Eric Musselman goes on lengthy rant about valuing margin of victory over playing reserves

USC mercilessly added to its margin of victory in its 97-70 win over UTSA on Wednesday. After the game, Trojans head coach Eric Musselman discussed his decision to increase USC’s lead instead of giving minutes to players who often don’t see much action.

“I don’t make up the NCAA selection process,” Musselman said. “When you play this game, your margin of victory is important. Do I agree with it? No, I think you should give other guys an opportunity to grow their game. They’re college students. But, we need to win by as much as we can. Again, not my rule.

“That’s not a reflection of anybody on our team, but I’m playing the exact guys I think that we can win by as many points as we possibly can because that’s what they tell us you got to do. So, that’s not me. I would love to empty the bench and and put a walk-on in and reward him, but I don’t want to wake up tomorrow morning and drop seven spots, and neither does our team.”

It was a dominant performance for the Trojans, who shot 55% from the field and 39% from beyond the arc. Ezra Ausar stole the show, tallying a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Chad Baker-Mazara was excellent as well. The transfer guard added 20 points, five rebounds and five assists to the Trojans’ winning effort. Only eight players saw action for USC in the triumph.

Moreover, only seven of those players received more than 10 minutes of game time. With the win, USC improved to 11-1 on the season. The Trojans’ only loss thus far this season was an 84-76 defeat against Washington.

In the loss, USC slightly extended its rotation and played nine players. With conference play quickly approaching, Eric Musselman is tightening his rotations. Part of this move isn’t by choice.

Earlier today, USC revealed that star guard Rodney Rice will miss the remainder of the season due to injury. Musselman discussed the disappointing news with the press.

“Rodney is done for the season,” Musselman said. “It’s a devastating blow to our program. But, he’s only played six games for us and we’re now whatever… I don’t know what our record is. So we’ve played a lot of games without him. We played that last game and a half in Maui without him.

“We played a great first half without him against Washington, but we’re going to miss him. He’s one of the best players in the Big Ten. I’m super impressed that our team has just one loss right now and it was really one poor 20-minute half.”