The Trojans' personnel crunch has gone from desperate to nearly hopeless.
Junior forward Aaron Fuller, a capable transfer from Iowa, will undergo surgery on Jan. 26 to repair a left shoulder anterior labrum tear, leaving USC with just seven healthy scholarship players.
Not an ideal scenario for a team trying to halt an eight-game losing streak that dates back to the week before Christmas.
Fuller was second on the team in scoring at 10.6 points per game and tops in rebounding at 5.9 per game. However, injuries to both shoulders have diminished his play in recent weeks.
He scored in double digits in USC's first six games this season, just twice more in 12 games after that. Fuller originally injured the shoulder before the season, requiring the left-hander to shoot mainly right-handed.
Several weeks ago, while warming up, he suffered a slight tear in the right labrum, merely compounding the problem.
Fuller's injury is the latest in a litany of physical ailments that have ripped apart the Trojans' aspirations. Others sidelined are senior guard Jio Fontan (knee injury in August), who was USC's leading returning scorer from last season, and forwards Curtis Washington and Evan Smith, both with shoulder injuries that appear to be season-ending.
Coach Kevin O'Neill tried something different at Oregon, inserting seldom-used 5-foot-10 junior walk-on Daniel Munoz into the game to play point guard. That allowed Maurice Jones more freedom to create for himself, and Jones responded with 22 points in a 65-62 loss.
Munoz, who had played just five minutes in three games previously his entire career, was on the floor for 27 minutes. He scored just two points but had only two turnovers and helped USC to its best offensive effort in weeks.
O'Neill rewarded him with a start two days later at Oregon State, explaining, "He's a true point guard."
Things didn't go as well against the Ducks. Munoz played just 12 minutes, hitting a 3-point shot but committing four turnovers.
NOTES, QUOTES
--The Trojans must have been feeling pretty good after beating Texas Christian 83-59 back on Dec. 19. It was their season-high scoring output and their biggest scoring margin of the season. Through Jan. 22, USC had lost eight in a row since the TCU game, and it hadn't scored more than 62 points in any of them.
--The Trojans converted just five of 25 shots from 3-point range in their road losses to Oregon and Oregon State. Their season percentage from beyond the arc had slipped to 29.0 percent through Jan. 22.
--USC's ever-shrinking bench produced just 14 points in 104 minutes in the two games in Oregon.
BY THE NUMBERS: 23 -- Seasons since the Trojans went this deep into the conference schedule without a victory. USC lost its first 12 league games in 1989. This season, the Trojans were 0-7 through Jan. 22.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We played the best we've played in three weeks." -- USC coach Kevin O'Neill, after the Trojans at least topped the 60-point plateau in a 65-62 defeat at Oregon.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
THIS WEEK'S GAMES:
--vs. Colorado, Jan. 26
KEY MATCHUPS: The Trojans, running short of manpower, need to keep the pace slow and try to win with defense. Colorado won't make that easy. The Buffaloes like a quick pace and have developed confidence, but they have yet to show they can win on the road in the Pac-12, and the Trojans may be able to spring the upset if the Buffs are peeking ahead to UCLA.
--vs. Utah, Jan. 28
KEY MATCHUPS: This game features two of the league's three most feeble offensive attacks. USC will try to pressure Utah's ball-handlers in the wake of senior PG Josh Watkins being dismissed from the team a week ago. There are not many games left on the schedule where the Trojans will be favored. They at least have a fighting chance in this one.
FUTURES MARKET: Is sophomore C Dewayne Dedmon ready to begin fulfilling the massive potential coach Kevin O'Neill sees in him? He sure gave an enticing glimpse in the Trojans' 65-62 loss at Oregon, scoring a career-high 18 points and pulling down seven rebounds. The agile 7-footer followed that with an eight-point, eight-rebound performance in the loss at Oregon State. Dedmon was shooting 57 percent from the floor through Jan. 22, and he had seven double-digit scoring games.
PLAYER NOTES
--Sophomore G Maurice Jones, moved off the point against Oregon, responded with 22 points -- his best game in a month. He followed that with 13 points in the loss at Oregon State. However, Jones had converted just five of 28 attempts from the 3-point arc over the past six games through Jan. 22.
--Freshman G Byron Wesley scored 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting against Oregon State after being held to six points on 3-for-12 at Oregon.
--Sophomore F Garrett Jackson scored 12 points -- one off his season high -- in the loss at Oregon State.
