USC Opens Conference Play Hosting Washington Friday

The USC Trojans (9-4) are hosting the Washington Huskies (10-3) at the Galen Center on Dec. 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the first game of conference play. USC has won five of its last six games, with the lone loss coming in overtime vs. Princeton on Dec. 19.

DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC CHAMPIONS -- USC became the first two-time winner of the Diamond Head Classic (also winning in 2009) wen it defeated New Mexico State 77-72 in the title game on Christmas Day. Bennie Boatwright was named the tournament MVP and Chimezie Metu was named to the All-Tournament team. USC defeated Akron 84-53, Middle Tennessee 89-84 and New Mexico State 77-72.

BREAKING DOWN THE HUSKIES -- Washington (10-3) is coming off a 66-63 home win against Montana on Dec. 22 and has won three straight games. Freshman Jaylen Nowell leads four Huskies in double-figures with a 16.9 points per game average. Washington returned four starters and 10 lettermen from last year's team. USC defeated Washington three times during the 2016-17 season and have defeated the Huskies four consecutive times. USC leads the all-time series 72-71, with two wins in 2008 vacated due to NCAA penalty.

USC BEATS NMSU TO CAPTURE DHC TITLE -- USC scored the final nine points of the championship game to defeat New Mexico State 77-72 to capture the title at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, Hawai'i on Dec. 25. Bennie Boatwright scored a career-high 33 points, including the game-winning three-pointer with 4.1 second remaning to break a 72-all tie. USC trailed 72-68 with 1:59 remaining, but Jordan McLaughlin rebounded a Chimezie Metu miss and banked in a jumper to cut the deficit to two points with 1:41 left in the game. Metu then blocked a Zach Lofton jumper which led to a Jonah Mathews layup to tied the game at 72-all with 1:04 remaining. After Sidy N'Dir missed a contested three-pointer, McLaughlin grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 22 seconds remaining. McLaughlin then ran down the clock before firing a pass to Boatwright who launched the game-winning three. NMSU tried a long inbounds pass which was intercepted by Metu, who was fouled and sunk a pair of free-throws to ice the game. USC led by 10 points early in the game, but NMSU responded to force a halftime tie at 34, thanks to three consecutive three-pointers by Lofton, who finished with 28 points. NMSU led by seven points at 65-58 with 6:43 remaining, before the Trojans rallied to end NMSU's five-game winning streak. USC shot 51.0 percent from the field and was a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line.

USC IN CONFERENCE HOME OPENERS -- USC has won its last three Pac-12 home openers and is 32-19 in its last 51 conference home openers.

METU CLOSING IN ON MILESTONE - Forward Chimezie Metu enters tonight's game with 985 career points scored.

LEARNING TO WIN EARLY -- USC has recorded at least eight wins in the nonconference schedule all five seasons under Enfield, with a best of 13-0 last season. USC had five victories in the nonconference slate in each of the two previous seasons.

WASHINGTON STATE ON DECK - USC's next game will vs. Washington State (8-4) on Dec. 31 at 6 p.m. The Cougars will play at UCLA on Dec. 29 before facing the Trojans. Junior forward Robert Franks leads WSU with an 18.1 scoring average. USC leads the all-time series 73-48, including winning the last four meetings with Washington State.

COMPACT SCHEDULE -- USC is in the midst of playing eight games in 18 days (5-1), after beginning the season with seven games in 34 days (4-3).

OFFENSE STARTING TO CLICK -- USC has scored 80 or more points in six of its last seven games for an average of 86.6 points per game (606 total). USC is making 51.3 percent (212-for-413) of its shots in that stretch.

McGLAUGHLIN RISING UP THE CHARTS -- Senior point guard Jordan McLaughlin continues to lead the Trojans and move up some of USC's all-time lists. McLaughlin is averaging 13.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 7.8 assists this season. He leads all Pac-12 players in assists per game and is second in steals per game (2.0). He also ranks fifth nationally in assists per game (7.8). McLaughlin ranks second on USC's all-time list and is sixth among current players with 558 career assists. He also ranks 6th in steals (165), 10th in three-pointers (154), 14th in scoring (1,364) and 7th in minutes played on USC's all-time lists.

BATTLING THE BULLIES -- USC's opponents are a combined 101-59 this season (63.1 winning percent). The four teams USC has lost to (Texas A&M, SMU, Oklahoma, Princeton) are a combined 39-12 (76.5 winning percent).

Players Mentioned

Bennie Boatwright

Jonah Mathews

Jordan McLaughlin

Chimezie Metu