As he laid in a hospital bed last April, grateful just to be alive, Alijah Arenas dreamed of this moment. He thought of it in the weeks and months after his Tesla Cybertruck hit a tree and burst into flames in Reseda, leaving him hospitalized for six days. And he thought of it over a long summer and fall spent rehabbing the injured knee that failed him in his first week back to practice at USC.
Nine difficult months spent waiting for the day to finally arrive had culminated Wednesday night with Arenas roaring into the lane, with just one defender standing between him and the hoop. The five-star freshman had committed to USC with every intention of bolting for the NBA after one season, only for the setbacks of the past year to put his likely Lottery status in doubt.
But here, as he lifted towards the hoop early in his college debut, Arenas spun around that lone defender in mid-air and softly laid in a finger roll, reminding everyone in attendance of the talent they’d waited so eagerly to see.
But what unfolded from that moment on Wednesday night probably wasn’t how Arenas had envisioned it, as Northwestern spoiled his debut, dealing USC a 74-68 defeat.
It was Arenas’ backup in the backcourt who would drag the Trojans back from the brink against Northwestern after the Wildcats had led nearly the entire game. Just a week earlier, Jordan Marsh had dropped 17 in the second half of USC’s win over Maryland. On Wednesday, he was even better, piling up 19 after halftime.
But there was little he or USC’s five-star freshman could do in the final minutes as Northwestern fended off every push from the desperate Trojans, thanks largely to the efforts of senior forward Nick Martinelli, who had 22 points.
Arenas would pour in eight points in his debut, shooting three of 15 from the perimeter in a performance that left him obviously gassed throughout. He played 29 minutes, nonetheless, at one point leaving to have his knee evaluated by trainers on the USC bench.
With losses in three of their last five coming into Wednesday, USC (14-5 overall, 3-5 in Big Ten) had hoped that Arenas’ arrival would act as a salve at the start of its Big Ten slate, injecting five-star talent into a lineup ravaged by injuries. But there were only so many problems that talent could paper over for the Trojans, even if Northwestern had come into Wednesday night on the heels of a five-game win streak.
A new star guard, for one, didn’t suddenly correct the Trojans’ sudden free throw woes. After hitting just five of 14 from the stripe in a loss to Purdue on Saturday, USC responded by shooting 26 of 43 on Wednesday night, with Northwestern content to foul them pretty much whenever the Trojans drove inside.
Once again, no one, Arenas included, could get going from three-point range for USC either, as the Trojans followed up a three of 20 showing from deep against Purdue loss by knocking down their first two 3-pointers … only to miss their next 11.
They’d spend most of the second half without their leading scorer, too, after Chad Baker-Mazara fouled out with more than nine minutes remaining.
Still, USC hung on tight through the second half, never letting Northwestern’s lead climb to more than eight. With 15 seconds left, Marsh drove the lane with a chance to cut Northwestern’s lead to a single possession in the final 15 seconds. But his lay-in flew wildly out of his hands.
The loss would spoil a debut that had been perhaps the most anticipated at USC in at least half a decade, since Evan Mobley graced the Galen Center court back in 2021. But while Mobley ultimately led the Trojans on an Elite Eight run, his sole season at USC came in front of entirely empty arenas.
Arenas, meanwhile, was just the sort of bluechip prospect that Eric Musselman and his staff had hoped to build around.
The path to that point would prove far more harrowing than anyone expected. But what felt like a light at the end of the tunnel Wednesday night didn’t feel nearly as hopeful by the final buzzer.
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