Southern California is mired in a poorly timed free fall, and it also dismissed its leading scorer.
The Trojans attempt to escape a five-game losing streak and move on without the mercurial Chad Baker-Mazara when they take on Washington on Wednesday night in Big Ten play at Seattle.
If the tailspin wasn’t bad enough, USC (18-11, 7-11 Big Ten) announced Sunday that Baker-Mazara was no longer part of the program.
He took a hard fall in the first half of Saturday’s 82-67 home loss to then-No. 12 Nebraska and went to the locker room. He later returned with a limp and sat in the stands not far from the team bench.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Baker-Mazara’s dismissal was for a season’s worth of issues. The Trojans were Baker-Mazara’s fifth team in six seasons. He was dismissed by San Diego State and player-friendly coach Brian Dutcher earlier in his career.
USC coach Eric Musselman hadn’t addressed Baker-Mazara’s dismissal as of Tuesday evening.
Baker-Mazara was averaging 18.5 points per game — the highest among team qualifiers — with a team-high 61 3-pointers.
The skid has dented USC’s NCAA Tournament hopes as USC enters the final two regular-season games. The Trojans host UCLA on Saturday.
“We’re a better road team, which is unique,” Musselman said. “We’ve got another road game coming up, so we’ll see how we play, but we haven’t played very good down the stretch here at all.
“We’ve got to get ready for Washington. I don’t know what else to say.”
The Huskies (14-15, 6-12) are also struggling with five setbacks in the past seven games.
Washington is coming off a 90-73 home loss to Wisconsin in a contest in which the Badgers made 17 3-pointers and the Huskies had just four.
As usual, big man Hannes Steinbach excelled with 22 points and 11 rebounds for his 18th double-double, matching the Big Ten freshman record set by former Ohio State star Jared Sullinger (2010-11).
But Steinbach and Zoom Diallo (21 points) didn’t receive much help.
Washington coach Danny Sprinkle said his team played selfishly against Wisconsin.
“In order for us to be successful, they better lean into each other,” Sprinkle said. “They better trust each other. If they don’t, the result is going to be the same on Wednesday night.”
Steinbach has team-best averages of 18.2 points and 11.1 rebounds. Diallo contributes 14.9 points and a team-leading 4.3 assists per game.
Washington broke an 11-game losing streak against the Trojans last season when it notched an 84-76 road triumph.
