USC Trojans' Desmond Claude, Harrison Hornery Earn Big Ten Conference Honors

The USC Trojans saw their leading scorer, Desmond Claude, named as an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention after an excellent season in his first year at USC. Claude wasn't the only Trojans honored as Harrison Hornery was named as USC's Sportsmanship honoree.

Feb 1, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans guard Desmond Claude (1) smiles while shooting a free throw against the Michigan State Spartans during the first half at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: William Navarro-Imagn Images | William Navarro-Imagn Images

It hasn't been a perfect season for the USC Trojans men's basketball team. In year one of the Eric Musselman era, the Trojans head into the 2025 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament with a 15-16 record after going 7-13 in conference play.

USC will be lead by their newly-named All-Big Ten Honorable Mention forward, Desmond Claude. Voted by members of the Big Ten media, Claude is the only Trojan to be named to an all-conference team with forward Harrison Hornery getting recognized as USC's Sportsmanship honoree.

Feb 23, 2025; Piscataway, New Jersey, USA; USC Trojans guard Desmond Claude (1) looks to pass the ball as Rutgers Scarlet Knights guard Jeremiah Williams (25) defends during the first half at Jersey Mike's Arena. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images | John Jones-Imagn Images

It's the second time Claude has earned all-confernece honors in his career. He was named to the 2023 All-Big East Freshman Team while at Xavier.

During Big Ten play, Claude finished as a top-ten scorer, averaging 17.3 points per game in the Big Ten. On the season, Claude is the Trojans' leading scorer and is averaging 15.8 points per game. The junior guard also finished eighth in the conference in assists, averaging 4.4 per game.

Claude has contributed a lot for Musselman's new-look USC roster. The Xavier transfer has commanded the Trojans' offense at a high-level this year despite many new faces. The Trojans had a complete roster overhaul when Musselman took over the job follow Andy Enfield's depature to SMU last offseason. The only player to remain on the team from 2023-24 roster is Hornery.

Out of the 31 games played, Claude has finished as the Trojans' top scorer in 11 of them. He's one of only two Trojans to score 30 points or more this season. It's safe to say USC has relied heavily on Claude in some of their biggest games of the season.

In their upset win over No. 13 Illinois on Jan. 11, Claude dropped a game-high 31 points en route to the first ranked win in the Mussleman tenure. A few weeks later on Feb. 1, Claude scored a game-high 19 points in the Trojans' win over No. 7 Michigan State.

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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

Claude has at least one more season of eligibility left if he chooses to come back to USC.

USC will have to rely on their all-conference player to power them to through the Big Ten postseason tournament as the Trojans since under .500 and are on the outside looking in for an NCAA tournament bid.

The Trojans will effectively need to run the table in order to secure a bid to March Madness. Since USC had an awful finish to their regular season, dropping six of their last seven games to barely make it into the conference tournament.

With USC set for a rematch in their first-round matchup vs. Rutgers on Wednesday, March 12, the Trojans will need a repeat performance from Claude as he had 30 points in the loss to the Scarlet Knights on Feb. 23.