No. 16 USC looks to keep Pac-12 title hopes alive vs. No. 2 Arizona
Adam Grosbard (OC Register) — In a lengthy basketball season, players and coaches have to move on quickly from a result to prepare for the next game. With so many contests, one can’t afford to let any particular win or, especially, loss linger in the mind.
But in the weeks since the USC men’s basketball team’s loss at Arizona at the beginning of February, the Trojans haven’t been able to shake the feeling of having let an opportunity slip through their fingers. USC had led by six with six-and-a-half minutes to play before going through a dreadful shooting slump that ended hopes of a road win over a top-10 opponent.
The missed opportunity kept coming up, sometimes after questions about season trends, or in answers about other games entirely. But on Tuesday USC will get the chance to avenge that loss as the Wildcats come to the Galen Center.
Even if this were the first matchup between the Wildcats and USC this season, it would have massive implications, especially on the first day of March.
The Trojans remained at No. 16 in Monday’s new AP poll after close calls against the Oregon schools, while the Wildcats are the second-ranked team in the country. Currently, USC only has one win against a ranked opponent, so a victory Tuesday would be a boost so close to Selection Sunday.
And a win would keep second-place USC (25-4, 14-4 in Pac-12) in contention for a share of the conference title should first-place Arizona (25-3, 15-2) lose to either Stanford or Cal later in the week, along with a USC win over UCLA on Saturday.
That’s why head coach Andy Enfield tried to keep his focus ahead on this week after Drew Peterson’s clutch 3-pointer delivered USC a win over Oregon on Saturday, a win that broke the Trojan record for regular-season victories.
“Our goal was to try to build a program and then sustain a success and compete in the Pac-12 and on the national scale and we’ve done that,” Enfield told the Trojans’ radio broadcast after the game. “We also understand we have two huge games this coming week, so we are certainly not going to celebrate like we’ve achieved something.”
USC will need a better shooting night to beat the Wildcats than its 34.3% mark from the floor and 7-for-30 performance from 3-point range in Tuscon.
And while the Trojans don’t necessarily need to win the rebounding battle against an Arizona team built around imposing bigs Azuolas Tubelis and Christian Koloko, USC will need to limit second-chance points like it did in Tuscon, where the Wildcats grabbed 14 offensive rebounds but earned only 11 points from them.
It’s easier said than done. But USC has been thinking about this opportunity for a while.
Arizona at USC
When: Tuesday, 8 p.m. PT
Where: Galen Center
TV/Radio: ESPN/AM 790
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ARIZ dominated USC with an 11-1 record against the Trojans from 2011-2018, but USC actually holds a 4-3 advantage since then, with the Wildcats winning the last two.
The AP has no respect for USC basketball. The only correct position was the Little Gutties behind us. We will just have to win out the rest of the way and make a solid run in the PAC 12 tourney and the Big dance. Our team has learned how to win close games even on the road. Winning on the road in the PAC 12 is a challenge.