USC center Joshua Morgan OUT against Washington

USC will be without starting center Joshua Morgan today against Washington, according to college hoops insider Jon Rothstein. Morgan injured his foot during the Trojans’ win over Washington State on Thursday and reportedly won’t be ready to go against the other Pac-12 school from the Evergreen State. Here was the news from Rothstein, which he broke on Twitter:

“USC’s Joshua Morgan (foot) is OUT for today’s game against Washington, per Andy Enfield. Morgan suffered the injury on Thursday against Washington State. Averages 7.6 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 2.4 BPG.”

Those aren’t huge numbers for a starting center, but regardless, Morgan played a huge part in USC’s rotation as its primary big man. Now, Morgan’s loss would have been a real killer earlier in the year since USC has so little size and freshman seven-footer Vince Iwuchukwu was out for months to start the year with after collapsing during a pre-season practice due to cardiac issues. However, Iwuchukwu was miraculously able to return to the lineup this season and has logged 10+ minutes in his last four games.

So it’s an easy choice for Morgan’s replacement now that the former top-50 freshman is back in action. But behind Iwuchukwu, the situation is pretty dire at the five spot for USC. They’ll need the young fella’s best performance of the season today in order to hold serve against the Huskies. A great opportunity awaits the youngster — a real prove-it day for Vincent.