Kobe Johnson shares what Boogie Ellis brings to USC

The USC men’s basketball team finds themselves in third place in the Pac-12 only behind crosstown rival UCLA and the Arizona Wildcats. A large part of that success has been because of the growth and the game of senior guard Boogie Ellis. And after the Trojans’ 80-74 victory over the Washington Huskies, sophomore forward Kobe Johnson talked about the improved play of his point guard and what he brings to USC in every game this season.

“He’s just being a point guard. Last year, no cut on him, but he wasn’t as good as a passer as he is now,” said Johnson. “He definitely advanced his game in that aspect, and he took that personally. He’s learning to get everybody involved; he’s learning to be a true point guard. He’s doing that very well.”

This is Ellis’s second season at USC after transferring into the program from Memphis following the 2020-21 season. In year number two, the San Diego, CA, native has been more efficient offensively, enjoying a four-point bump in his average points per game from 12.5 to 16.5. And in the assist category, his average jumped from 2.4 to 3.0 assists per game. His total number of dimes per game may have only jumped slightly, but that increase and willingness to pass to his teammates has not gone unnoticed. And Johnson is definitely a fan of the improved passing abilities by Ellis.

Andy Enfield credits USC for pulling out win despite Washington’s strong second half

USC (17-6) outlasted Washington (13-12) 80-74 in Pac-12 play Saturday and head coach Andy Enfield credited his team in a close one.

Washington had a great second half after the Huskies trailed the Trojans by seven at halftime. Despite some offensive woes for USC, the team did enough to scrape out a win at home.

Enfield detailed the keys to the win after USC won its fourth straight game.

“Well, we won the turnover battle and the offensive rebounding,” Enfield said. “And we shot 86% from the foul line. So you’re not going to play your best game, Boogie (Ellis) and Drew (Peterson) to go eight-for-28 and two-for-14 from the three point line between them. They’re To their credit they had 13 assists, and Drew had 10 rebounds, which is really good. 

“But for us to be able to win a league game with both those guys having off nights on the offensive end, we feel very happy about that. That means our other guys have stepped up and came to play, and they did a great job.”

Tre White and Kobe Johnson led the scoring for the Trojans with 22 and 21 points respectively. Safe to say, those guys stepped up according to Enfield.

On3’s Nick Kosko contributed to this article