Two teams mired in three-game losing streaks meet when Ohio State battles Southern California on Wednesday night in Big Ten play at Los Angeles.
The Buckeyes (15-13, 7-10 Big Ten) are locked in a 10th-place tie while USC (14-13, 6-10) finds itself barely on the right side of the Big Ten tournament cut line. Only 15 of the 18 teams earn tournament invites.
First-year coach Eric Musselman feels the urgency with the Trojans having lost five of their past six games.
“We need to see if our group can be resilient,” Musselman said after Sunday’s 95-85 loss at Rutgers. “We have to get our minds and our bodies right to get ready for an Ohio State game. We have a lot to play for.”
Musselman’s first season at USC has been rocky but does include two impressive upsets — a 70-64 home win over then-No. 7 Michigan State on Feb. 1 and an 82-72 road victory over then-No. 13 Illinois on Jan. 11.
The current skid began with a 69-66 home loss to Minnesota on Feb. 15. It continued with an 88-71 road loss to then-No. 20 Maryland before the loss at Rutgers.
Meanwhile, Ohio State has fallen back to the NCAA Tournament bubble thanks to its worst two shooting performances of the campaign.
The Buckeyes established a season-low for points and shot just 32.7 percent from the floor in a 70-49 home loss to Northwestern on Feb. 20. Three days later at UCLA, the Buckeyes shot 31.7 percent in a 69-61 setback.
Bruce Thornton scored 21 points against the Bruins for his 11th 20-point outing of the season — but his first in the last five games.
Center Aaron Bradshaw (flu) missed the Northwestern and UCLA games, but Buckeyes coach Jake Diebler said that Bradshaw may travel west and play Wednesday.
“We were concerned about being in tight quarters together,” Diebler said. “We’re battling a couple different things right now. We wanted to make sure he’s not contagious. … If he’s healthy, we’re going to get him out here.”
Bradshaw averages 6.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in 18 games. Thornton leads the Buckeyes with a 17.3 average.
USC’s Desmond Claude scored 30 points against Rutgers to increase his team-best scoring average to 16.2. Wesley Yates (13.4 ppg) scored 16 of his 23 points in the first half.
Ohio State holds a 4-3 edge in the all-time series and won the most recent meeting, 79-73, in Columbus during the 1997-98 season.
