USC basketball: Trojans practice before exhibition trip to Brazil
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The USC men’s basketball team begins practicing at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Galen Center to prepare for its upcoming exhibition trip to Brazil, which takes place Aug. 12-21.
The team will practice for 10 days before leaving for Brazil.
Here’s the team’s itinerary for that trip:
USC departs Aug. 12 from Los Angeles, heads to Newark, N.J., for a connecting flight that is scheduled to arrive in Sao Paulo on Aug. 13.
The team will practice on Aug. 14 and 15, and then on Aug. 16 will play Paulistano, a professional team based in Sao Paulo.
On Aug. 17, USC will play Bauru, another team from the country’s top league, Novo Basquete Brasil.
On Aug. 18, the Trojans will travel to Rio de Janeiro in the morning, and on Aug. 19 they will face Flamengo, another team from the NBB.
On Aug. 20, the team will fly from Rio to Houston and then arrive back in L.A. on Aug. 21, one day before classes begin for USC’s fall semester.
The team has some fun planned, such as visiting Sugarloaf Mountain on Aug. 18 and seeing the Christ the Redeemer statue the next day.
And as for who’s allowed to go, all eight returning players from last season certainly can.
The four newcomers -- center James Blasczyk, a Lee College (Texas) transfer; Long Beach Poly guard Alexis Moore; Rancho Cucamonga Etiwanda guard Byron Wesley; and guard Greg Allen, a Navarro College (Texas) transfer -- will all be there too.
The two players who won’t be joining them are Wake Forest transfer Ari Stewart and UC Irvine transfer Eric Wise, who will both sit out next season in accordance with NCAA rules.
USC finished 19-15 last season and advanced to the first round of the NCAA tournament, where it lost to eventual Final Four qualifier Virginia Commonwealth.
-- Baxter Holmes
twitter.com/baxterholmes