Game Preview: vs. Southern California 12/3/11

Minnesota bounced back just a few days after their first loss of the season and beat a decent Virginia Tech team 58-55 on Wednesday evening. Julian Welch, making his first start of the season, led the scoring with 15 points for Minnesota, who was without Trevor Mbakwe and Ralph Sampson. While Mbakwe is out for the season with a torn ACL, Sampson hopes to be back on the court soon. The timing of Ralph’s return has yet to be decided, but as mentioned in the Virginia Tech game preview, resting the senior for several games is an option to be considered due to the weak schedule Minnesota faces until their first conference game on December 27.

Like Virginia Tech, USC comes from a power conference but isn’t one of their league’s better teams. The Trojans lost several key players from last year’s team that snuck into the NCAA tournament, including a trio of big-minute seniors and NBA draft early-entrant Nikola Vucevic (selected 16th in the first round).

Several months ago, they looked like maybe a middle-of-the-pack team in the PAC-12, but now it’s difficult to imagine even a .500 overall record for the season. Senior point guard Jio Fontan tore an ACL late this summer while with the team on its foreign tour of Brazil. He’s out for the year. Big man Dewayne Dedmon broke his hand in October, but returned and has been playing well. However, he’s now got a bad wheel that is expected to keep him out for several weeks.

USC is coached by Kevin O’Neill and he should again have his guys playing relatively solid defense. Through 8 games, opponents have made just 41.7% of their two-point shots and 30.1% from long-distance. However, on offense the Trojans are lacking and they’ll slow things down at the Barn, hoping to keep the game close. The Gophers have had some awful games with respect to turnovers, but only handed the ball to Virginia Tech 9 times on Wednesday. A duplicate performance would be very difficult, but if Minnesota can limit turnovers to somewhere around 12 and shoot the ball fairly well, they’ll be in good shape. Minnesota’s final five games of the nonconference season are all contests they should win. A hiccup resulting in a second loss in nonconference play wouldn’t be the end of the world, but winning the rest of the way isn’t unreasonable to ask for.

#21 Aaron Fuller
6’6”, 235 JR

The player to watch Saturday afternoon. Left-handed transfer from Iowa can score and rebound well. Fuller spent two years at Iowa and had a successful sophomore campaign in 2009-10 (9.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg). This season he’s been playing almost 31 mpg and is averaging 13.3 ppg and 6.6 rpg.

The junior isn’t a threat from outside, but he’ll take a lot of two-point shots and he often makes them or gets to the line. He’s the real deal on the boards and a primary concern of the Gophers coming into Saturday should be limiting Fuller’s offensive rebounds and easy putbacks.

#10 Maurice Jones
5’7”, 155 SO

Tiny guard who has been playing the entire 40 minutes of USC’s games this year. He’s a very quick kid. As a freshman, Jones averaged 9.9 ppg, 3.2 apg, 2.3 rpg and 2.0 spg. He’s a pest on defense who is excellent at taking the ball away from the opposition and rarely does the little man find himself in foul trouble. He can shoot the trey (15/44 for 34.1% this year and shot 34.7% in 118 attempts in 2010-11), but likes to use his quickness to get past defenders for shots, although his field goal percentage from within 20 feet 9 inches is poor (under 40% for his career). He could frustrate the Gophers.

#2 Greg Allen
6’3”, 180 JR

JUCO transfer Greg Allen is averaging just 4.5 ppg in 23.0 mpg but he’s capable of knocking down good looks from deep. Can’t forget about him.

#25 Byron Wesley
6’5”, 210 FR

Though just a freshman, he arrived on campus physically ready for the college game. Wesley is playing more than 33 mpg and contributing 6.6 ppg along with 3.9 rpg. Most of his shots are either mid-range or near the bucket. On defense, he can guard multiple positions and might turn out to be a fairly good player for USC in future years.

#14 Dewayne Dedmon
7’0”, 255 SO

Great size, but organized basketball is still very new to him. He never played until a few of years ago due to his upbringing as a Jehovah’s Witness. I absolutely hate when those folks ring my doorbell, but I’d get a kick out of seeing a 7-footer stopping by to ask me what I thought about “truth”. His story is an interesting one and may not yet be fully written—with his size and potential to improve, he’s already projected as a future NBA draft pick by some.

Playing his first year of D-I basketball, Dedmon has averaged 7.7 points and 6.0 boards per night and has had two games of 16 points with 8 rebounds, including one in a close victory Saturday night against South Carolina. He won’t suit up against the Gophers, however, as an MRI taken Monday revealed an issue in the fifth metatarsal of his right foot. For now, it appears a walking boot, crutches and several weeks off the court will be enough to heal the wheel up.

With Dedmon out, USC will likely start 7’1”, 260 lbs goofball #31 James Blasczyk. This is his fourth year of college, but the former Texas A&M Aggie had played a total of 20 minutes over the past three years. Elliot Eliason isn’t that much of a different player from Blascyzk and the two of them squaring off may make for difficult viewing at times.

#33 Garrett Jackson and #3 Alexis Moore should also see time for the Trojans. Jackson is a versatile 6’7” sophomore and Moore, at 6’2”, is a point guard who can defend, but also added 10 points off the bench in USC’s Wednesday victory over UC-Riverside.