USC Trojans' Eric Musselman Calls Out Refs After Loss To Purdue: Big Ten Tournament

The USC Trojans saw their hopes of an automatic bid into March Madness vanish following their 76-71 loss to Purdue in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament. USC will now have to rely on a bid to the NIT to continue their season.

Feb 11, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Eric Musselman reacts during the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The USC Trojans suffered a potentially season-ending 76-71 loss to Purdue in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament.

USC led for a large part of the first half before going into halftime tied up at 35. The Trojans began to show signs of fatigue in the second half after playing a double overtime game the night prior vs. Rutgers in the opening round of the tournament.

Jan 14, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Eric Musselman reacts in the first half against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

After the game, USC coach Eric Musselman was profoundly upset with the way the game was refereed in the waning moments of the second half as the Trojans attempted to make a late game comeback.

"I saw what everybody saw, you know what I mean? My daughter's at home. She watched it on TV. She's a freshman in high school. My mom's obviously living in San Diego watching it. All you've got to do is go on Twitter. Look, we played well enough to win. That's all I can say. I'm going to keep reiterating give Purdue credit. We're new, we've got to earn respect," Musselman said.

The Trojans had three starters finish with four fouls and saw forward Rashaun Agee foul out in the second half. As a team, USC acculumated 22 fouls compared to Purdue's 15.

"I didn't know that Desmond [Claude] was so physical, but he was tonight, I guess. The game's on tape, so anybody can watch it. It doesn't do me any good to sit up here and get fined or whatever. The game is reviewable for anybody that wants to," Musselman said.

The first-year USC coach was brutally honest with his assessment of the game.

"This is probably the most difficult game I've ever lost with a team. And I've been coaching a really, really long time," Musselman said.

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The USC Trojans bench celebrates Thursday, March 13, 2025, during the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. / Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With the Trojans' hopes of bid to the NCAA tournament washed away thanks to their 16-17 record, they will have to hope to get a bid to the NIT if they want to continue their season.

However, that may not be the case with USC. The Trojans have been a big work in progress in their first year under Musselman and it wouldn't be surprising to see if USC decides to head into the offseason to get to work on rebuilding the roster.

Despite finishing the season with a sub .500 record, Musselman's teams have historically always made a big jump in year two. In his first year as the head coach at Nevada, the Wolfpack finished 24-14 with no bid to the NCAA tournament. The following season they won 28 games and made it to March Madness. In year one at Arkansas, COVID cost the 20-12 Razorbacks a chance to earn a bid to the tournament, but the next season Musselman sent the program to an Elite Eight appearence.

The Trojans will need Musselman to work his magic and help direct USC back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2023.

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