USC Basketball: Trojans nab transfer Bryce Pope from UC San Diego

As teams continue to battle over the Transfer Portal, each day brings news and new commitments. One of today’s big landings was USC and Eric Musselman grabbing former UC San Diego star Bryce Pope, who’ll have one season of eligibility remaining.

Pope is a 6’3 guard from San Diego who has been a machine in the backcourt for the Tritons throughout his career. He actually arrived on campus back in 2019 and redshirted his freshman season during the program’s final year as a D2 school. Pope has since developed into one of the Big West’s best players.

Taking a step forward with each passing season, Pope averaged at least 18 points a game in each of the last two seasons with the Tritons. Specifically, he put up 18.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game this year, with decent shooting marks from all over the court to earn First Team All-Big West honors.

He played a major role in leading UC San Diego to a 21-win season with a 2nd place finish in the Big West. The program’s leading scorer each of the last two seasons, Pope had numerous standout performances across last season, including a 28-point outing against Denver on opening night.

Pope played solidly in losses to major programs like Cal, Washington, and San Diego State and had several 20-point outings in league play. He dropped a career-high 32 points on Big West champion UC Irvine in late February and led the Tritons to the CBI, as they were still ineligible for conference tournament play.

After half a decade with the Tritons, Pope moves slightly north, joining new coach Eric Musselman’s first team at USC. He’s the third major addition through the Transfer Portal, joining former UMass forward Josh Cohen and Penn guard Clark Slajchert, though his numbers last season certainly outclass them.

Musselman is still building this USC team for this upcoming season and we don’t yet know how they’ll look in their first year in the Big Ten. We’re certain that Pope won’t put up the same type of numbers as he makes this major transition, but he’ll be a scoring threat and viable veteran backcourt piece for the Trojans in his final campaign.