USC falls to Michigan in back-and-forth Big Ten home opener

LOS ANGELES — For a week, for all intents and purposes, 6-foot-9 USC graduate assistant Elston Jones was Michigan’s Danny Wolf.

He had to be. There was nobody else who could. Wolf stood 7-foot-0, and USC already had to contend with scheming against Michigan’s other 7-foot-big Vladislav Goldin. Eric Musselman’s first-year Trojans roster was loaded with a bevy of long wings, his tallest player 6-foot-10 starting center Josh Cohen. And so Jones became “vital” for the defensive week of preparation, as USC wing Kevin Patton Jr.