LOS ANGELES >> In a different life, Boogie Ellis wouldn’t be here, still.

The consensus, after a year in which he’d already chosen to come back to USC, seemed he’d declare for a draft stage come the summer, even without may first-round projectables. Perhaps he’d snag onto an NBA bench as a second-rounder, or fill it up in the G-League; but in any case, his days at the Galen Center seemed through.

But the league, he felt, would always be there. He still had a year of eligibility to “fine-tune” his game, as he put it in September. And lo and behold, shouts of “Boogie!” have echoed back through the Galen Center in this his senior year.

And goodness, where would this USC team be without him?

To watch Ellis now is to see a guard who’s wrung nearly every drop out of the collegiate basketball experience, who’s willingly shouldered the load as the Trojans’ top scorer and only added to his game year-by-year, who fires off every catch-and-shoot 3 as if he’s premeditated it’ll fall. In the first half of a 106-78 blowout Wednesday night against Eastern Washington, he dribbled off a pick, hesitating at the 3-point line, then simply ignored a hand in his face and quick-triggered a 3 that scorched the net.

It was his third 3 of the first few minutes, and an early nod to incendiary confidence. Ellis finished with 28 points on a career-high eight 3s against Washington, his trademark full-bore eyes-crinkle grin nowhere to be found, an assassin altogether unfazed.

“I came back to win,” Ellis said in September. “And this year, we have a chance to take USC to where it hasn’t been.”

He has lifted all ships when the tide’s gone flat at times in an up-and-down start, averaging 21.5 points a game.