LOS ANGELES — USC point guard Jordan Marsh strode around the court with a walking boot on his left leg on Saturday afternoon as his teammates warmed up around him.

He was on the bench for the game — day-to-day with a toe injury — instead of doing his usual job of speeding around defenders, irritating and disrupting them on defense while dribbling in for his own shots on offense.

But, once again, USC adapted to having three injured players and beat Rutgers 78-75 to get back into the win column. Rodney Rice and Amarion Dickerson are sidelined due to injury, in addition to Marsh.

“Last year, we were one of the most injured teams in the country,” head coach Eric Musselman told reporters after the game. “This year, we’re one of the most injured teams in the country.

“Nothing’s gonna be easy when you have three players out. I’m proud of their effort. I think they play really hard. I think they’re trying. I think winning means something to this group, but it’s not going to be easy for us.”

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Rutgers came within three points of sending the game to overtime, but Chad Baker-Mazara’s defensive stop in the final seconds ended it at the buzzer. Scarlet Knights guard Tariq Francis had the ball in his hands, and his eyes were on the basket until Baker-Mazara stepped in and poked the ball away, leaving Francis on the floor.

“I know he likes to do the left-to-right cross, so I was basically baiting him to do the cross,” Baker-Mazara said. “I was waiting on that because Coach emphasized that all week. We’ve been practicing it. I know for the last play, you’re gonna go to the hand that you trust the most. He took the bait, and thankfully, I was able to do the play.”

The decision to bring in transfer point guard Kam Woods at the end of the fall semester once again paid off for the Trojans (16-6 overall, 5-6 Big Ten). One game after scoring a career-high 33 points at Iowa, Woods grabbed nine rebounds, dished out four assists and scored eight points.

Woods has seen an uptick in minutes since Marsh’s injury, which occurred last weekend. He played 38 minutes on Saturday while also recognizing what his role in the game was.

“With Kam’s ability to be a point guard, Kam’s ability to defend — we need him on the floor,” Musseman said.

Three players finished in double-digit figures when it came to scoring and USC shot 51% as a team from the field. Ezra Ausar contributed 21 points and Jacob Cofie recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Chad Baker Mazara tacked on 17 points.

A 13-2 scoring run — which included two free throws and a layup from Woods — vaulted USC ahead of Rutgers (9-13, 2-9) 17-6 with 11:48 left in the first half.

The free throws continued to fall, and the Trojans made eight of their 11 shots from the line in the first half while only allowing the Scarlet Knights four free shots.

USC’s physicality comes in part from players’ football backgrounds, and that doesn’t just lead to free throw opportunities. It allows Trojans like Cofie, a 6-foot-10 forward, to drive in for an unassisted dunk within the final eight minutes of the opening half, and Ausar to get easy layups.

“I thought it was the best game of the year for Ezra to rim-run and seal,” Musselman said. “It was by far his best post sealing that we’ve seen. And if he does that, he’s really, really hard to stop in the lane.”

Rutgers’ 6-foot-11 center Baye Fall recently had hand surgery and left the Knights vulnerable in the paint. Francis, who has consistently led the team in points, was still reliable on the offensive end and put up a game-high 26 points.

Alijah Arenas and Baker-Mazara each hit two 3-pointers within the first five minutes of the second half to get USC going again. Arenas was playing in his fourth collegiate game since recovering from injury and contributed nine points.

USC continued to build on the lead that it had established early on and added 38 points in the second half on 45% shooting, even though the Trojans struggled against Rutgers’ press defense. Musselman is also learning who his go-to players are late in tight games.

The coach said he made the difficult decision to check Ryan Cornish in for the first time all game instead of putting Arenas back into the game for the final three minutes.

“People play their way in and play their way out,” Musselman said. “I hated putting Ryan Cornish in that situation where he sat for the entire game and put him in the last minute. Look, we won a Big Ten game. There’s a lot of stuff we can learn from.”

The Trojans have nine games left in the regular season and next host Indiana on Tuesday.