Rodney Rice finishes with a triple-double USC men’s basketball win

Rodney Rice hadn’t played much at point guard in two years at Maryland when, last spring, Eric Musselman offered him a chance to do so at USC. The coach had already tried, with mixed results, to transform an off-ball guard into a natural point guard last season. But he was desperately looking for a floor general to lead his Trojan offensive. So Musselman took “a leap of faith,” trusting that things would be different with Rice.

It didn’t look like a big jump Friday, not as the Trojans’ new point guard reached the second triple-double in school history, leading USC past Illinois State with an 87-67 victory at the Intuit Dome.

Rice had 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, the last of which made history in the final seconds as his teammates deliberately tried to put the Trojans’ point guard in position for a final pass. He found forward Ezra Ausar under the hoop for a dunk — and with the bucket, joined Daniel Hackett in the record books as the only other Trojans to accomplish the feat.

“Man, I’ve never had a double-double before,” Rice said with a smile. “So yeah, I was going. Of course.”

Musselman encouraged Rice who was initially expected to share lead guard duties this season after playing off the ball at Maryland. Then, shortly after Rice committed, last year’s point guard, Desmond Claude, rushed into the transfer portal. A few months later, five-star Alijah Arenas suffered a serious knee injury, further complicating USC’s ball-handling plans.

Suddenly, Rice was the only logical option left at this position.

“To be honest, that’s always been my game,” Rice said. “I just had a role to play last year. It was a big role. But yeah, I have a great opportunity here where I can handle the ball better, make decisions and just be more of a leader.”

Musselman still had his concerns going into the season. But Rice certainly looked up to the task Friday, finding teammate after teammate near the basket or driving toward the hoop. He had 15 of his 21 points in the first half, largely fueling the Trojan offense single-handedly.

USC’s defense was the story at that point, with the Trojans stifling Illinois State early on, limiting the Redbirds to just three field goals inside the arc before halftime. It was exactly the kind of suffocating defense Musselman envisioned his team playing this season, its size and length proving too much for overmatched Illinois.

Until early in the second half Friday, when USC’s ferocious defensive effort hit a wall. Musselman then blamed the lull on a lack of conditioning, after an all-out blitz on that end to open the game.

“Playing at the pace we were playing defensively is hard to do,” Musselman said.

As USC (3-0) caught its breath, it didn’t take long for Illinois State (1-2) to get back into the game. The 21-point lead at the end of the first half was cut to six just six minutes into the second half.

The Trojans’ offense was ice cold at that point, except for Ausar, who scored USC’s first eight points of the half.

But then Chad Baker-Mazara, who scored 18, hit a three-pointer back. Seven-foot-five center Gabe Dynes had a dunk to give it 14. And the stifling defense of the first half came back to attention.

Less than three minutes after Illinois State got within striking distance, USC took a 16-point lead. Their leader led them to the end.

It wasn’t until he reached the visitors’ locker room that Rice finally calmed down. There, his teammates waited for him with bottles of water ready to dunk him in celebration, knowing full well how much Friday meant to their new point guard.