USC Athletics

The USC Trojans (4-3) will host the Santa Clara Broncos (3-6) at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on Dec. 14 at 7:00 p.m. USC has lost it last three games, after beginning the season 4-0.

SEASON OF SANTA -- USC is hosting a Toy Drive at the game vs. Santa Clara on Dec. 14.  Fans bringing a new, unwrapped toy valued at $10 to the game, will receive two tickets to the game.  

BREAKING DOWN THE BRONCOS  --  The Broncos are coming off an 87-84 home loss to Portland State on Dec. 9, in which Portland State made its final 16 field goal attempts. Santa Clara had won its previous two games, defeating Northern Arizona 89-57 and Arkansas-Pine Bluff 72-57.  Junior guard KJ Feagin leads Santa Clara in scoring with an 18.9 average.  Santa Clara was 17-16 last season and returned three starters and eight lettermen from that team.  USC leads the all-time series 22-8, winning the last contest 86-73 on Nov. 15, 2010.

USC SHOT DOWN BY OKLAHOMA -- USC rallied from 18 points down in the second half, but Jordan McLaughlin's half-court heave at the buzzer came up empty and the Trojans fell 85-83 to Oklahoma in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic at the Staples Center on Dec. 8. Oklahoma came out blazing in the game, making six of its first seven three-point shots to open up a 20-10 lead.  Oklahoma made nine three-pointers in the first half to lead 48-36 at the break, then made its first three three-pointers of the second half to open up an 18-point lead at 59-41 early in the second half.  USC then rallied to cut it to 85-83 with 11 seconds left and was forced to foul Trae Young  with 3.1 seconds remaining.  Young, who had a game-high 29 points, missed a pair of three throws which set up McLaughlin's desperation shot at the buzzer.  Elijah Stewart led USC with 23 points, tying a career high with seven three-pointers made.  McLaughlin finished with 20 points and nine assists and Chimezie Metu had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.  Oklahoma made 15 three-point baskets, the most by a USC opponent since Penn also made 15 on Jan. 11, 2003 and one off the opponent record of 16 set by Arizona on Feb. 16, 2002.

UCSB ON DECK -- USC will next host UC Santa Barbara (8-2) at the Galen Center on Dec. 17 at 5 p.m.  The Gauchos won their last game 91-69 at Montana State on Dec. 9, their sixth consecutive win, and are off until facing the Trojans.  UCSB is 3-2 in true road games this season.  Sophomore guard Max Heidegger leads four Gauchos in double figures with a 23.4 points per game average. UCSB returned four starters and 13 lettermen from last season's team, which went 6-22.  USC leads the all-time series 13-1, winning the last game 96-72 at the Galen Center on Nov. 27, 2016.

COMPACT SCHEDULE -- USC will play six games over the next 18 days (beginning on Dec. 14), after beginning the season with seven games in 34 days.  By the time USC plays Santa Clara, the Trojans will be one of seven teams having played just seven games and entered the week as one of 11 teams with seven games played so far.

ALL AROUND THE BLOCK -- USC ranks 24th in the country with 5.7 blocks per game.  Chimezie Metu leads USC with 14 blocks and Bennie Boatwright has registered 11.  Boatwright had seven blocks all of last season.  Chimezie Metu now ranks fifth on USC's all-time blocks list with 123 and Elijah Stewart ranks eighth with 111 blocks.  Metu has as many blocks this season as Santa Clara does as a team (14).

McGLAUGHLIN SURPASSES 500 CAREER ASSISTS -- Senior point guard Jordan McLaughlin continues to lead the Trojans and move up some of USC's all-time lists.  McLaughlin is averaging 14.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists this season.  He leads all Pac-12 players in assists per game and is second in steals per game (2.3).  McLaughlin ranks second on USC's all-time list and is tied for ninth among current players with 501 career assists.  He also ranks seventh in steals (157) and 12th in three-pointers (144) on USC's all-time lists.

DT ON THE DL - USC guard Derryck Thornton suffered a dislocated right shoulder in practice on Nov. 28 and is expected to miss 3-4 weeks of action. Thornton transfered to USC from Duke prior to last season and redshirted.  This season, he has averaged 3.6 points and 2.0 rebounds in five games.

A SLEW FOR STEW  -- USC senior Elijah Stewart surpassed the 1,000 points scored mark during the win at Vanderbilt on Nov. 19 and now has 1,061 career points scored. Stewart has made 17 three-pointers this season to give him 192 career 3-point makes, fourth on USC's all-time list and 11 behind Desmon Farmer, who is third on USC's all-time list with 203. Stewart has also played 109 consecutive games, the most of any player in the Pac-12.  Stewart matched a career high with seven there-point makes vs. Oklahoma on Dec. 8 and has hit at least one three-point basket in each game this season and nine consecutive games dating back to last season.

FAN-TASTIC SUPPORT – USC had 6,327 in attendance for the home game vs. CS Fullerton on Nov. 10 and 5,347 for the game vs. Texas A&M at Galen on Nov. 26.  Those are the two highest-attended nonconference home games since drawing 5,563 for the game vs. Howard on Dec. 29, 2013.  The last time USC had a home nonconference game with more fans than the 6,327 on Nov. 10 was vs. Kansas on Dec. 22, 2011 when it drew 6,431.  The 2008 season was the last time USC had more than two nonconference games with higher than 5,347 fans, drawing  9,288 vs. Oklahoma on Nov. 29, 2007, 10,107 vs. Kansas on Dec. 2, 2007 and 7,140 vs. UC Riverside on Dec. 29, 2007.

BATTLING THE BULLIES -- Through USC's first seven games, its opponents are a combined 40-24 this season (62.5 winning percent).  USC's last three games, all losses, were against teams with a 22-5 record (81.5 winning percent).