USC Hosts WSU Sunday Looking For First Pac-12 Win

The USC Trojans (9-5, 0-1) are hosting the Washington State Cougars (8-5, 0-1) at the Galen Center on Dec. 31 at 6:00 p.m.

BREAKING DOWN THE COUGARS -- Washington State (8-5, 0-1) is coming off a 96-82 loss at UCLA on Dec. 29. Junior forward Robert Franks leads WSU with an 18.2 scoring average. USC leads the all-time series 73-48, including winning the last four meetings with Washington State.

USC FALLS IN PAC-12 OPENER -- Washington made 73.1 percent of its shots in the second half to hold off USC 88-81 in the conference opener for both teams at the Galen Center on Dec. 29. For the game, Washington made 67.3 percent of its field goals, the highest shooting percentage by a Trojan opponent since Penn made 72.0 percent on Jan. 11, 2003. USC led 19-9 early, but Chimezie Metu picked up his second foul and went to the bench for six minutes, and when he returned, the score was tied at 23. Washington scored the final six points of the half to take a 41-35 lead at the break. USC scored the first two points of the second half to cut it to four, but got no closer than five points the rest of the way. Metu had a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Bennie Boatwright added 24 points. Washington's bench outscored USC 25-10, while making 10 of its 12 shots, including 5 of 7 from three-point range. USC's guards combined to shoot 32.1 percent from the floor. USC lost its conference home opener for the first time since 2014 and had its four-game winning streak against the Huskies snapped. USC made a season-low 3 three-pointers and shot a season-low 15.0 percent from beyond the arc. USC also had its first game of the season without registering at least one block.

METU REACHES A MILESTONE - Forward Chimezie Metu scored his 1,000th career point during the game vs. Washington on Dec. 29. He scored 26 points in the game to give him 1,011 career points scored. He also had 10 rebounds in the game for his fifth double-double of the season and 12th of his career. He has averaged 21.6 points and 8.0 rebounds in the last seven games.

CALIFORNIA ON DECK - USC's next game will at California (6-7, 0-0) on Jan. 4, 2018 in Berkeley, Calif. The Bears are playing at Stanford on Dec. 30 before hosting USC. California has won three of its last four games and is led by junior guard Don Coleman who is averaging 20.5 points per game. USC lost 74-73 vs. California last season and has dropped three straight games to Cal. Cal leads the all-time series 136-122, which includes one win vacated by USC due to NCAA penalty.

LET'S PLAY! -- USC is finishing off a stretch of playing eight games in 18 days (5-2), after beginning the season with seven games in 34 days (4-3). USC is 2-4 this season when playing games four days or more apart and 6-1 when playing games three days or less apart (not counting the opener).

MR. BUCKETS FILLING IT UP -- Bennie "Buckets" Boatwright has scored 26.7 points per game (80 total) over the last three contests. He has also made 12 three-pointers in that stretch.

OFFENSE STARTING TO CLICK -- USC has scored 80 or more points in seven of its last eight games for an average of 85.9 points per game (687 total). USC is making 50.9 percent (242-for-475) of its shots in that stretch.

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.

CLEAR BAG POLICY FOR GALEN -- To provide a safer environment for the public and significantly expedite guest entry into the venue, the Galen Center will be implementing a "clear bag policy" that limits the size and type of bags that may be brought into the arena for all events (one clear bag no larger than 12" x 6" x 12" per person) starting January 1st, 2018. The policy does not affect other items that fans normally bring to a game, which still can be carried in their pockets or openly in their arms. Also, for increased security, all guests entering the Galen Center walk through metal detector screening with arms raised (guests should remove metal items from pockets)."

BLOCK PARTY ENDS -- USC had registered at least one block in every game this season before being shutout vs. Washington on Dec. 29. Dating back to last season, USC had registered at least one block in 30 straight games before going swat-less vs. Washington. Still, USC ranks 65th in the country with 4.6 blocks per game. Chimezie Metu leads USC with 21 blocks and Bennie Boatwright has registered 15. Boatwright had seven blocks all of last season. Metu now ranks third on USC's all-time blocks list with 130 and Elijah Stewart ranks tied for seventh with 116.

MIGHTY METU -- USC forward Chimezie Metu has registered 40 dunks in USC's first 14 games, with at least one in every game accept vs. Akron on Dec. 22. He has out-dunked USC's opponents 40-31 this season and USC has had 66 dunks to its opposition's 31.

Players Mentioned

Bennie Boatwright

Chimezie Metu

Elijah Stewart