LOS ANGELES — The sight is the same, through rain or shine, dependable as death and taxes. Long after the Galen Center had cleared out from a Tuesday afternoon practice, Boogie Ellis remained. He fired shot after shot from the corner over a trainer’s mock contest, moving to the free-throw line, finishing with form work near the rim.
His work is consistent. It’s always been consistent. But as Ellis walked off to speak to reporters, there was an edge to him now, a hardness in the lines of his face. Gone is the blooming hope from the fall, after countless hours of that work in the summer, a fifth-year senior ready to lead a young group and light up the Pac-12. Reality has set in, more sobering than ever after a humiliating 31-point loss to Stanford: Ellis is running out of time.
“Cause it’s my last year,” Ellis said after the loss to Stanford. “I really do feel like my life’s on the line.”
It’s easy to see why. He returned for one more season at USC, chasing another NCAA tournament run and hoping to boost his draft stock – but the Trojans’ odds of participating in March Madness have dwindled to mere percentage points at the bottom of the Pac-12, and Ellis’ numbers have fallen back to earth after a hot start. He’s been dragged down by an array of injuries, rarely at 100% for as much as a single game this season, shooting 30% from the floor in the five games since his return from a hamstring injury.
His shot’s been off. His burst, frankly, has been largely absent, struggling to cut off the ball or blow by a defender on his first step. He is in a war: with his own body, with Father Time, fighting against a fate for USC (9-15 overall, 3-10 Pac-12) that seems all but already written.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Ellis said after Tuesday’s practice, speaking about his hamstring. “Trying to do certain things that I was able to do before it that I really can’t do now.”
And Ellis, often soft-spoken and a captain used to wearing either wins or losses on his back, hasn’t minced words for the better part of a month. He put it bluntly after a loss to UCLA at the end of January: “We gotta have some more pride.” He repeated roughly the same phrase, after last weekend’s loss to Stanford. And he tripled down, resoundingly, on Tuesday, following a two-game losing streak to Cal and Stanford.
“Honestly, I’ve been here for two years – I know what Trojan basketball is,” Ellis said. “And we haven’t been playing that brand of basketball this whole year.”
“I’ve been here, I’m a veteran, I know how things go,” Ellis continued, barely concealed fire in his tone. “There’s teams that we’re not supposed to lose to. There’s teams that we can split (games) with. But I feel like splitting with Cal, even splitting with Stanford, that’s not part of what the Trojans do.”
For a few minutes, Ellis held nothing back. Saturday’s game against Stanford, when USC fell behind 40-14, was “unacceptable,” he said. It was the kind of performance that forces you to look in the mirror as a competitor. Where you have to ask yourself where you could get better. Where you have to tell yourself what you’ve done wrong. “I feel like I’ve done that,” he said.
A simple subtext undercut his words: have other guys?
“I mean, at this point, we got nine games left,” Ellis said, when asked about having difficult conversations with teammates. His voice was steel. “There’s no more talking. You gotta do now.”
Still, there has been some talking. Ellis has continued to emphasize a standard to younger teammates, through the turmoil. This is what we’re supposed to be doing. This is how we do things. They couldn’t lose to Utah (15-9, 6-7), their next game on the schedule. They couldn’t lose to Colorado again. Can’t do that.
“That pride we talk about, I’ve seen it this week in practice,” Ellis said. “We’re capable of it, we’re capable of it. We can do it. We just gotta get it out of us.”
UTAH (15-9 overall, 6-7 Pac-12) AT USC (9-15, 3-10)
When: Thursday, 8 p.m.
Where: Galen Center
TV/radio: Fox Sports1/790 AM