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Los Angeles Times
26-07-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
With knee injury, USC's Alijah Arenas and Eric Musselman weather another setback
Basketball usually took a backseat in early conversations between Eric Musselman and prized recruit Alijah Arenas. On one side was a teenage phenom navigating an early jump to college. On another was a USC men's basketball coach more curious about Arenas' mood, when he woke up and how he made sense of the people and the world around him. And so when USC's coach stood in front of the Galen Center's vibrant new scoreboard Friday morning — two days after it was announced that Arenas would miss six to eight months with a knee injury — Musselman found himself stammering, stitching together the words to encapsulate what the freshman meant to him. 'I probably feel closer to him than anybody that I've coached in a two-month span since he's been on campus,' Musselman said. The bond has already weathered more than most would in four years. First came the reclassification — Arenas skipped his senior year of high school to join USC. Then came the rush course into collegiate basketball as he prepared spring practice. Then, on April 25, Arenas was in a serious car crash that led to him being placed into a coma. After recovering from his injuries, Arenas was barely two weeks back from being medically cleared to practice when he sustained a slight meniscus tear and bone bruise. But even in those 14 days — and just one full practice with Musselman present — Arenas proved enough to be the centerpiece of his coach's vision for USC. 'We built the roster around some of the stuff that he could do, and knowing that he could play the one and the two, and when he played the one, would have great length,' Musselman said. 'And I told people from the beginning of the recruiting process what a great passer he was.' At 6-feet-7, Arenas averaged 30.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game at Chatsworth High before landing 13th in ESPN's Class of 2025. In Arenas' absence, Musselman said he has weighed adding a 14th player to the roster, but would do so only if it 'could help us.' The bigger hurdle, the coach added, would be revenue-sharing limits. Arenas will still be traveling, learning and rehabbing alongside USC. And he'll continue to shadow Musselman in a role the coach never had to explain to him. 'To some people during the recruiting process, you call them and you can't wait to get off the phone, and you're just kind of calling them to try to develop a relationship,' Musselman said. 'The reason that Alijah and I are in such a good spot is because he picked up the phone when I called him. He added: 'We already had a built in trust before he got here.' Musselman said Friday that Terrance Williams (wrist), whose injury he called 'one of the weirdest injuries I've seen,' will return Aug. 25 when the Trojans report for practice on the first day of the academic year. ... Musselman noted that Jordan Marsh has been the team's 'biggest surprise' of the summer, while Rodney Rice will take over as the Trojans' primary ball handler.
Los Angeles Times
24-07-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
USC star freshman Alijah Arenas sidelined by serious knee injury
USC star freshman Alijah Arenas will miss at least the next six to eight months after sustaining a serious knee injury that will require surgery, leaving his future with the Trojans in question. An MRI this week found a slight meniscus tear, as well as a bone bruise, according to a person familiar with the situation not authorized to discuss it publicly, dealing a critical blow to both USC and a player it hoped could become a superstar in short order. 'Alijah is a tremendous worker, teammate, competitor and person,' USC coach Eric Musselman said in a statement. 'He is understandably disappointed that he will not be able to take the court to start the season, but his health is our No. 1 priority.' The injury comes just two weeks after Arenas was cleared to practice with USC, and three months after he survived a carwreck in his Tesla Cybertruck. Now it's unclear how much he'll play for USC — if at all. At best, Arenas may be cleared to return late in his freshman season. But considering his status as a top draft prospect, there could be more to consider surrounding his return to action. The five-star freshman was expected to step in and play a major role in his first year with the Trojans, despite being a full year younger than most freshmen in the same position. Arenas graduated a year early from Chatsworth High, in order to reclassify into the 2025 class and join USC early. 'We have no doubt that he will come back even stronger,' Musselman said.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
'I'm panicking.' USC's Alijah Arenas recounts harrowing escape from Cybertruck crash
When Alijah Arenas opened his eyes, minutes after his Tesla Cybertruck struck a tree one morning this past April, the five-star Chatsworth High hoops phenom wasn't sure where he was or how he'd gotten there. His initial, disoriented thought was that he'd woken up at home. But as he regained consciousness, Arena felt the seat belt wrapped tightly around his waist. He noticed the Life360 app on his phone, beeping. Outside the car, he could hear crackling sounds, like a campfire. Then he felt the heat like a sauna cranked to its highest setting. The passenger side of the dashboard, Arenas could see, was already engulfed in flames. Smoke was filling the car's front cabin. He could no longer see out of the windows. Arenas reached for his iPhone, intent on using his digital key to escape, only to find the Tesla app had locked him out. Panic started to set in. 'I tried to open the door,' Arenas said, 'and the door isn't opening.' He tore off his seat belt and moved to the back seat, away from the smoke, scanning the car desperately for an exit strategy. His heart was pounding. The heat was becoming unbearable. Then, he passed out. No more than 10 minutes earlier — and less than two miles up Corbin Avenue — Arenas had just wrapped up a predawn workout at the DSTRKT, a gym in Chatsworth, where he'd been working his way up to 10,000 shots that week. One of the top hoops prospects in Southern California, Arenas was weeks away from graduating from Chatsworth High after three years with the intention of joining USC a year early in 2025. He was doing everything he could to prepare for that extraordinary leap. He was on his way home from the gym, driving south on Corbin as he had so many times before, when Arenas noticed that the Cybertruck — which is registered to his father, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas — was acting strangely. The car wasn't reading that he left the gym. The keypad kept flickering on and off. After stopping at one red light, he tried to switch lanes, only to notice that 'the wheel wasn't moving as easily as it should.' Drifting into the right lane, he realized that he 'can't get back to the left.' 'So then a car is coming towards me, and I think that I'll just pull over,' he said. 'So I speed up to pull over to the right in a neighborhood because there are cars parked on the street I'm on to the right. But when I'm speeding up to turn, I can't stop. The wheel wasn't responding to me — as if I wasn't in the car.' Read more: Alijah Arenas out of coma, shows 'significant signs of progress' after Cybertruck crash The Cybertruck careened instead into a fire hydrant, then a tree, before bursting into flames. Minutes felt like hours as he tried to escape the smoldering car. Drifting in and out of consciousness, Arenas did whatever he could to stay alert. He bit his lip as hard as he could and clenched his nails into his skin. He doused himself with water from a water bottle to cool his body down. He tried to make as much noise as possible, yelling and banging on the glass. But the flames were getting hotter, the smoke getting thicker. 'I'm panicking,' Arenas said. 'I was fighting time.' He set out to break a window, knowing Cybertruck windows are meant to be 'unbreakable.' When his hands ached from punching the glass, he started using his feet. Then he passed out again. When he woke up, 'I realized my whole right side had caught on fire,' he said. But as he tore off his clothes and doused himself in water again, he heard a thud outside the car window. Sirens wailed in the distance. Just keep going, he told himself. He kicked at the driver's-side window with everything he had. Eventually, he spotted a crack. He kept kicking, drifting briefly out of consciousness, before the window fell away and hands began pulling him from the vehicle by his legs. The next thing he remembers feeling was a cold rush, as if he'd jumped in a freezing river. A video of the crash scene obtained by TMZ shows Arenas lying face down in the street in a few inches of water, while the broken hydrant continues to spray into the air, after a group of good Samaritans had come to his rescue. In all, Arenas spent at least 10 minutes in the burning car before people who happened to hear the accident eventually helped pull him to safety. It's not lost on him how lucky he was. 'There are amazing people in this world that are willing to help and risk their own bodies for you,' Arenas said. 'For me, it was like, I don't ever want to think about me ever again.' The next hours and days are still hazy for Arenas, who was whisked away to a nearby hospital, then another. He was put into a medically induced coma, a common approach for dealing with extreme smoke inhalation. When he finally awoke, Arenas still couldn't speak. But right away, panic set in. He wondered if his car had hit another, or if anyone else had been hurt. Months later, he still can't bring himself to place any blame elsewhere for what happened. Even though there are no indications that Arenas was at fault for his steering wheel locking up. 'Honestly, I take full responsibility,' Arenas said. 'Whether it was me, another car, a malfunction. I don't really want to put anyone else in this situation — whoever made the car, anything. I want to take full responsibility for what I do. If I would've hurt somebody, that would have really taken a toll on me.' Read more: Alijah Arenas released from hospital, on road to full recovery, family says Arenas spent six days in the hospital after the accident but suffered no major long-term injuries. In the weeks that followed, he took walks through his family's neighborhood to regain his strength. Along the way, neighbors showered him with flowers and well wishes. Last month, the family welcomed the men who saved Arenas into their home to share their gratitude. He's still working his way toward joining USC for its summer hoops practices, with some preliminary classwork still remaining before his transition is complete. But after officially enrolling at USC last week, Arenas stood on the practice court sideline on Tuesday morning, high-fiving teammates and calling out assignments, looking every bit the part of a five-star freshman who's ready to step in from Day One. 'His perspective is really unique,' USC coach Eric Musselman said. 'Even before the accident, when you talk to Alijah, it's a unique thought process on how he views life and views the game of basketball and how he views his teammates.' But there's no mistaking, in Arenas' mind, how fortunate he is to have survived — and how many things had to go right for that to be the case. He's convinced he was spared to help someone else in the same way he was helped. 'It taught me a lot,' Arenas said. 'I'm very lucky — and not even just to be here. Just in general, in life.' Sign up for more USC news with Times of Troy. In your inbox every Monday morning. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- Los Angeles Times
‘I'm panicking.' USC's Alijah Arenas recounts harrowing escape from Cybertruck crash
When Alijah Arenas opened his eyes, minutes after his Tesla Cybertruck struck a tree one morning this past April, the five-star Chatsworth High hoops phenom wasn't sure where he was or how he'd gotten there. His initial, disoriented thought was he'd woken up at home. But as he regained consciousness, Arena felt the seat belt wrapped tightly around his waist. He noticed the Life360 app on his phone, beeping. Outside of the car, he could hear crackling sounds, like a campfire. Then he felt the heat like a sauna cranked to its highest setting. The passenger side of the dashboard, Arenas could see, was already engulfed in flames. Smoke was filling the car's front cabin. He could no longer see out of the windows. Arenas reached for his iPhone, intent on using his digital key to escape, only to find the Tesla app had locked him out. Panic started to set in. 'I tried to open the door,' Arenas said, 'and the door isn't opening.' He tore off his seatbelt and moved to the backseat, away from the smoke, scanning the car desperately for an exit strategy. His heart was pounding. The heat was becoming unbearable. Then, he passed out. No more than 10 minutes earlier — and less than two miles up Corbin Avenue — Arenas had just wrapped up a pre-dawn workout at The DSTRKT, a gym in Chatsworth, where he'd been working his way up to 10,000 shots that week. One of the top hoops prospects in Southern California, Arenas was weeks away from graduating from Chatsworth High after three years with the intention of joining USC a year early in 2025. He was doing everything he could to prepare for that extraordinary leap. He was on his way home from the gym, driving south on Corbin like he had so many times before, when Arenas noticed that the Cybertruck — which is registered to his father, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas — was acting strangely. The car wasn't reading that he left the gym. The keypad kept flickering on and off. After stopping at one red light, he tried to switch lanes, only to notice that 'the wheel wasn't moving as easily as it should.' Drifting into the right lane, he realized that he 'can't get back to the left.' 'So then a car is coming towards me, and I think that I'll just pull over,' he said. 'So I speed up to pull over to the right in a neighborhood because there are cars parked on the street I'm on to the right. But when I'm speeding up to turn, I can't stop. The wheel wasn't responding to me — as if I wasn't in the car.' The Cybertruck careened instead into a fire hydrant, then a tree, before bursting into flames. Minutes felt like hours as he tried to escape the smoldering car. Drifting in and out of consciousness, Arenas did whatever he could to stay alert. He bit his lip as hard as he could and clenched his nails into his skin. He doused himself with water from a water bottle to cool his body down. He tried to make as much noise as possible, yelling and banging on the glass. But the flames were getting hotter, the smoke getting thicker. 'I'm panicking,' Arenas said. 'I was fighting time.' He set out to break a window, knowing Cybertruck windows are meant to be 'unbreakable.' When his hands ached from punching the glass, he started using his feet. Then he passed out again. When he woke up, 'I realized my whole right side had caught on fire,' he said. But as he tore off his clothes and doused himself in water again, he heard a thud outside the car window. Sirens wailed in the distance. Just keep going, he told himself. He kicked at the driver's side window with everything he had. Eventually, he spotted a crack. He kept kicking, drifting briefly out of consciousness, before the window fell away and hands began pulling him from the vehicle by his legs. The next thing he remembers feeling was a cold rush, as if he'd jumped in a freezing river. A video of the crash scene obtained by TMZ shows Arenas lying face down in the street in a few inches of water, while the broken hydrant continues to spray into the air, after a group of good Samaritans had come to his rescue. In all, Arenas spent at least 10 minutes in the burning car before people who happened to hear the accident eventually helped pull him to safety. It's not lost on him how lucky he was. 'There are amazing people in this world that are willing to help and risk their own bodies for you,' Arenas said. 'For me, it was like, I don't ever want to think about me ever again.' The next hours and days are still hazy for Arenas, who was whisked away to a nearby hospital, then another. He was put into a medically induced coma, a common approach for dealing with extreme smoke inhalation. When he finally awoke, Arenas still couldn't speak. But right away, panic set in. He wondered if his car had hit another, or if anyone else had been hurt. Months later, he still can't bring himself to place any blame elsewhere for what happened. Even though there are no indications that Arenas was at fault for his steering wheel locking up. 'Honestly, I take full responsibility,' Arenas said. 'Whether it was me, another car, a malfunction. I don't really want to put anyone else in this situation – whoever made the car, anything. I want to take full responsibility for what I do. If I would've hurt somebody, that would have really taken a toll on me.' Arenas spent six days in the hospital after the accident, but suffered no major long-term injuries. In the weeks that followed, he took walks through his family's neighborhood to regain his strength. Along the way, neighbors showered him with flowers and well wishes. Last month, the family welcomed the men who saved Arenas into their home to share their gratitude. He's still working his way toward joining USC for its summer hoops practices, with some preliminary classwork still remaining before his transition is complete. But after officially enrolling at USC last week, Arenas stood on the practice court sideline on Tuesday morning, high-fiving teammates and calling out assignments, looking every bit the part of a five-star freshman who's ready to step in from Day 1. 'His perspective is really unique,' USC coach Eric Musselman said. 'Even before the accident, when you talk to Alijah, it's a unique thought process on how he views life and views the game of basketball and how he views his teammates.' But there's no mistaking, in Arenas' mind, how fortunate he is to have survived — and how many things had to go right for that to be the case. He's convinced he was spared to help someone else in the same way he was helped. 'It taught me a lot,' Arenas said. 'I'm very lucky — and not even just to be here. Just in general, in life.'
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Alijah Arenas 'doing much better' but remains hospitalized after Cybertruck crash
Four days after he was involved in a serious Cybertruck accident that led to him being put into an induced coma, top basketball prospect Alijah Arenas is walking and talking and expected to be discharged from the hospital 'very soon," according to the co-host of his father's podcast, "Gil's Arena." Arenas, according to Josiah Johnson of the 'Gil's Arena' podcast, sustained no major injuries in the single-car accident and is 'doing much better.' Advertisement Arenas lost control of his Tesla Cybertruck just before 5 a.m. PDT Thursday as he was returning from the gym, according to Johnson. The car struck a fire hydrant and a tree on Corbin Avenue in Reseda and caught fire with Arenas inside. Read more: Alijah Arenas out of coma, shows 'significant signs of progress' after Cybertruck crash The family said 'brave individuals' helped rescue Arenas from the burning vehicle. One told the family that they heard 'banging on the car window, but I couldn't see anything because the smoke was so thick.' But onlookers were able to pull him out of the car. 'This act of courage, along with Alijah's incredible will to survive, has been nothing short of miraculous,' the family said in a statement Friday. Advertisement Arenas was deemed 'stable' at the scene, according to LAPD officer Rosario Cervantes. At the hospital, he was placed in an induced coma 'as a result of smoke inhalation,' Johnson said. Arenas was still intubated the following day but was able to open his eyes and communicate via writing. Chatsworth High coach Sam Harris also told The Times that Arenas was 'doing much better each day." Arenas, a top-10 prospect nationally and the crown jewel of USC's 2025 recruiting class, is the son of former NBA player Gilbert Arenas. Last month, Arenas led Chatsworth to the CIF state championship game. He leaves the school as the City Section's all-time leading scorer, with more than 3,000 points. Advertisement Arenas, who has yet to officially join USC, was expected to play a significant role for the Trojans next season as a freshman. Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
