USC earns No. 7 seed, to face Miami to open NCAA Tournament

Adam Grosbard (OC Register)  —  LOS ANGELES — For the second straight year, the USC men’s basketball team is going to the NCAA Tournament.

The Trojans earned a seven-seed and will face No. 10 Miami at 12:10 p.m. on Friday in the Midwest bracket. The first-round game will be played at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.

Should USC advance past the first round, it would face the winner of No. 2 Auburn and No. 15 Jacksonville State next Sunday.

“We’re ready to go. We feel like we got a good draw,” guard Drew Peterson said. “We’re excited to get started.”

Though the Trojans have been safely in the projected field for the tournament for much of the season, there were still some jitters as they were not announced in the first two quadrants of the bracket.

“I don’t feel like I was nervous, but anxiety was building because it was like, man, when are we going to come up,” forward Isaiah Mobley said. “Just like, exciting when we finally heard our name called.”

But no one was happier to learn of the destination than senior Chevez Goodwin, a South Carolina native who will get to return home one last time before he closes out his college career.

“He came 3,000 miles away to come here to school, and we told his family we’d schedule a game in South Carolina and we finally did,” head coach Andy Enfield quipped.

USC has already tied the program record for wins in a season after posting a 26-7 record. The Trojans spent all but the first week of the season in the AP Top 25 and climbed as high as No. 5 after a 13-0 start to the year.

But after a COVID-19 pause, the Trojans were sluggish and had to play their way back into a rhythm. They scored a marquee win over UCLA but lost twice to Arizona and twice to UCLA in the final weeks of the season.

Three losses in the last four games dropped USC out of contention for a higher seed.

“We’re not really concerned about the seeding because we have no control over that,” Enfield said. “I’m just really happy about the progress of our team and where we are right now.”

That progress hasn’t always been so clear in recent weeks, as USC lost three of four to finish out its season. Enfield was quick to point out Sunday that each of those three losses came against either Arizona (No. 1 seed) or UCLA (No. 4 seed). Though, the rest of its resume wasn’t exactly replete with signature wins.

Just twice has USC beat teams in the tournament field (UCLA and San Diego State).

USC will face a Miami team that went 23-10 this season and 3-3 in Quadrant 1 opportunities with wins over Duke and North Carolina. The Hurricanes ranked fifth in the ACC in scoring offense with 74.8 points per game but allowed 71.0 per game, 11th in the conference.

If USC manages to get past Miami, the path ahead won’t be easy. Auburn and its star freshman Jabari Smith likely loom in the round of 32.

It’s not an opponent USC is familiar with. Mobley was the only representative who had watched the Hurricanes play this year, in their win over Duke. But that’s part of the appeal of the NCAA Tournament, too.

“We’ve never played them. They’ve never played us. It’s like a raw matchup,” Mobley said. “I think that’s super cool.”

With the university on spring break, USC will likely fly to Greenville on Tuesday to allow itself to get some rest before normal practices on Wednesday and Thursday.

And after last year’s bubble environment in Indianapolis, the Trojans finally will get their chance at a traditional NCAA Tournament.

“I’m excited for our players because last year they didn’t experience that,” Enfield said. “They have to go play and play together and enjoy the moment. I think as a coaching staff that’s what we’ll try to preach to them this week, build them up and have them as confident as they can when they step on the court on Friday.”

ocregister.com

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