USC star freshman Alijah Arenas won't debut this week as planned

"The long-awaited debut of star USC freshman Alijah Arenas will have to wait at least another week."

"Arenas is "progressing well" from the knee injury he suffered in the summer, but not ready to return, a person familiar with his status not authorized to speak publicly told The Times."

"He said at the time that he'd been undecided on whether to return to play for the Trojans versus just declaring for the draft, but that his teammates "were kind of the key factor in me wanting to come back.""

"The Trojans (13-3, 2-3 Big Ten) narrowly escaped a third straight loss Friday in Minneapolis and are still scraping by with a ballhander-by-committee approach."

Alijah Arenas remains sidelined while recovering from a summer knee injury and is not yet cleared to return. He has been ruled out for this week's games against Maryland and Purdue, and no official return date has been set. The expectation is that he will play for the Trojans at some point during Big Ten play, possibly by the end of the month. Arenas returned to practice after sitting out since July and cited his teammates as a key factor in his decision to stay rather than declare for the draft. USC is 13-3 (2-3 Big Ten) and continues using a committee approach at ballhandling until Arenas returns, with sixth-year senior Chad Baker-Mazara stepping up in the interim.

Read at Los Angeles Times