Bronny James Scores 5 Points as USC Opens Pac-12 Play with Loss to Oregon

There may be better days ahead for Bronny James and the USC men's basketball team, but they didn't start with the opening of Pac-12 play.

Oregon defeated the Trojans 82-74 in Thursday's contest, which was the first conference game of the season for both teams. Kwame Evans Jr. led the way for the victors with 22 points, eight rebounds and five steals, while Jackson Shelstad added 21 points.

DJ Rodman (14 points and four rebounds) and Joshua Morgan (14 points and seven rebounds) spearheaded the scoring for USC in a losing effort.

While the Trojans had high expectations coming into the season, they are now just 6-6 with losses to UC Irvine and Long Beach State on the resume. Making the NCAA tournament at this point will be an uphill battle and will require better play as the Pac-12 schedule continues.

To their credit, they played much better in the second half than the first.

Oregon built a commanding 17-point lead by intermission, but the visitors closed the gap to single digits early in the second half. However, they could never quite get over the hump before the Ducks put the game away on the free-throw line.

Whenever USC takes the court, attention will naturally be on James.

Yet Thursday was just his fourth game back as he recovers from the cardiac arrest he suffered during a summer workout. The son of NBA legend LeBron James came off the bench against the Ducks and wasn't a significant factor, but he is also working his way into the rotation for a new team as a freshman.

He finished with five points, three rebounds, two steals and one assist on 2-of-3 shooting from the field and 1-of-2 shooting from deep.

Next up for James and the Trojans is another road matchup against Oregon State on Saturday.