Former Xavier G Desmond Claude to join Southern Cal

Big East Most Improved Player Desmond Claude has committed to Southern California. Claude, who played in 69 games (35 starts) in two seasons at Xavier, elected to join the Trojans under new head coach Eric Musselman after visiting their campus last weekend. "It honestly felt like a perfect fit from the first call," the 6-foot-6 guard told ESPN on Thursday. "The academic support, basketball resources and basketball vision all seemed custom-made for me. Also, coach Musselman has a proven track record over the past several years of helping big lead guards make the jump to being NBA-ready guards." Claude's scoring average jumped from 4.7 as a freshman to 16.6 as a sophomore. Claude, who made only 23.9 percent of his 3-point tries last season, scored 30 points in his final game for the Musketeers at Georgia in an opening-round loss in the NIT. He led the Big East in scoring during March with 22.8 points per game. In addition to increased scoring, Claude played 33.8 minutes per game and averaged 4.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists last season. --Field Level Media