Eric Musselman raves about character of Alijah Arenas exiting car accident

Eric Musselman thought he knew what he was getting with Alijah Arenas, the Five-Star+ commitment this cycle for USC. However, his car accident two months ago and his thoughts on it since have revealed even more about himself to his new head coach.

Musselman, speaking to the media last week alongside Arenas, spoke about his freshman’s outlook on what happened to him back in April. He said it has shown him even more about this player off of the floor, especially now that he’s with the team and interacting with the rest of the Trojans.

“Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, the day that I was in the hospital with him, he was kind of in and out. But, you know, the love that his family had and the care,” said Musselman.

“His perspective is really unique. He doesn’t have, you know, even before the accident to be honest with you – when you talked to Alijah, it’s a unique thought-process on how he views life, how he views the game of basketball, and how he views his teammates. He was over at my house the other night and went through the entire roster on hey, this guy is really going to help us in close games, this guy, you know, we got to build his confidence up. He just has a, he’s wired uniquely in his viewpoint on everything. I knew that he – I didn’t know that he talked to the whole team about his experience but I knew that, you know, he said he had a three-hour conversation the other day with Chad (Baker-Mazara), you know.”

Arena ended up in an induced coma on April 24th after being in a wreck of a Tesla Cybertruck early that morning. The accident, setting off a fire hydrant on the streetand creating a fire from the vehicle, caused him to inhale smoke, which led to the induced coma as a precaution, but with no other major physical injuries. He came out of it by the following week with him released from the hospital a few days later. Arenas discussed his account of what happened in this same media session, saying the car malfunctioned while recalling how he was able to eventually get out of the vehicle.

Arenas, a native of Woodland Hills, California, played high school basketball at Chatsworth. He, after reclassifying up, finished with a rating as the No. 12 overall recruit and a Five-Star+ prospect in the 2025 recruiting cycle. He also rated as the No. 3 SG, behind Darryn Peterson (Kansas) and Meleek Thomas (Arkansas), and No. 3 player out of the state, behind Peterson and Brayden Burries (Arizona). That’s according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. With that, Arenas is one of two commitments to Southern Cal along with CG Jerry Easter, a four-star in the Top-50 nationally, as the No. 5 class in ’25 is for the Trojans.

This was a significant experience, and potentially life-altering one, for Arenas. He’s come out on the other side of it, though, with Musselman now thinking even more highly of his top commitment.