USC men’s basketball can cement status vs Arizona
Trojans would erase any NCAA tourney bubble talk with a win over the No. 8 Wildcats on Thursday at home
Forward Kobe Johnson dives for a loose ball during the first half against UTAH on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, in SLC. (AP/Ben B. Braun)
Arizona at USC
8 p.m. Thursday; Galen Center; TV/Radio: ESPN/AM 790
Adam Grosbard (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — The USC men’s basketball team has the chance to add a couple feathers to its cap Thursday against Arizona.
A win would give the Trojans their 15th consecutive victory at home, tying the second-longest home winning streak in program history. And a victory would put USC one away from going undefeated at home in conference play for the first time since 1991-92.
Not bad for a team that lost its season opener at Galen Center to Florida Gulf Coast, a defeat that looks more like a misdirection than the dour foreshadowing it felt like at the time.
But the game against the eighth-ranked Wildcats represents more to USC than a couple of historical footnotes. A victory would likely eliminate all bubble speculation about the Trojans, putting them firmly in the NCAA tournament field.
USC (21-8, 13-5 in Pac-12) and Arizona (24-5, 13-5) are tied for second place in the conference. Win, and the Trojans control their destiny for the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 tournament entering the season finale against Arizona State on Saturday.
That would have been hard to believe entering the season, with USC having such a young roster. But here the Trojans are.
“This is why you came here. This is why you came to USC, to play in these situations. What are you going to do about it?” Trojans head coach Andy Enfield said of his message to the team. “Step up and play your best basketball, compete at the highest level. Everybody makes mistakes, but if you play smart and together for 40 minutes, you have a chance to win every game you play.”
That is easier said than done against a team like Arizona, which jumped out to an early lead on the Trojans in Tucson last month and coasted to an 81-66 win.
USC was all kinds of discombobulated in that game. It could not score consistently at any level of the court, struggling in the paint against the Wildcats’ front court of Oumar Ballo and Azuolas Tubelis while shooting 4 for 17 from 3-point range.
And the Trojans’ normally effective defense allowed Arizona to shoot 48.3% from the floor and 50% from 3.
“We just didn’t play well on the road,” Enfield said. “We didn’t move the ball offensively, we missed a lot of open shots, defensively we made some mistakes. We just have to play better.”
With Arizona and USC one win or one Arizona State loss away from being locked into the second or third seed, it is likely these teams will face each other again in the Pac-12 semifinals next week in Las Vegas.
No time for USC to build confidence for that rematch like the present.
ocregister.com
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Is anything convincing to you here?
Dave Woods (247sports.com) also provides some potential breaking news as he has heard that UTAH and CU have already decided to leave the Pac-12. How credible is this information? Dave said he heard it from the same guy who told him two days before it happened that USC and UCLA were leaving, so we shall see.
247sports.com
Waiting for the SC/AZ game. It starts 10:00 pm my time. I read the same about Utah leaving on Twitter from a B12 source. If true, the Pac is done. And, if true, it makes a lot of sense. Utah is a top 15 program on a par with any remaining team in the Pac or the B12. It has won the league back to back. It will never be treated as a peer by OR, WA, Stanford or Cal. It is a natural fit for the B12. In fact, it fits a lot better in the B12 than the… Read more »
I’m interested to see if ORE and UW can somehow finagle their way into the B1G (which still has no new commish after Kevin Warren split for the Chicago Bears), their only salvation if UTAH and CU are goners.
STAN and CAL are officially done I presume.
The CFB world suddenly left these once memorable football giants of 100 years ago (when Pop Warner who also coached Jim Thorpe at CARLISLE was at STAN and Andy Smith led CAL to five undefeated seasons) in the dust.
Bye bye CFB in northern Calif.
So far, AZ is the superior team. If CO and UT leave (and candidly it made zero sense they would stay), I expect Cal will simply drop football and Stanford would go independent. I just do not see OR and WA adding any huge value to the B10. I do think they would add value to the ACC. But, I could be way off.,
So much speculation about the possibly dissolving Pac-12. Something about rats on a sinking ship…
Not much speculation about USC tonight so far against ARIZ at Galen. Wildcats lead easily 43-31 at half. USC playing poorly so far.
Calling it a night. I really thought SC was better than they look. My guess is AZ is that good. My guess also is the game on Sat with ASU is going to be a barn burner. If SC wins, ASU may well be eliminated from the tournament (absent winning the Pac tournament). If ASU wins, SC is then back on the NCAA bubble. Really interesting season. And, it is clear AZ has much better big men than SC and is a solid team. And, I do not think it would be “rats leaving the ship” for UT and CO… Read more »
The Conference of Champions became the Conference of Chumps, regardless of what Bill Walton likes to repeat a dozen times per game.
Last year I watched a game where Walton said “Conference of Champions” over 20 times. I usually mute the broadcast when he’s the analyst as I find him very annoying. I do the same with Dick Vitale. I think Jay Bilas does a pretty good job and is complimentary of USC, even though he is a Dukie.
Lincoln Riley — ”You can only do so much in Year 1 and I think we did a lot. But there’s still…I keep telling people this is just the tip of the iceberg. We’re not even good yet. I think we’re going to have a chance to get good here pretty quick, which obviously is going to be a lot of fun.”
Bruins prove to be easy money for USC today on the courts
Panthers Reportedly Working To Sign 1 Veteran QB David Newton @DNewtonespn “While the Panthers are meeting with Derek Carr in Indianapolis, their focus is more on mid-level (salary-wise) veteran quarterbacks (and Carr reportedly wants $35 mil a year). They already have had preliminary discussions with representatives of Sam Darnold, per sources. Darnold makes sense if they plan to draft a QB.” The Panthers are set to draft #8 in the 2023 NFL Draft. Darnold (only 25 years old) played in six games for the Panthers last season (four wins and two losses), throwing for 1,143 yds with seven TDs and… Read more »
I thought I would add a bit of drama on the Pac’s journey to a new media deal. The rumors I read are the numbers are coming in between $20-25 mil per school. If those rumors are accurate, I do not see how the Pac holds together. Utah, CO and the Arizonas would be far better off in the Big 12 than to stay in the Pac. The Big 12 Commissioner (who just took George K “to the woodshed”) said he does not relish the demise of any conference, but if it were to happen, the Big 12 is ready… Read more »
I wish I knew the inside story about any actual factual info (or signals) that George Kliavkoff knew about which should have tipped him off that USC was secretly dealing behind his back with the B1G to basically blow up the Pac-12 by splitting with financially destitute UCLA. Was there anything that GK could have really done to keep USC from leaving? Personally, I don’t think GK had the available tools to keep USC from beautifully bolting into the future without the Pac-12. It was already too late by the time GK arrived to rescue the Pac-12 is my conservative… Read more »
The only way out for George was to realize just how valuable an asset SC was for the Conference and then force the Conference to pay a chunk of that value to SC. If the conference had agreed SC would be guaranteed $60 mil a year and the rest of the conference would equally split what was left, it might have worked. My guess is the Pac Presidents would have never gone for it. In fact, without that type of guarantee, George should have never taken the job. What has happened is the rest of the conference now, in hindsight,… Read more »
The Pac-12 is broke and would never be able to afford to pay USC $60 mil while neutering the rest of an unhappy Pac-12. And that was true before the Pac-12 fessed up to collecting $50 mil in media money which it didn’t deserve, and now has to give back. I’m no GK apologist, but I don’t think he ever stood a chance at keeping USC with the Pac-12 once USC seriously looked east, and the B1G welcomed the Trojans with open arms and massive moola, and even greater national recog and media presence. But he did allow himself to… Read more »
A lot of the national media talk is OR and WA going to the Big 10. It could maybe happen, but for some of the stuff I have seen I get the feeling a lot of the schools do not want an Oregon in the conference. AZ and AZ St, Co, and Utah would surely end up Big12.
It would be interesting if Oregon and Washington politicians tied the U(s) with the State(s) like the UC regents did with UCLA and Cal, financially, or make them a package deal. I could see UofO and Uof W going to the Big10 (which will be 16), the 4 corner schools to Big 12 (also 16) and the rest of the Pac merging with the Mountain West.
I think the 4 corner states going to B12 makes a lot of sense; OR and WA will then probably go to the ACC (not the B10) – the B10 already has a West Coast presence; it does not need two more. In fact, the ACC (which does not have a West Coast presence) would probably pay more from OR and WA than to B10 (which would probably offer partial shares only). Of the remaining four clubs I see for Cal and Stanford going independent. Cal might even consider dropping football. I doubt Stanford will – I can see them… Read more »
It is exciting to have a home basketball game in March matter. SC is fighting for a spot in the NCAA tournament. If they beat AZ (and I think they are certainly capable of doing so), SC will clinch a berth. So, the game matter hugely to SC. AZ has already earned its berth, the question is seeding and region. IF AZ loses to SC and SC beats ASU on Saturday, SC becomes the #2 seed out of the Pac, which will force AZ to win the PAC tournament to have a seeding higher than SC. Hats off the Andy… Read more »
ARIZONA is favored by 4.5 points Jefebet.com — “The 24-5 Wildcats are looking to get the bitter taste of the result of their last game out of their mouth. In their most recent outing, the Wildcats lost to the Arizona State Sun Devils at home on Saturday, 89-88, via a buzzer-beating 60-footer. “USC’s defense has been particularly effective of late, as the Trojans had not allowed more than 65 points in any of their last three outings. JefeBet Prediction The Wildcats’ defense has been suspect this season, leaving them exposed to danger against teams that are normally not high-scoring. That will… Read more »