USC Basketball: New Utah Guard Isaiah Collier Reflects on Trojans’ Losing Season

Former USC men’s basketball guard Isaiah Collier is off to the NBA after one season with the Trojans. Collier’s freshman season at USC did not go nearly as well as expected. The former No. 1 recruit in the country was expected to come to USC and help the team contend, especially after the Trojans came into the season ranked in the AP Top 25 poll. Instead, the Trojans floundered and ranked near the bottom of the Pac-12 for much of the season with a 15-18 record.

The losing took a toll on Collier and many of his teammates during the season.

“The most challenging part of this was definitely losing,” Collier said, via Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “Nobody wants to lose. But we learned a lot from it, especially when I got hurt. I sat down and improved as a player later on in the season. It definitely helped me a lot, too.

Not only did USC lose way more than expected, but Collier missed a month of the season due to a hand injury. When Collier came back from his injury, Collier put up double-digit points in 10 of his final 11 games and had a stretch with three out of four games with at least 24 points.

While he improved toward the end of the season, Collier recognizes that the college game was a challenge and it won’t be any easier in the NBA.

“College was definitely hard. I learned a lot,” Collier said. “I had to learn a different kind of game. I’m just trying to move up on to the next level. I know it’s going to be even harder.”

Collier hopes to be part of a turnaround for the Utah Jazz, who finished with a 31-51 record last season. The Jazz were the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference, and have missed the playoffs during each of the last two seasons.

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