No. 21 USC Men's Basketball To Host CSU Bakersfield In Home Opener Thursday

The No. 21 USC Trojans (1-0) will host the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (1-0) in the home opener at the Galen Center on Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. The game will air on the Pac-12 Network with J.B. Long and Don MacLean calling the action.

A LOOK AT LAST YEAR -- The Trojans went 22-11 during the 2022-23 season, including a 14-6 record in Pac-12 play which tied for second in the conference. USC also advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. It was the Trojans' fourth consecutive 20-win season, a school record for back-to-back 20-win seasons. The Trojans return leading scorer and All-Pac-12 guard Boogie Ellis and have added the No. 4 ranked recruiting class in the country, which includes the consensus No. 1 overall player, guard Isaiah Collier.

USC'S STELLAR STRETCH -- USC won a school-record 95 games over the last four seasons (22 in 2020, 25 in 2021, 26 in 2022 and 22 in 2023). The four consecutive seasons of 20+ wins sets a school record for most consecutive 20-win seasons, breaking the mark of three consecutive seasons with 20 or more wins from 2016-18.

WINNING WAYS -- USC's 95 total wins the last four seasons tied for sixth-most among all Power 6 basketball programs, trailing only Kansas (111), Baylor (104), Arizona (99), UCLA (99) and Duke (97). Also, USC's 182 wins the last eight seasons ranks tied for 14th among all Power 6 conference teams.

HOME OPENER AGAINST CSU BAKERSFIELD -- USC will host CSU Bakersfield (1-0) in its home opener at the Galen Center on Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. USC is 22-5 in its last 27 home openers. CSU Bakersfield went 11-22 during the 2022-23 season and opened this season with a 73-72 home win vs. Southern Utah on Nov. 6. USC is 2-0 all-time against the Roadrunners, winning 90-75 in the last meeting on Nov. 25, 2018. Guard Kaleb Higgins led CSUB with a career-high 27 points in the opener. Rod Barnes is in his 13th season as the CSUB head coach.

UC IRVINE ON DECK -- USC will host UC Irvine (0-1) at the Galen Center on Nov. 14 at 8 p.m.
UCI opened its season with a 72-64 loss at San Jose State on Nov. 7 and will host New Mexico State on Nov. 11 before taking on the Trojans. USC is 8-2 all-time against UC Irvine, winning the last meeting 66-61 on Dec. 15, 2021 at the Galen Center.

USC FIRST TO BRING IN BOTH MEN'S & WOMEN'S TOP RECRUIT -- Isaiah Collier was the consensus No. 1 men's basketball recruit for 2023 and JuJu Watkins the No. 1 women's recruit for 2023. It marks the first time that the top recruit on the men's and women's sides both selected to attend the same school in the same season. Also, both the USC men's and women's team are ranked No. 21 in the AP preseason poll, the first time both teams have been ranked in the AP preseason top 25. Both athletes had dynamic debuts with Collier scoring 18 points with 6 assists in USC's win over 2023 Elite Eight team Kansas State and Watkins pouring in 32 points in the Trojan women's win over No. 7 Ohio State.

ENFIELD MOVING UP THE USC ALL-TIME COACHING WINS LIST -- USC head coach Andy Enfield is in his 11th season at USC and has compiled an 206-129 record. He picked up his 200th win on Feb. 4, 2023 vs. Washington. Enfield's win total ranks fourth on USC's all-time wins list, trailing only Sam Barry (260), Forrest Twogood (251) and Bob Boyd (216). Including his two seasons as the head coach at FGCU (2012-13), Enfield has compiled a 247-157 record.

IT STARTS WITH DEFENSE -- USC held Kansas State to 31.0 percent shooting in the opener on Nov. 6. USC held its opponent to under 40 percent shooting in 19 of its 33 games in the 2022-23 season. USC held its opponents to a 39.3 shooting percentage last season, 8th in the country. Over the last four seasons, USC's defense has held the opposition to 38.9 FG percentage, third in the country, tops among teams in the six basketball power conferences. USC held California to 27.7 percent shooting on Nov. 30 last season, lowest by an opponent since holding Stanford to a 25.4 shooting percentage on March 3, 2021. Only two times last season did an opponent shoot over 50 percent in a game. Also over the last four seasons, USC has held the opposition to a 42.4 shooting percentage on two-point field goals, best in the country.

TROJANS SIGN A TRIO OF PROSPECTS -- USC has announced that guards Trent Perry and Liam Campbell and forward Brody Kozlowski have signed National Letters of Intent (NLIs) to play basketball for the Trojans, it was announced by head coach Andy Enfield on Nov. 8. USC's recruiting class is ranked No. 10 nationally by 247Sports.com, marking it the third consecutive top 10 recruiting class and the 10th consecutive top 30 class.

GALEN REFRESH -- The Galen Center, which opened for the 2006-07 season, recently experienced the completion of phase one of a multi-phase enhancement to the arena. Among the upgrades include new championships banners recognizing the accomplishments for all four sports which compete in the arena, new signature branding on the north arena wall celebrating the "Fight On!" mantra, a renovated Hall of Champions including two large LED screens with dynamic content highlighting the basketball and volleyball programs, upgraded concession stands,
new graphics and branding throughout the arena, a renovated Founders Room, the largest premium hospitality space in Galen, the addition of a new premium lounge space near the court and an updated media room and postgame media conference room.

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Players Mentioned

Isaiah Collier

Boogie Ellis