USC To Play At Santa Clara on Tuesday

The USC Trojans (5-5) will play their first true road game of the season when they face Santa Clara at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif. on Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. USC has lost three consecutive games for the first time this season. Tonight is the last game of three straight away from the Galen Center.

BREAKING DOWN SANTA CLARA - Santa Clara has won its last two games by identical scores of 82-54, defeating Sonoma State on Dec. 9 and Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 13. Sophomore guard Tahj Eaddy leads Santa Clara in scoring with a 15.6 average. USC leads the all-time series 21-8 and has won the last two contests, the most recent 82-59 on Dec. 14, 2017.

USC LOSES TO OKLAHOMA - USC struggled with its shooting and committed 18 turnovers in an 81-70 loss vs. Oklahoma at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. on Dec. 15. USC trailed by 12 at the half and by as many as 19 points after the break, but kept fighting back. Trailing 44-30, USC used a 9-0 run to get back in the game at 44-39 with 16 minutes remaining, and moved to within four points at 51-47 with 13:52 remaining, but Oklahoma responded with a 12-1 run to gain a 15-point advantage and USC got no closer than eight points the rest of the way. Nick Rakocevic led USC with his sixth double-double of the season, finishing with 17 points and 15 rebounds. USC made 34.8 percent of its shots, while Oklahoma made 49.2 percent. The Sooners outrebounded USC 44-39 and outscored the Trojans 44-28 on points in the paint. Miles Reynolds led Oklahoma (9-1) with 20 points. USC outscored Oklahoma 42-41 after the break. Jonah Mathews, Jordan Usher and Shaqquan Aaron all fouled out, leaving USC with just five scholarship athletes to end the game.

SOUTHERN UTAH ON DECK - USC's next game will be vs. Southern Utah (5-3) at the Galen Center on Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. The Thunderbirds are coming off a 78-69 overtime home win against Pepperdine on Dec. 15. SUU is led in scoring by redshirt junior Cameron Oluyitan who averages 13.6 points per game to lead four Thunderbirds averaging in double figures. This is the first meeting between the two schools. USC guard McKay Anderson began his collegiate career at Southern Utah in 2013-14.

RAKOCEVIC POSTS ANOTHER DOUBLE-DOUBLE - Junior forward Nick Rakocevic scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds vs. Oklahoma on Dec. 15 for his sixth double-double of the season. He is tied for seventh in the country in double-doubles and his 11.6 rebounds per game this season ranks fifth nationally and tops in the Pac-12. Rakocevic is also averaging a double-double by averaging a team-best 15.2 points per game. He began the season with three consecutive double-doubles before getting 9 points and 9 rebounds vs. Texas Tech on Nov. 19, snapping a streak of five consecutive double-doubles dating back to last season. He became the first USC player to record three double-doubles to start a season since Sam Clancy did it to start the 2001-02 season. His five consecutive double-doubles were the most by a USC player since Nikola Vucevic had eight-straight during the 2011 season.

ENFIELD EYES THE CENTURY MARK - USC head coach Andy Enfield has a 99-81 record in his six seasons at the helm of the USC program. He has led the Trojans into the postseason each of the last three seasons, combining to win 71 games, the most in a three-year stretch in school history. He has a 140-108 overall record in eight seasons as a head coach.

CHALLENGING COMPETITION - USC's last three opponents Nevada (11-0), TCU (8-1) and Oklahoma (9-1) are a combined 28-2. USC has also played two (Nevada & Texas Tech) of the nine remaining undefeated teams this season. The five teams USC has lost to this season (Vanderbilt, Texas Tech, Nevada, TCU & Oklahoma) have a combined 44-4 record.

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Players Mentioned

Shaqquan Aaron

McKay Anderson

Jonah Mathews

Nick Rakocevic