USC men’s basketball vs. Stanford: What you need to know
The Trojans, coming off a season-high 97-point outburst, host the Cardinal on Saturday night at the Galen Center
Boogie Ellis drives to the basket as Cal’s ND Okafor defends during the first half Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, at the Galen Center. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Stanford at USC
When: Saturday, 7 p.m.
Where: Galen Center
TV/Radio: ESPNU/790 AM
Records: Stanford 11-15, 5-10 in Pac-12; USC 18-8, 10-5
Adam Grosbard (OC Register)
USC’s previous result: The Trojans coasted to a 97-60 win over Cal on Thursday, scoring their most points of the season. They were led by Drew Peterson’s career-high 30 points, with head coach Andy Enfield leaving the senior in until he hit the milestone. USC picked up its 3-point shooting, making 12 of 23 from that range. And freshmen Kijani Wright and Oziyah Sellers impressed during some extra playing time, an encouraging sign for the team.
Stanford’s previous result: The Cardinal put some fear into No. 4 UCLA on Thursday, leading for much of the first half and as late as the 7:13 mark of the second. But Stanford only managed seven points in the final seven minutes of the game, falling 73-64. The Cardinal primarily attacked the paint against the Bruins, making 18 baskets in the key. Fourteen turnovers ultimately doomed Stanford’s upset efforts.
Matchup to watch: Kobe Johnson vs Spencer Jones. This is a fun defensive matchup for Johnson. Jones is a rangy 6-foot-7 forward who can get going quickly from 3-point range. And with Johnson averaging 14 points across his past four games, Jones’ length will present a challenge for USC’s sophomore guard to overcome on the offensive end, too.
USC trend to watch: Peterson was on the court for 33 minutes in the win over Cal, the first time in six games the senior hasn’t played at least 37 minutes. In the two games prior to Cal, he played 39 as USC was down Joshua Morgan (ankle) and Reese Dixon-Waters. Asked about the wear and tear Thursday night, Peterson joked that, because he has only one class in his final semester of college, he’s been getting a lot of extra sleep. It remains to be seen if Morgan or Dixon-Waters returns against Stanford, but it’s worth monitoring if USC is able to sneak in any additional rest for its key rotation players.
March résumé check: USC moved up seven spots from No. 64 to No. 57 in the NET rankings with Thursday’s win and the shakeup of other bubble teams losing. This moved USC up to a 10-seed facing seven-seed Illinois in Des Moines in CBS’s bracketology projections. ESPN’s bracket still had USC as one of the first four teams out, however. At No. 106 in the NET, Stanford represents a Quadrant 3 opportunity for USC.
ocregister.com
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ESPN: Pac-12 is at a ‘tipping point” as a conference Paul Finebaum said: “I think it’s at a tipping point, and it’s all about your media rights deals. “[George] Kliavkoff has been dealt a bad blow and I think some of it’s his fault, most of it’s not. Most of it was created by ten years of negativity, which led to them losing their biggest brand last summer in Southern Cal. … “So, there’s not a lot of attractibility to this league, and I think some of it’s obvious. If you’re televising the Pac-12, it’s usually not in a good… Read more »
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On3.’s Top 10 Players in College Football in 2023 1. QB Caleb Williams, USC: It’s usually an easy pick at the top when a reigning Heisman Trophy winner is back in school for another season. Williams was terrific in lifting USC to borderline playoff contention a year ago, and that’ll certainly be the goal for the Trojans this fall. Williams threw for 4,537 yds and 42 TDs last season while adding another 10 scores with his legs. 2. QB Drake Maye, North Carolina 3. WR Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State 4. TE Brock Bowers, Georgia 5. EDGE Jared Verse, Florida State 6. RB Blake Corum, Michigan 7. LB Harold Perkins, LSU 8. OT Olu Fashanu, Penn… Read more »
Will the Pac really to with Apple TV? That just seems bizarre to me. It is truly obvious that had USC stayed in the Pac they would have been totally carrying the conference. Their move to B1G is brilliant.
Steve, It appears obvious to me that SC was about half the value of the Pac. With an elite SC, the Pac is worth about $40 million per school; without is, it is worth about $20-25 million per school. In the B10, SC is going to make between $80-100 million. Now the very first move George had to make as Commissioner was to clearly realize this and figure a way to keep SC from leaving. Larry Scott simply ignored this reality and treated all schools as having the same media value, The idiotic Pac 12 Presidents went along and SC… Read more »
When Cal’s response is, we are “entitled” to your money even after you are gone, you realize these Presidents have no business sense. Your analogy RJJ, the abuser gets compensated for no longer having a punching bag.
Golden, Welcome to California politics in 2023. What is interesting is California gets 50% of its income from the top 1% income earners (primarily the tech folk in the Bay Area). They are now having a bad year and the California budget is in the crapper. If a substantial portion of that 1% decides to leave, California’s budget will get even worse. I read about 350,000 people left California from June 2021 to June 2022. That number is about TWICE the amount of people that fled any other state (NY had about 190,000 flee and IL about 170,000). They are… Read more »
The decay of California directly coincides with the take over by Democrats and the labor unions. Helped in large part by Republicans completely screwing the pooch and rolling over. Apparently the majority of Californians think having the highest cost of living, highest poverty, worst homelessness, worst schools is just great cause they keep voting for these corrupt clowns. I don’t know how bad it will have to get before change happens. As an example, natural gas prices nationwide are at historic lows but California is paying record high prices. But hey we are saving the planet so it’s all worth… Read more »
Eventually, California will consist of the Hollywood/ Big Tech rich, and illegal, welfare recipient and homeless poor, with no middle class. Just like the Banana Republic it has become. Hope to be out of here in 3-4 months. Off to Utah, where there is no war on normal people.
To return to football, I have been following rumors about the Pac 12 media deal. It appears that the additions of SMU and San Diego State are in trouble – with some remaining Pac members being against adding them, even at half shares. SDS is in better shape than SMU – makes sense as it gives the Pac some So Cal exposure and has realistic travel expenses for the non-revenue sports. The media negotiations are not going well, with the main player being ESPN “After Dark”. Numbers are rumored to be in the $25 mil per year per team range.… Read more »
Poor George. Here he is in long ago happier days before USC and UCLA set his job on fire.
After Oregon makes its demands and CO, AZ, and UT leave for the Big12, the teams left will have to create a new conference more than likely evolving in the Mt. West. I personally just don’t see the B1G taking Oregon. Washington maybe, Stanford and Cal should seriously consider the Mt. West right now.
Stanford and Cal do not care about football. They would probably let it go away if they could.
Report: NCAA football considering major rule change affecting passing game John Clay (Yahoo Sports) — Nearly everyone agrees that college football games are taking too long to complete. Not everyone agrees about the best way to shorten the game. Example: According to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger, the sports’ higher-ups are considering a rule change that would let the clock run after incomplete passes. According to Dellenger, that is one of four major proposals to shorten the game. One proposal would prohibit consecutive timeouts. Another would eliminate playing an untimed down after a penalty at the end of the first and third… Read more »
I am not for the proposed continuous running clock after incompletions which could eliminate a minimum of 14-18 plays a game.
College football is a great product. Not so corporate, as nfl has become. Why mess around with it—tv, of course. 😡
Keeping the clock running after first downs makes the most sense.
That would take some in depth planning and clock management for sure. Helton would hate that change.
When you have greedy idiots running the game, you have idiot ideas. What makes the game too long is the TV time outs in the middle of a quarter. Run ads on the side line like Soccer. TV time outs only after a score. Maybe they take a little less TV money. International Futbol makes plenty of money with time out only at half time.
Clock management is a major part of the game strategy and heightens the tension. The idiot bureaucrats want to take that away? Morons! Greedy Morons!
I am with ATL. I think college football is a great product. Why mess with it? I think a minor tweaks can solve the problem. If I were to recommend a change, I would recommend dropping kick offs. If a team wants to do an onsides kick, they will need to request it. Kick offs are probably the most dangerous play in football. I think punts are less so, because the kid can call for a fair catch. I think you can do away with the clock stopping on first downs except in the last 2:00 minutes of each half.… Read more »
For me, the longer the game is, the better. ✌
When it’s a nail biter I am right with you. But when it’s a blowout, some of those games can get really long.
Sometimes I wonder why too many reviews involving video determination are allowed to take so long, like numerous minutes it seems, just totally disrupting a team’s momentum and the game in general.
I think there should be a shorter limit on review time, like a minute and a half or so. If the evidence isn’t clear, there shouldn’t be a change anyway.
New Pac-12 men’s basketball standings Matt Wadleigh (Yahoo Sports) — With two weeks left in the reg season, the Pac-12’s chances of getting four teams in the NCAA Tournament continue to look pretty slim. Latest standings: 1 UCLA BRUINS (14-2) 2 ARIZONA WILDCATS (13-4) 3 USC TROJANS (11-5) Jan 14, 2023; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Guard Tre White (22), G Boogie Ellis (5), F Kobe Johnson (0) and F Joshua Morgan (24) pose with former player Nick Rakocevic after the game against UTAH in the second half at Galen Center. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports USC just went 2-0 after losing two… Read more »
SC is probably a bubble team. My guess is it will need to win probably 3 of its last 4 (locking up 3rd place) and then win one tournament game. The loss to Oregon State really hurt this team.
I just hope USC doesn’t somehow miss the NCAA tourney.
Enfield has built up much goodwill and respectability lately. Being a high-ranking NIT team would really be a step down (to put it lightly), especially with 23-4 UCLA, who USC beat recently, currently ranked #4 in the country by the AP. JMHO.
UCLA beat both Oregon and Oregon State on the road. SC got routed by Oregon and lost to a 4 win Oregon State team on the road, I think a loss to either Utah or CO will probably require SC to win the PAC tournament to get in. I am assuming AZ beating s SC.
Ya, I don’t think this USC team can beat the Wildcats.
ARIZ is 62-30 against USC all-time and just beat us on 1/19 81-66 in Tucson, making it four straight losses to those guys, usually by fairly large margins. Our next meeting is on March 2 at Galen.
It is a shame but I doubt this team makes the tournament. This is by far, IMO, Enfield’s best coaching – I think he is moving himself into the very good coach level – he is not elite yet, but he is getting close. I think he has improved significantly over the last 3 years or so. The disaster of the two kids who transferred out to WY show just much Enfield has improved. He is now attracting talent. This team is centered around Pierson and Ellis. If they play well, the team does well (and can compete with just… Read more »
USC needs to shock the world and beat ARIZ at Galen, where USC is 14-1, having only lost to FGCU, to start off the season against Enfield’s old job.
Nailbiter time for USC hoops.
On the topic of basketball, SC beat Stanford by 10. Once again, its free throwing won the game as SC was ahead late and Stanford was fouling. Enfield has stated that this is his best shooting team. It has two bad losses so far, both on the road – one to a 4 win Oregon State team and another to a Washington State team. Normally, Enfield teams fade badly in February – this team has not (save its awful game against Oregon State). It needs to win 3 of its last four to finish 3rd in the Pac and probably… Read more »
I’m hoping for a two-win road trip. SC always has a tough time in Boulder. I think the game is tonight and I’ll be watching as it’s supposed to be on ESPN2. I sure hope that the announcing crew doesn’t include Bill Walton. He and Dick Vitale are so annoying!
Good to see SC making its free throws, especially in crunch time. It always amazed me in the past why Enfield’s teams were poor at the foul line when he led the nation in career free throw percentage when he played at Johns Hopkins University.
Here is a sophomore in high school smoking Roderick Pleasant LR needs to make this kid an offer soon. https://twitter.com/i/status/1627064984642654209
What’s even more galling about how SC got screwed- the people paying Fields were connected to OSU, and they were bribing him to come play for them. The people paying Bush were wanna be agents, not connected to the school, and they were offering up money so Bush would leave SC.
It’s truly mind boggling how badly USC was treated, and how little resistance the administartion put up. Thank God those days are in the rear view mirror.
Reggie should get his Heisman back. We NOW know what happened was a travesty.
The only reason anyone learned about the Reggie issues is that he decided to stiff his “business partners” and not follow through with the bad deal he made. Reggie cheaped out over $300k, an amount that surely looks like small potatoes to him now. Maybe more $$ than that would have been left on the table to follow through with the deal, but, had Reggie stuck to the crappy deal, he would be like Fields and everybody else. He would have had his under the table money and kept his Heisman. SC would have been spared a decade of pain… Read more »
I’ve never understood why Reggie didn’t come to the aid of USC in defending itself against the NCAA, which was relatively feeble. We just got bossed around and eventually hosed (except for Todd McNair who finally prevailed). All Reggie ever said was he did nothing wrong, only making him your basic prison inmate caricature. Then, he doubles down on his dumb, some would say idiotic behavior, and he almost immediately voluntarily agrees to return his Heisman, which is genuinely and deservedly his. He should be suing any lawyer who thought he was helping him by giving that ridiculous advice. That… Read more »
Gotta love it! Justin Fields was interviewed this week and said the reason he transferred from GA to tOSU was money. Said tOSU paid him $300,000 – $400,000 cash plus gave him a Mercedes Benz. Said in the pre-NIL days tOSU was paying more than the SEC. I love this stuff is now coming out. Shows just how badly SC got hosed by the NCAA for doing far less than the SEC and tOSU did under the same rules. Remember, Fields applied for and obtained a waiver from the NCAA to pay immediately. I really like the Supreme Court ruling… Read more »