Secret to USC basketball’s toughness? Football players

The USC men’s basketball coaches were all in agreement after reviewing film of a potential transfer – or at least almost all of them. They liked this particular player. They really liked him.

“Well, he just hit the ground four times,” Trojans head coach Eric Musselman piped up.

There’s some confusion. One assistant asks what he means. The answer lies in an adage that Musselman’s father and longtime coach, Bill, drilled into his players as well as his own family: Don’t fall down if you’re a great player.

“Toughness” isn’t measured with statistics, but it can be observed and recruited. By seeking out former football players, USC has found a direct path to one of the most intangible yet important parts of college basketball.

Seven out of 16 players on the Trojans’ roster are former football players, and two coaches have experience as well.

“That’s been something that’s important to us,” Musselman said. “The demand of practices and stuff – guys that have played football understand what that looks like. Football is the most detailed coaching sport that we have. And I think all those things can only help a basketball player more.”

The idea of recruiting football players isn’t a new revelation, but rather a tried-and-true technique that worked for Musselman while he was coaching at Nevada and Arkansas. He even helped facilitate tryouts with two NFL teams for former Wolfpack player Trey Wade.

Musselman himself played peewee football, and his father played in college. Both of Musselman’s sons hit the gridiron, too.

“The deal was – even in our own house – you have to play at least one year of football,” the second-year Trojans coach said. “You can decide if you want to do it in third grade, fourth grade or fifth grade, but you have to play and then if you don’t like it, you never have to play again.”

Musselman views football as the greatest team sport and the one that requires sacrifice. Plays have to be executed with precision in order to score or gain yardage.

Learning how to study a football scouting report or work through a practice script can make a basketball player all the more diligent. But it’s the physical toughness gained from football that can translate to immediate success in basketball.

USC is tied for first in the country for free-throw attempts, averaging 28.6 per game. Football-slash-basketball players like 6-foot-9 forward Ezra Ausar, 6-foot-5 guard Jerry Easter and 5-foot-11 point guard Jordan Marsh embrace contact, absorbing fouls from even the most finessed opponents and getting to the free-throw line.

“They have so many guys that bring the fight to you, man,” Northwestern coach Chris Collins said after playing USC. “We tried to keep hands off. They just have a lot of guys who are crafty at getting fouls, and you just gotta try to do your best.”

Ausar, listed at 253 pounds, sets the tone for physicality as soon as he steps on the court. He literally flexes his arms while running out for his player intro.

“It’s having that mindset that I’m always the strongest on the floor,” Ausar said. “Knowing that even if I do go up against a challenging person – I don’t feel like nothing’s hard. There’s always a challenge. And I just keep beating my body until I can’t take it no more.”

When the going gets tough, the tough get free throws. And few people get more free-throw attempts than Ausar.

Ausar, who grew up in Georgia, ranks second in the country with 165 free-throw attempts in 19 games. He’s also one of the most experienced football players on the team, and comes from a football family. Both of his older brothers played college football, and his dad played as well.

Ausar’s first love is football – and he still plans to get back into the sport some day – but his mom, concered about head trauma and physical damage, urged him to switch to basketball as a sophomore in high school.

His early coaches tapped into the aggression that was bred into him through his football lifestyle, and one high school coach even benched him when he felt Ausar wasn’t playing at full power.

But don’t dismiss Ausar as a one-dimensional, brutish player. He makes more than 60% of his shots from the field and finds motivation to succeed in basketball within his 2-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son. His son is always asking for dunks, and his daughter is thrilled to watch him play regardless of how he performs.

“What made me stick with the trajectory of playing basketball was my son, first and foremost,” Ausar said. “That was my number one reason. And then, when my baby girl came, it just had to get more intense. I’m very, very blessed to be where I’m at today.”

Musselman sees a high ceiling for Ausar’s raw talent. He accurately predicted that the Utah transfer would be a high-volume free-throw shooter and his contact-seeking attitude would result in paint points.

USC has 12 games left on the schedule, starting with a road trip to Wisconsin and Iowa this week. The Trojans’ future is physical, and it’s rooted in Musselman’s past.

“My senior year of high school, I actually made more free throws than our opponents attempted when you combine the stats,” he said. “When I’d go play pickup ball with my dad, it was always fight through screens, attack and try to draw fouls. That was something that was ingrained in me.”

USC (14-5 overall, 3-5 Big Ten) at WISCONSIN (14-5, 6-2)

When: 1 p.m. PT Sunday

Where: Kohl Center, Madison, Wisconsin

TV/Radio: Peacock/ESPN LA 710