The new look USC men’s basketball team held an open scrimmage Tuesday inside the Galen Center. The scrimmage was broken down into four 10-minute periods, and head coach Eric Musselman switched up the teams after every period.

Here are our VIP observations from the session:

BECOME A USCFOOTBALL.COM VIP MEMBER TODAY! Right now you can subscribe for 30% off the regular annual membership price! Don’t miss an opportunity to get the best USC Trojan athletics coverage on the planet at a big discount! Click this link to go to our signup page and once you are in, that is 365 days of access to all of our VIP content, the Peristyle premium message board (the oldest and busiest Trojan football message board there is), our weekly insider War Room features and lots more! 

Overall:

– Desmond Claude and Matt Knowling were great in their specific roles. It’s clear Claude has the highest ceiling on the team. His ball handling, foot work and interior offensive game is elite. Claude primarily played point guard and did well outside of a late turnover in scrimmage three. It doesn’t seem like his elbows are bothering him too much (he had surgery on both in the offseason), and his jump shot is improved as a result. I expect Claude to be USC’s best player this season.

– Knowling had a terrific second scrimmage. He has a very high basketball IQ, and he’s one of those players that’s seemingly always in the right place at the right time. Knowling has great touch with his left hand, and he’s a solid passer. Coming into the scrimmage, I wasn’t sure exactly what role Knowling would have on the team, but he certainly looked like a contributor at small forward and power forward.