USC Takes On Arizona State Saturday At Galen

The USC Trojans (11-8, 4-2) will host the Arizona State Sun Devils (14-5, 5-2) at the Galen Center on Jan. 26 at 5 p.m. USC has won its last six home games. USC is 4-0 at home in Pac-12 play and has won 11 of its last 12 conference home games dating back to last season.

BREAKING DOWN ARIZONA STATE - ASU is coming off an 84-73 win at UCLA on Jan. 24 and has won five of its last six games. Freshman Luguentz Dort leads five Sun Devils scoring in double figures with a 16.4 scoring average. USC lost 80-78 at Arizona State in the only meeting last season, but leads the all-time series 53-41 (2 USC wins vacated due to NCAA penalty, original record 55-41). USC has won eight of its last 10 home games against Arizona State.

USC ROLLS OVER ARIZONA - Nick Rakocevic matched a career high with 27 points and USC defeated Arizona 80-57 at the Galen Center on Jan. 24. Rakocevic added 12 rebounds for his 9th double-double of the season. USC's 23-point win was its largest over Arizona since winning by 24 points during the 1974 season and snapped a five-game losing streak to the Wildcats. USC held Arizona to 27.8 percent shooting, the lowest by a Trojan opponent since CSUF made 23.3 percent of its shots on Nov. 10, 2017. Bennie Boatwright also had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, matching his career rebound best.

CONFERENCE LEADER WASHINGTON ON DECK - USC's next game will be at Pac-12 leader Washington (15-4, 6-0) on Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. Washington won 61-56 at Oregon on Jan. 24 and will play at Oregon State on Jan. 26 before hosting USC. Washington has won eight consecutive games and is 10-0 at home this season, the only Pac-12 team without a home loss. Sophomore Jaylen Nowell leads the Huskies in scoring with a 16.8 average. The all-time series is tied 72-all (2 USC wins vacated due to NCAA penalty, original record 74-72).

RAKOCEVIC PLAYING LIKE THE PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK - USC junior forward Nick Rakocevic matched a career high with 27 points and added 12 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season vs. Arizona on Jan. 24. It was his first game since being named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 14-20. He earned his first career Pac-12 Player of the Week honor on Jan. 7. Rakocevic is averaging 15.8 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. Rakocevic has scored 20 or more points in six of USC's last seven home games. He currently ranks among the Pac-12's top 10 in six categories: scoring (9th), rebounds (2nd), blocked shots (4th), field goal percentage (8th), offensive rebounds (2nd) and defensive rebounds (3rd).

THE "BOAT" SETTING SAIL - USC senior forward Bennie Boatwright has averaged 19.4 points (175 total), 7.9 rebounds (71 total) and 3.0 assists (27 total) in the last 9 games. He has also made 49.6 percent of his shots in those games (63-for-127). Boatwright scored a career-best 37 points on 14 of 24 shooting (4 of 9 from 3-point range) at Oregon St. on Jan. 10. His 37 points scored were tied for the 11th best all-time in a game by a USC player and the most since 2008. His 14 FGs also tied him for the 10th-most in a game in school history, last done by Brian Scalabrine in 2000. He is 2nd among Pac-12 players with a 20.7 scoring average in Pac-12 play.

SHARING THE ROCK - USC is 11-0 in games this season when it has 16 or more assists.

THE MAGIC MARKER - With the 80-57 win over Arizona on Jan. 24, USC has now won 39 consecutive games in which it allows 70 points or less.

SHARING IS CARING - USC has averaged 20.5 assists in its wins and 11.5 assists in its losses. USC leads Pac-12 teams with 317 assists. Derryck Thornton leads USC and is second in the conference with 90 assists. USC's 1.3 assist to turnover ratio is tops in the Pac-12.

REBOUND, REBOUND, REBOUND - Nick Rakocevic (12), Bennie Boatwright (12) & Shaqquan Aaron (career-high 10) became just the second Trojan trio with 10 or more rebounds in the same game in the last 27 seasons when they accomplished the feat vs. Arizona on Jan. 24. Last season, Boatwright, Rakocevic and Chimezie Metu did it vs. Santa Clara on Dec. 14, 2017, but prior to that, it hadn't happened since the 1992 season.

A WIN FOR THE BENCH - USC outscored Arizona 17-16 in bench points, the first game in Pac-12 play the Trojans outscored its opponent. In USC's five Pac-12 games, the Trojans were outscored 108-33 in bench points.

THE THREES CAN BE KEY - USC is shooting 37.2 percent from three-point range this season which is second among Pac-12 teams. USC is 9-3 in games it makes seven or more three-pointers this season and 4-6 in games the opposition makes at least seven three-pointers.

USC's VERSION OF "THE CURTAIN OF DISTRACTION" - USC played Arizona on Jan. 24 with the curtains on the north end of the building open, allowing fans to see the downtown skyline. From the inaugural 2006-07 season through the 2011-12 season, USC played various games with the curtains opened, typically night games due to possible glare on the TV broadcasts. With the win over Arizona, USC improved to 49-20 all-time at the Galen Center with the curtains open, including a 4-8 mark during the 2011-12 season in which USC finished 6-26.

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Players Mentioned

Shaqquan Aaron

Bennie Boatwright

Chimezie Metu

Nick Rakocevic

Derryck Thornton