LOS ANGELES — Alijah Arenas’ reach saved the ball from going out of bounds. His feet put his body in a spin move that cut through defenders and got him in layup range. Chad Baker-Mazara rewarded his teammate with a chest bump and a playful shove. The basket had the entire USC men’s basketball team smiling and feeling the boost of optimism that Arenas brought in his college debut. The feeling waned by halftime, however, and USC went into the break trailing by three points. Arenas – a McDonald’s All-American and the son of three-time NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas – was not a magic elixir, and the Trojans struggled to find another solution in a 74-68 loss to Northwestern. The Wildcats were winless in conference play prior to Wednesday’s victory. It was the second straight loss after falling 69-64 to Purdue on Sunday night, and it left head coach Eric Musselman posing questions to his team. “How much do you hurt? How much does it matter? I can’t answer any of that,” Musselman told reporters. “I know how much sleep I’m gonna get tonight, but I’m not out there.” Jordan Marsh scored 19 points in the second half to lead the Trojans in scoring and was a perfect 9 for 9 from the free-throw line on a night when the rest of the Trojans shot 17 for 34 from the stripe. Ezra Ausar added 17 points and Jacob Cofie pulled down 12 rebounds to go with nine points. Arenas, a 6-foot-6 guard who starred at Chatsworth High, shot 3 for 15 from the field, 0 for 6 from 3-point range and 2 for 6 at the foul line in 29 minutes. He missed the first portion of the season due to a torn meniscus. “The results are not shocking to me,” Musselman said. “he should be a high school senior who reclassified, missed an entire summer. And then you’re throwing them in the middle of Big Ten play. “It’s a difficult thing for any super-talented player to go through. Should I have started him? I don’t know, maybe not. Should have played less minutes? Maybe.” Baker-Mazara hit two 3-pointers early as Arenas made himself comfortable under the Galen Center lights. The freshman missed his first shot, a 3-point attempt, but made a pull-up jumper along the right baseline for his first collegiate points. The Trojans (14-4 overall, 3-5 Big Ten) struggled to string together a scoring run and made just six of their 17 free throws in the first half. Jacob Cofie continued to clean up at the basket, grabbing rebounds that kept USC in the game. Cofie ended the first half with eight rebounds. Despite performances like Cofie’s, Ausar said in the postgame press conference that the Trojans are still seeking the everyday habits and work ethic that will win them games. “This is almost like my girlfriend,” Ausar said. “Like, I gotta wake up to this person and deal with these people every day. And so not being so combative when people are speaking, but just being accepting of it and learning how to learn from each other. And learning who you’re dealing with every day as well. It’s all around. It’s bigger than basketball, for sure.” Northwestern (9-10, 1-7), which had lost nine straight conference games dating to last season, shot 30% from behind the arc in the first half, but Jake West made three. The 6-3 freshman guard hit one with two minutes on the clock to give the Wildcats a 28-25 lead. USC shot 1 for 4 from the free-throw line in the final minutes of the first half, and 6-7 Northwestern senior Nick Martinelli ended the frame with a 3-pointer for a 31-28 advantage. “We’re playing perfect pick-and-roll coverage when Martinelli sets it,” Musselman said. “Ezra blows the coverage  — three ball. One-point-two seconds. Ball is three-quarter court. Ezra gambles. Basket by Martinelli.” Martinelli, who came into the game averaging a Big Ten-best 23.7 points per game, finished with 22 against USC – 17 in the second half. USC’s struggles continued after halftime. Baker-Mazara picked up two more personal fouls within the first five minutes, and the team’s leading scorer (18.9 ppg) eventually fouled out midway through the second half after scoring 14 in 13 minutes. “He’s a sixth-year player and he’s got 14 points, and he fouls out in 13 minutes,” Musselman said. “It’s unheard of. As a staff, we’ve got to do a way, way better job teaching guys to defend without fouling. We were undisciplined. We go for shot fakes.” Arenas played fewer minutes in the second half than in the first, leaving point guard Jordan Marsh to supply the energy. Marsh went from being scoreless in the first half to being the game’s biggest contributor in the second to help cut Northwestern’s lead to 60-57 with 5:30 remaining. “Just keep working on them, the free throws,” Marsh said of how USC can improve its shooting. “After practice, before practice. During shoot around. That was just my main goal, just to make all my free throws I took today. And as a team, we went 26 for 43. That can’t happen if we want to win.” With 1.6 seconds on the shot clock, Max Green threw an inbounds pass from three-quarters court to Martinelli, who immediately turned and hit a baseline jumper to make it 67-63 with 2:14 to play. Martinelli then stole the ball, went coast to coast and fed freshman Tyler Kropp for a layup, and it was at least a two-possession game the rest of the way. USC shot 38% overall and finished 2 for 13 from 3-point range while getting outscored 44-28 in the paint. “No matter how you’re feeling mentally, spiritually, physically, you have to do something that we’re committed to doing every day,” Ausar said. “School, basketball, — our body is adjusted to it. I think that we need to get better it better at it overall, as a player, as a team, as coaches. And figure out how we can build consistency.” ...read more read less