the recruiting trail, meaning he was one of the only players ranked by all four major recruiting media companies as a five star. He checked in as the nation’s top-ranked recruit from the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Collier is also viewed as a likely lottery pick in the NBA Draft, and On3’s Jamie Shaw ranked him at No. 3 in his Freshman Power Rankings earlier this week. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo also projected Collier to go to the Houston Rockets with the No. 9 overall pick in their latest mock draft.

USC has had an up-and-down season so far, dropping to 8-8 with the loss to Washington State. The Trojans are now 2-3 in Pac-12 play entering Saturday’s game against Colorado, and are currently No. 70 in the KenPom rankings as of Thursday night.

Isaiah Collier isn’t the only injury USC is dealing with, though. Leading scorer Boogie Ellis put up 18 points and five rebounds against Wazzu, but head coach Andy Enfield said he didn’t get to practice before the game. Josh Morgan also missed the matchup due to an illness, which made the Trojans even more shorthanded.

“Boogie hasn’t practiced all week,” Enfield said, via ESPN. “It doesn’t excuse our missed free throws, open shots or some of the mistakes we made.”

USC is one of four teams with a 2-3 conference record through the first part of conference play. The Pac-12 could be in position to get multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament this year if the current trend continues, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, who projected four bids in his latest Bracketology released earlier this week.

Next up for the Trojans is a matchup with Colorado, which had one of the last four byes in Lunardi’s projections. Tip-off is set for Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2.