In April 2025, after that crashing his Tesla Cybertruck into a fire hydrant, five-star recruit Alijah Arenas was placed in a medically induced coma due to smoke inhalation from the crash.
On Wednesday evening, less than an hour from where that accident took place in California, Arenas was the son of the former N.B.A All-Star Gilbert Arenas made his college basketball debut for the USC Trojans.
Arenas’ arrival on the USC court capped a chaotic year for the talented freshman from California, who subsequently suffered a meniscus injury during summer training while recovering from his accident that required surgery. He has been recovering for five months and was cleared for match action this week.
Arenas struggled in his debut, perhaps as expected, but was given a long leash to work off his rust. He played 29 minutes vs. Northwestern in a 74-68 loss, finishing with eight points on 3-for-15 shooting, two assists and two rebounds. He missed all six of his three-point attempts – and USC finished the game 2-of-13 shooting from three-point range.
“The results are not shocking to me,” USC coach Eric Musselman said Wednesday, acknowledging that Arenas, who struggled in his first college minutes, wasn’t the only USC player who struggled to score. “He’d have to be a high school kid who got reclassified, missed a whole summer, and then you throw him in the middle of a Big Ten game. He doesn’t have to play based on injury. It’s hard for any super-talented player to get through that.”
“Should I have started it?” Mosselman continued. “I don’t know, maybe not. Should I have played fewer minutes against him? Maybe.”
Arenas was inefficient as a shooter, but he was one of only three USC players who didn’t finish the game with a negative plus-minus. (He finished plus-zero; Chad Baker-Mazara led the team with plus-six and Jacob Cofie was plus-1). He also showed off the obvious skills that made him such a highly rated prospect, including a 360-degree turn for a lay-in at the rim.
Perhaps most importantly, USC needs Arenas – even if he is a bit rusty – to get up to speed quickly. After a 12-1 start to their season, the Trojans have dropped four of their last six and are 14-5 overall and 3-5 in conference play. Their loss Wednesday was their second straight home loss after a loss to Purdue on Saturday.
“We’re struggling to find five guys right now with the way we shoot and cover,” Musselman said. ‘I’ll just keep looking. You can’t go 0-2 on a two-game homestand. That’s not possible.’
USC failed to convert into the win column in its last two home games and now has two tough road tests — at Wisconsin and at Iowa — in the coming week, where it will likely be the underdog in both cases.
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