USC men’s basketball at Utah: What you need to know
Trojans look to improve their place in the Pac-12 standings when they face the Utes on Saturday in Salt Lake City
Andy Enfield confers with guard Boogie Ellis during the second half of their victorious game at CU on Thursday night. (AP/David Zalubowski)
USC AT UTAH
When:Â Saturday, 5 p.m.
Where:Â Jon M. Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City
TV/Radio:Â ESPNU/790Â AM
Records:Â USC 20-8, 12-5 in Pac-12; Utah 17-12, 10-8
Adam Grosbard (OC Register)
Last matchup: USC put away the Utes 71-56 at the Galen Center. It was one of USC’s most well-balanced offensive nights of the year, with each starter scoring at least eight points and Reese Dixon-Waters adding 11 off the bench. The Trojans’ defense never gave the Utes a chance to stage a comeback, holding Utah to 34.4% shooting from the floor.
USC latest result: The Trojans started off their mountain road trip with an easy 84-65 win over Colorado, taking a 13-point lead into halftime and never looking back. The Trojans had four starters in double digits and big man Joshua Morgan added eight in his first start since his ankle sprain earlier in the month. It was USC’s 20th win of the season, marking a program-record fourth consecutive 20-win season for the Trojans.
Utah latest result: The Utes staged a second-half comeback, but it wasn’t enough to top UCLA as Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 17 second-half points in a 78-71 victory. The Utes struggled with 12 turnovers while without starting point guard Rollie Worster (ankle), whose status remains uncertain for the USC game.
Matchup to watch: Morgan vs. Branden Carlson. Carlson scored 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting the last time these teams played, including 3 for 5 on 3-pointers. USC will rely on Morgan to slow down the Utah center and prevent him from tilting the game in the Utes’ favor.
USC trend to watch:Â The Trojans currently sit in third place in the Pac-12. With a win over fifth-place Utah, USC would guarantee itself no worse than a fourth-place finish and clinch a first-round bye in the Pac-12 tournament.
March résumé check: USC added a Quadrant 1 victory over Colorado on Thursday, improving its record in such games to 2-5. It’s a tough mark, but USC has the chance to improve it again Saturday against the Utes, another Quad 1 opportunity. Having moved up six spots to No. 49 in the NET rankings, USC is projected to be a play-in team in the NCAA Tournament by ESPN. CBS has the Trojans as an 11-seed playing Northwestern in Sacramento in the West bracket.
ocregister.com
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USC, ALA and TENN lead the pack
“This year, only seven Power Five schools won eight or more football games and 20 or more basketball games for both the men’s and women’s programs. Those seven are Maryland, Duke, Texas, UCLA, USC, Alabama, and Tennessee.
“However, the latter three did one step better and are in exclusive company. All three of Alabama, USC, and Tennessee won 11 football games and finished ranked in the top 10…”
yahoo.com
USC 2024 four-star target Jaden Allen decommits from Texas Yahoo Sports — “2024 four-star CB Jaden Allen (5-10, 155) has backed off his pledge to TEXAS. The USC Trojans are back in action to possibly land the Texas native (Aledo). “247Sports composite rankings listed Allen as the No. 18 CB and one of the top 300 players in the nation for the 2024 cycle. Allen is an excellent athlete, starring on both the football field and the track, registering all-district achievements in both sports. “The decommitment comes as a surprise. Allen is the younger brother of Texas soph DB B.J. Allen…”… Read more »
Trojans at the NFL Combine
CBS analyst outlines potential permanent rivals for USC football in new look West Coast flavored Big Ten conference Chris Trevino (247Sports) — “CBS college football analyst Tom Fornelli pitched the 3-6-6 scheduling model for the nine-game conference schedule to ensure that all 16 programs play one another regularly. The three represents every school’s “permanent rival” that it plays every season while the other six opponents are rotated each season. Fornelli’s “permanent rival” projections for the Trojans were UCLA (duh), MICH ST and NW. The MICH ST rivalry was done in part due to Fornelli’s calls for a Trojan Horse rivalry… Read more »
While we wait out the dead period it’s good to know that our other LA area teams are worth watching. The Kings are a legit threat to come out of the western conference and still have a few old guys left from the two cup winning teams. The Lakers are completely remade and seem to be much better. The Dodgers are most likely not as good, but everyone has high hopes in spring training. It’s all a great distraction until week 0.
fight on!
Viane Talamaivao (former ’14-17 USC starting OL; Moreno Vally Centennial) is the next STAN OL Coach
Viane Talamaivao — Former ORE GA lands job at the Farm as new OL coach under new HC Troy Taylor, taking over for David Shaw, who seemingly lost interest in making STAN any good.
In Shaw’s miserable last four years at STAN, he went into a 13-28 deep dive.
Viane Talamaivao became an offensive quality control analyst at USC in 2021.
He spent 2019 and 2020 as a graduate assistant working with the offensive line.
Wish him well on his career. Hope he learned a lot at Oregon cause he probably learned what not to do at USC! Not a high bar now at The Furd.
https://twitter.com/johncanzanobft/status/1629736718827163648?s=61&t=hspia_rLn-_HaKgiyD6mNA
Well done. “A little weird” seems about right. “Throw it down, big fella!” ✌
I remember watching him single-handedly destroy a good USC team when I was in school. He was just a totally dominant athletic big guy who had feet for early retirement.
And that’s why I have to hit the mute to watch a game. “Yes, but, will the Lakers make the playoffs?………..”
I hit the mute whenever Walton or Dick Vitale are on the broadcast. Both are extremely annoying. Sometimes I just don’t get ESPN. I can’t believe how many times the network has televised a game with North Carolina who isn’t that good this season. The old East Coast bias kicking in I guess.
USC, under Lindsay Gottlieb, is now in position for its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2014
No. 2 USC Women’s Water Polo Takes Out No. 3 UCLA 13-10 In BKI Semifinals Tilly Kearns scored four in the Trojans’ second win of the season over the Bruins to move into today’s title match (1 pm PT, Anteater Aquatics Complex). IRVINE, CALIF. — The No. 2 USC women’s water polo team never trailed in tacking up a 13-10 win over No. 3 UCLA to tally the Trojans’ second win over the Bruins this season and take the ticket to today’s title match at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational. The win puts USC up against top-ranked Stanford today in the… Read more »
Pat Haden has taken an enormous amount of heat for his time as AD at USC from 2010 – 2016. He lazily and idiotically hired an ill-suited Clay Helton to be the official non-interim HC on Nov. 30, 2015, a day of infamy in USC football. But Haden, as it turns out, really got it right when he brought aboard Andy Enfield (known at the time as the coach of “Dunk City” for his high-flying style while at FGCU) on April 1, 2013. “Those in the basketball world have known of his abilities for a while,” Haden said about his… Read more »
I view is a bit differently. First, the hire worked because SC BB prior to Enfield was a grease fire and SC is not a BB school. This allowed Enfield to develop. I saw a huge difference starting with the Evan Mobley team. Perhaps it was the addition of Pops Mobley to the staff. I really do not know. But, prior to then, Enfield was at best a mediocre coach. What we did not know is his ceiling turns out to very high. Remember, it took John Wooden years to become an elite coach (perhaps the best ever). Second, it… Read more »
Is Pops Mobley still with the team as asst. coach?
He is. This is his first team at SC without one of his boys on it.
That’s good. Seems like he makes Enfield a better game coach.
The problem is, “giving someone a game” isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
24-5 ARIZ beat us by 15 the last time USC wandered into Tucson on 1/19. We’ll see if Thursday at 8 pm in Galen brings us more of the same. ASU just Hail-Mary’d ARIZ 89-88 at the buzzer in Tucson. I bet the Wildcats are in a bad mood here in L.A.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1629592578982019081
A road sweep, with ( at least for now) two Quad 1 wins. After the opening game debacle at FGCU, and don’t think anyone could foresee 21 wins, and 13 in conference.
After the horrific road trip to OR, the team went 4-0. I think UT and CO were better than OR and OR State. Enfield and staff have really matured. This is a well-coached team.
A goodlooking road victory for USC! The part that I liked best is that Utah had a couple of good runs at us and cut into our lead but we came back made the shots to regain our lead. That is the kind of mental toughness that can help us in the ncaa tournament.
If SC sweeps the AZ teams, we finish 2nd In conference. No one saw that coming!
SC looked real good. Enfield has really grown as a coach. Ellis had an awful game. But the team won easily. Great defensive effort. In the past, this is a game an Enfield coached team would have lost. Huge win. If they can sweep at home against AZ and ASU, they will lock up a big to the big dance, but I doubt we beat AZ.
USC looked pretty good against Utah. They look to be bringing it together at a good time.