LOS ANGELES — Through his first season at USC, Boogie Ellis developed a reputation for being an isolation player. When the ball reached his hands, Ellis was more likely to dribble and try to create a shot for himself than initiate the offense.
And in fairness, that’s what USC recruited Ellis from Memphis to do. He had a deep bag of scoring tricks, and that’s what the Trojans needed with other distributors on the roster.
But with a different roster construction and evolving needs across the 2022-23 season, Ellis has focused on his passing. The past four games, the senior guard has distributed 19 assists with just five turnovers, one of the best passing stretches of his career.
“He’s being a point guard,” sophomore teammate Kobe Johnson said. “Last year, not to cut on him, but he wasn’t as good of a passer as he is now. He’s definitely advanced his game in that aspect and he took that personal. He’s learning to get everybody involved and he’s learning to be a true point guard.”
Ellis’ 2.9 assists per game are a career high, if not eye grabbing. But the number has gone up at 4.3 across USC’s past seven games, in which the Trojans are 6-1. The lone loss: at Arizona, in which Ellis only had two assists.
And USC’s ball protection as a whole has improved with Ellis’ passing. After averaging 13.9 turnovers per game in the first 16 games of the season, USC has cleaned it up to 10.7 in the past seven.
Ellis credits increased film work for his improvement in the area, saying that it led him from a no-assist, five-turnover performance in USC’s first game against UCLA to a six-assist, no-turnover showing in the rematch.
“I feel like before then when I was turning over the ball, I would come off a screen and they would be blitzing me and I wouldn’t know what to do,” Ellis said. “Now, I came off, I knew the coverages, I knew everything they were going to do. So I was prepared.”
It helps too that some of USC’s younger players are learning how to move without the ball in their hand. Freshman guard Tre White in particular has been a beneficiary of Ellis’ passing, connecting multiple times for alley-oop dunks in transition.
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“After a rebound, I just try to get ahead of the ball. I know my guys are going to find me if I’m open,” White explained. “If not, I’m still going to be in the right position for a rebound.”
Ellis and the Trojans will look to continue that success Thursday with a road trip to Oregon. It remains to be seen whether USC will have center Joshua Morgan (ankle) or guard Reese Dixon-Waters (leg) for the trip to the Oregon schools, though head coach Andy Enfield sounded more optimistic about the latter’s chances.
USC (17-6, 9-3 in Pac-12) at Oregon (14-10, 8-5)
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Where: Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Ore.
TV/Radio: ESPN 2/AM 790