Eric Musselman Doesn't Hold Back About Questionable Officiating in Loss to Oregon

After the USC Trojans men's basketball team lost to the Oregon Ducks 71-70 on Saturday, USC coach Eric Musselman did not hold back in his criticism of the officiating.

The Trojans led by six points with 1:10 remaining, but the Ducks erased the deficit and came away with the win. For USC, the loss could be the death blow to the Trojans' NCAA Tournament chances. According to ESPN's Joe Lunardi and his bracketology, USC is now one of the first teams missing the NCAA Tournament.

Musselman spoke about the emotions of his locker room in addition to the questionable calls down the stretch.

What Eric Musselman Said:

usc trojans eric musselman officiating questionable calls oregon ducks loss ncaa tournament bubble chances big te — Feb 18, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Eric Musselman yells at referee Jason Phillips in the first half against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Galen Center. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

"I mean, the only timeout I would have called would have been when Alijah (Arenas) brought the ball to the floor. With Chad (Baker-Mazara) being out of the game and Ezra (Ausar) being out of the game, I thought playing out of the flow would be much better than a play designed. Obviously, we want to get a shot on goal, and we want to try to get a free throw attempt, and we turned the ball over. And so Oregon, give them credit, they swarmed him at half court or two steps beyond half court, and we didn't get a good look," said Musselman.

"But I have gone back and looked at film. (Nate) Bittle two hand shoves Ryan Cornish should have definitely been two free throws with around 50 seconds. Ezra on the foul where there was a dribble drive, Ezra actually puts his hands, I don't know why he did it, but he puts his hands behind his back and it was an and one call. So look, give Oregon credit, we can't play at home with everything that's at stake, and go back and look at, you know, two fouls inside of that were in crunch time the last minute, minute and a half of the game. But, I mean, there's two clear calls that didn't go our way."

"And then you add in the three to four buzzer-beating shot clock shots," he continued. "And it wasn't meant to be for us tonight when teams hit those shots at the end of. . . You play for a full shot clock defensively, and then the ball's literally leaving a player's hands, and they get shots up."

usc trojans eric musselman officiating questionable calls oregon ducks loss ncaa tournament bubble chances big ten — Feb 21, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans center Gabe Dynes (45) reacts at the end of the game against the Oregon Ducks at Galen Center. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

On moving forward from the loss:

"I mean, our locker room's crushed. I mean, they knew what was at stake. We win this game, we're in a really good spot. You lose this game, you're in a really tough, difficult spot. I mean, somehow we got to try to regroup. I mean, look, I'm not going to sit here and say, I mean, it's a crushing loss. This and Northwestern are tough losses."

On dealing with the adversity of the season:

"Yeah, I mean, I've never had a season like this. But we got a game that means a lot to the university on Tuesday against UCLA. I don't know what to say other than we lost a game tonight and there's some calls that I'm frustrated by for sure. But it doesn't matter. We didn't have much respect tonight with the whistle for sure. But again, it's on us to play much better to not be in that position as well," the USC coach said.

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On USC's offense:

"Yeah, I mean, they played a zone. I think sometimes zone can force you to stand around. I didn't think it was, I mean, our offense, was it good? Obviously, no. But I thought our second half defense, there was just too many breakdowns at times. And we certainly need Alijah to shoot better than 4-for-14. I mean, if it's not his night, we're going to need him to draw free throws or take what the defense gives and move it up. But it's what, his fifth or sixth college game, and he's still in the learning process for sure."

On Chad Baker-Mazara's Foul Trouble:

"I think his foul trouble kind of managed his minutes for us. I mean, I was gonna put him in like at the 12-minute mark and then thought maybe because we had a lead, maybe 10 made sense. And then when he fouled out, especially because he's such a great great foul shooter, it took away some options for what we could do late game. And he fouled out against Northwestern, fouled out tonight. And he's super important to us from an offensive standpoint especially," Musselman said.

On Kam Woods:

"Yeah, Kam's been really good for us. I mean, we're lucky that we picked him up. He's done a really good job for us all season long as far as being a ball distributor. And defensively, he holds his own," said Musselman.

On Ryan Kornish's increased minutes:

"I thought Ryan did a really good job for us. I thought there was a possession there where maybe he took a charge. You know, he hit a three for us. He's a good ball mover. You know, so that's kind of why he was in the game, especially in the second half more so than the first half," Musselman said.

Jacob Cofie's defensive impact:

"Yeah, I mean, he's lively off his feet. He's been playing the small forward. Tonight he moved back to the power forward. I thought he did a great job with his interior defense. He's obviously a vital piece for us. Keeps getting better as a young player as well."