University Southern California Trojans
USC Hosts No. 9/No. 10 Oregon At Galen Saturday
March 04, 2016 | Men's Basketball
The USC Trojans (20-10, 9-8) will host the No. 9/No. 10 Oregon Ducks (24-6, 13-4) at the Galen Center on March 5 at 1 p.m. The game will air on the Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Los Angeles and Pac-12 Oregon with Guy Haberman and Don MacLean calling the action and Yogi Roth providing sideline commentary. USC has won 20 games in a season for the first time since the 2009 season (22-13). Also, the 16 home wins (16-1) ties the 1961 team's school record for home wins in a season (16-3).
PAC-12 LEADER No. 9 OREGON CLOSES OUT THE REGULAR SEASON -- USC will close out the regular season by hosting Pac-12 leader No. 9/No. 10 Oregon at the Galen Center on March 5 at 1 p.m. Oregon is coming off a 76-68 win at UCLA on March 2 and has won four straight and 10 of 12 games. Oregon defeated USC 89-81 on Jan. 21 in Eugene, Ore. USC has lost its last 11 games against Oregon. Sophomore Dillon Brooks leads the Ducks in scoring with a 17.2 average.
TROJANS RIDE BIG FIRST HALF TO WIN OVER OSU -- USC shot a blistering 61.8 percent from the floor in the first half to race to a 56-33 halftime lead en route to an 81-70 win over Oregon State at the Galen Center on March 2. OSU was the hot team early making its first four shots, all three-pointers, to take a 12-7 lead, but USC scored the next 15 points and never looked back. The Trojans made 8 of 11 three-pointers in the first half and its 56 points at the break were its most in a first half since also tallying 56 at LMU on Dec. 11, 1999. Jordan McLaughlin led USC with 17 points and nine assists. USC led by as many as 23 points in the second half and by 20 with 3:47 remaining, but the Beavers scored the final nine points.
IT TAKES A TEAM -- USC has six players averaging 10.1 or more points and eight players have averaged 2.9 rebounds or more this season. Seven different Trojans have scored at least 19 points in a game this season. USC has four players with at least 51 three-point baskets this season. Last season, USC had only three players all season make 16 or more three-pointers. USC had five players score in double figures vs. Monmouth on Nov. 16, the first time it had accomplished the feat since 2013 and has had five or more reach double figures in nine games this season. USC had six players score 10 or more points vs. Cal Poly on Dec. 17, the first time accomplishing that feat since Dec. 28, 2004 vs. Southern.
DYNAMIC DUO -- Jordan McLaughlin (148) and Julian Jacobs (147) are one of two sets of guards in the country with at least 145 assists this season. The other pair is Emmett Naar (180) and Joe Rahon (171) of Saint Mary's.
TROJANS SET SCHOOL BLOCKS RECORD - USC has registered a school-record 167 blocks in the first 30 games, 13th among all Division I schools in total blocks through games of March 3. USC's average of 5.6 blocks per game ranks 11th among all NCAA DI teams. USC had a total of 133 blocks in 32 games last season for a 4.2 blocks per game average. When USC swatted seven Oregon State shots on March 2, it passed the previous two best blocked shot seasons in school history (165 in 2009 and the 162 in 2013).
SENIOR DAY -- Today is Senior Day for Trojan forward Strahinja Gavrilovic and head manager Saagar Sarin. Gavrilovic has played in 78 games for the Trojans, making four starts. In 16 games this season he is averaging 1.0 points and 0.2 rebounds. Last season he played in 26 games and averaged 4.9 points and 2.7 rebounds. Gavrilovic is an International Relations, Global Business major. Sarin is in his second season as a manager for the USC basketball team. Sarin is majoring in Business Administration with a double minor in statistics and sports media studies. He plans to go to graduate school in business analytics at USC and return as team manager next season. USC is 3-3 in its last six Senior Days, but prior to that had won 13 consecutive times.
THE DARION EFFECT -- Redshirt junior forward Darion Clark missed the seven games from Feb. 4-28 with a shoulder injury and the Trojans went 2-5 in those games and struggled on the boards. USC was outrebounded in six of the games and tying in rebounds in the other game, losing the battle of the boards by 5.1 per game. In the 23 games in which Clark has played, USC is 16-5-2 in the battle of the boards. He returned to action in the win vs. Oregon State on March 2 and had 5 points and 3 rebounds in 7 minutes of action, as USC snapped a three-game losing streak. Clark averages 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 points in 11.6 minutes of action per game. He has a 16.3 prorated rebounds per game average. Nikola Jovanovic is second on the team with an 11.1 average.
SC STANDS FOR SLAM CITY - USC has registered 103 dunks in the first 30 games, compared to its opponents' 57. Chimezie Metu leads USC with 43 dunks and Julian Jacobs, who led USC in dunks last season with 19, is second on the team with 29.
SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY -- With the loss at California on Sunday, Feb. 28, USC fell to 1-6 on Sundays. The Trojans are 19-4 on all other days.
TROJANS MOST IMPROVED TEAM IN POWER 5 CONFERENCES -- According to research by J.D. Hamilton of the NCAA, USC's 9.0 game improvement from last season (12-20 to 20-10) is tied for 13th best in the country and tops among teams in the Power 5 conferences.
THREE AT LAST, THREE AT LAST... - USC has made 238 three-point baskets this season, first among Pac-12 teams through games of March 2. It is the most three-pointers by USC since netting a school record 259 in the 1993 season. USC has finished 11th or 12th among Pac-12 teams in three-pointers made the last four seasons. USC has made six or more three-pointers in 23 of the 30 games and six times has netted 12 or more, with a season-best 13 makes vs. CSUN on Nov. 23 and vs. Lafayette on Dec. 23. On the year, USC is averaging 38.8 percent from beyond the arc (26th in the country), while its opponents are shooting 31.8 percent from long-range (45th best in the country). Last season USC made a total of 170 three-pointers for an average of 5.3 makes per game.
THE LAUNCHING SQUAD - Katin Reinhardt (53), Jordan McLaughlin (53), Elijah Stewart (53) and Bennie Boatwright (51) is the first quartet in USC history with 50 or more three-point baskets in a season and all rank in the top 17 among Pac-12 players in three-point baskets per game. No other conference team has more that two players in the top 17. USC has four players with 30 or more makes for the first time since the 2001-02 season (Brandon Granville-56, David Bluthenthal-62, Errick Craven-34 and Desmon Farmer-35). That was the only time the Trojans had four players with 34 or more made shots from beyond the arc since the three-point shot went into effect beginning with the 1986-87 season.
