2 freshmen who came in the top 55 of ESPN’s national rankings

Two of USC’s men’s basketball freshmen landed in the top-55 in ESPN’s rankings. Isaiah Elohim, was ranked No. 55, while Jalen Shelley was ranked No. 50 on ESPN’s top 100 players in the country coming out of high school.

Both Elohim and Shelley are four-star recruits who signed with the Trojans in April after Eric Musselman was hired as USC’s next head coach following the departure of Andy Enfield.

The 6-foot-5 Elohim is from Sierra Canyon High School in New York and is originally from Kingston, New York. Elohim originally committed to Arkansas and signed his letter of intent to play there, but opted out to follow Musselman to USC. He was one of the top 10 recruits to come out of California in this class.

Meanwhile, 6-foot-9 forward Shelley is a top-5 recruit out of Texas/Missouri after playing high school basketball at Link Academy in Missouri. He is originally from Little Elm, Texas. Like Elohim, Shelley was originally committed to Arkansas but decommitted to follow Musselman to the Trojans.

It’s great for USC that they were able to land two top recruits, especially with Enfield’s unexpected departure causing major changes for the program. They lost their top-rated recruit in the class, Trent Perry, who flipped his commitment to UCLA after Enfield left.

After virtually the entire Trojans roster left with Enfield’s departure, USC was able to regroup by signing Elohim, Shelley and transferring Josh Cohen, Desmond Claude, Terrance Williams II and Saint Thomas.

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