USC freshman F Isaiah Mobley: 'When it clicks, it will be all worth it'

Isaiah Mobley says this will ultimately be a good thing for him, these early challenges and lessons he's endured as a 5-star freshman going through his first college basketball season under a brighter spotlight than most.

Mobley, an athletic 6-foot-10 forward who was ranked a top-25 national recruit, is averaging 8.2 points and 6.3 rebounds overall for the Trojans (12-3, 1-1 Pac-12) entering a rivalry showdown at UCLA on Saturday night.

He's in a situation where, with the way this USC team is constructed, the Trojans need him to be a major contributor immediately, and yet as coach Andy Enfield acknowledged this week, sometimes it's forgotten that the freshmen are going through everything for the first time and learning on the fly.

Those two points were both apparent last Sunday at Washington, where Mobley hoisted up 13 shots as USC badly needed a secondary option to emerge, but made only 2 while struggling -- like the rest of the Trojans -- against the Huskies' well-executed zone defense.

"Sure, yeah, there's frustration just because I have a high expectation for myself -- not even numbers wise, just playing," Mobley said. "The stats don't always [reflect] how well you played, but there's been moments of frustration but also of accomplishment. And without struggle, I don't feel I would be getting better. So that's also the positive I can look at -- going through these struggles and not having it be as easy as it was in high school makes me better. And I came here to get better.

"Sure, I have futuristic goals, I want to go to the NBA, I want to have high numbers, but I've got to struggle to get better."

Entering this season, the buzz and excitement for USC centered largely around Mobley and fellow 5-star freshman forward Onyeka Okongwu. While "Big O" has been an instant star, leading the team with17.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, Mobley feels he's been playing catchup since a broken foot slowed his summer and preseason development.

Again, though, with the Trojans building around this much-ballyhooed freshman class -- and with senior forward Nick Rakocevic enduring his own struggles -- Mobley has had to play a primary role from the get-go.

He's had his moments with four double-digit scoring games and four games with at least 9 rebounds, and he's largely been an efficient shooter (49 percent from the field overall) with the Washington game an outlier in that regard.

But especially as this season moves forward through the conference slate, the Trojans are going to need more as opponents key in on Okongwu. That means the potential for this team largely hinges on the abilities of Rakocevic (11.4 PPG, 8.7 RBG), fellow senior Jonah Mathews (11.7 PPG) and Mobley to provide consistent complementary production alongside Okongwu.

Given that among those three Mobley is the one still so early in his development, where he takes his game over the rest of this season could prove pivotal for the Trojans.

"He's trying to learn as quickly as he can, like our other freshmen. And we play our five freshmen a lot, so sometimes people when they have off games -- like our freshmen did on Sunday night -- you have to understand sometimes they haven't been in that situation before and they had bad games," Enfield said. "... But Isaiah has had some huge games for us, and he's learning just like the other freshmen are so he's going to be a terrific basketball player. We're really excited for his development.

"When you get into the thick of the conference season, as coaches we forget that they're freshmen and sometimes we have to remind ourself, 'They've never been in this situation before,' and sometimes we have to cut them a little slack. But at the same time they have to keep getting better and better because other teams have freshmen too."

Enfield listed strength, awareness and decision-making as the areas in which he wants to see Mobley make the most growth.

Mobley notes that the broken foot in the preseason limited his strength training and acknowledges that's an area in which he's still catching up. Meanwhile, he has his own checklist for improvement in mind.

"Finishing inside, No. 1, for sure, and then my free throws. I haven't been a great free throw shooter my whole life, but I haven't been this bad" said Mobley, who is 26 of 52 from the line this season. "So definitely got to step that up, and I'm going to continue to work on it. In the game, [I've just got to] stay true to myself and know they're going to fall because I've made them before -- that's how I got here so I know they're going to fall."

He added passing and outside shooting to his list as well, emphasizing that he is driven to improve across the board.

"It's been a process and I've been enjoying it, learning a lot about myself, about how it works. Definitely not easy, but I enjoy it, I love it and I think I'm starting to really learn and understand how things are going to go, and I think I'll flourish the more I understand," he said.

"If you're really about it and you want to get better, you've just got to stay locked in, tune out the media, the haters and just stay true to yourself. ... When it clicks, it will be all worth it."

When: 7 p.m. PT Saturday

Where: Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles

TV/Radio: ESPN2/KABC-790 AM

Scouting the Bruins: Among UCLA's early non-conference losses were defeats to BYU, Michigan State, Notre Dame and North Carolina. The Bruins looked to make a statement when the scheduled flipped to conference play, opening with a 66-64 win at Washington, but they followed that with an overtime loss at Washington State. UCLA is balanced offensively but lacking a true star, with junior guard Chris Smith (12.2 points per game) the only player averaging in double-figures. Redshirt sophomore forward Cody Riley (9.7), redshirt senior guard Prince Ali (9.4), 6-foot-10 redshirt sophomore center Jalen Hill (9.3), redshirt freshman guard Tyger Campbell (7.8) and freshman guard/forward Jaime Jaquez (7.5) have all had their moments this season. Mick Cronin is in his first season as Bruins coach after a long and successful tenure at Cincinnati.

Enfield says: "UCLA is exceptionally talented. They have a lot of depth as well, a lot of good players that come off their bench. They have good size, athleticism, they're a terrific rebounding team, very good defensively and they're well coached. So I think they have the whole package to be a good team. They just beat Washington on the road, so that should say something right there."