USC Men's Basketball To Host Oregon Thursday

The USC Trojans (8-12, 2-7) will host the Oregon Ducks (14-6, 6-3) at the Galen Center on Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. The game will air on ESPN with Dave Pasch and Bill Walton calling the action. USC's eight wins through its first 20 games are its fewest since also being 8-12 to start the 2012-13 season. USC has lost a season-high five consecutive games, its longest losing streak since it lost nine straight games in the 2015 season.

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD -- From Dec. 17-Jan. 20, USC played 7 of its 10 games on the road and went 3-7 in that stretch. Through games of Jan. 28, USC has played seven road games and four neutral site contests. The 11 games away from home (4 neutral, 7 road) are tied for the most among all Power 6 schools and its seven true road games are tied for the second-most, trailing only Creighton's eight.

USC'S STELLAR STRETCH -- USC won a school-record 95 games over the previous 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. USC's 95 total wins the last four seasons was tied for sixth-most among all Power 6 basketball programs, trailing only Kansas (111), Baylor (104), Arizona (99), UCLA (99) and Duke (97).

FACING OREGON -- The Oregon Ducks (14-6, 6-3) are coming off an 87-78 home loss against Arizona on Jan. 27. Jermaine Couisnard leads five Ducks scoring in double figures with a 14.9 scoring average. USC fell 82-74 at Oregon on Dec. 28 and is 67-61 all-time against the Ducks. USC has won 7 of its last 12 games against Oregon and is 3-1 in the last four games against Oregon at the Galen Center.

ON DECK: OREGON STATE -- The Oregon State Beavers (11-9, 3-6) are coming off an 84-71 home win over Arizona State on Jan. 27 and will play at UCLA on Feb. 1, before facing USC at the Galen Center on Feb. 3 at 4:00 p.m. Guard Jordan Pope leads Oregon State with a 17.8 scoring average. USC lost 86-70 at Oregon State on Dec. 30, but has won 11 of the last 16 games against the Beavers. USC has won 7 of its last 8 games against Oregon State at the Galen Center.

TROJANS BUYERS, NOT SELLERS -- USC sophomore guard Oziyah Sellers' stock continues to rise. He scored a career-high 18 points scored at Colorado on Jan. 13 and added 10 points at Arizona on Jan. 17 and 10 vs. UCLA on Jan. 27. He has scored in double-figures five times this season and is averaging 6.3 points per game, after averaging 1.1 ppg last season. Sellers has made 16 of his last 29 three-point shots (55.2 percent) and leads USC with an 83.3 shooting percentage from the free throw line.

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 213-141 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 254-169 record.

IN THEIR DEFENSE-- As USC's available players continues to rotate, the defense has struggled to find its footing. However, in the last three games (at Arizona, at ASU & vs UCLA), USC held its opponents to a combined 39.8 percent shooting (78-for-196). USC allowed Oregon St. to make 59.6 percent of its shots on Dec. 30, the highest shooting percentage by a Trojan opponent since UW made 67.3 percent of its FGs against USC on Dec. 29, 2017. USC opponents have shot 50 percent or higher from the field six times in the last two seasons, including four times this season. This season, USC has held its opponents to 43.1 percent shooting. USC held its opponents to a 39.3 shooting percentage last season, 8th in the country. Over the last four seasons, USC's defense held the opposition to 38.9 FG percentage, third in the country, tops among teams in the six basketball power conferences. Also over the previous four seasons, USC held the opposition to a 42.4 shooting percentage on 2-point field goals, best in the country.

SCORING IS NOT SOARING -- USC has averaged 60.5 points last four games after averaging 77.9 points per game in the first 16 games. Also, USC has averaged 15.8 turnovers in the last four games, after averaging 13.1 in the first 16 games. USC's starting backcourt of Boogie Ellis (18.1 ppg) missed three of the four games and Isaiah Collier (15.4 ppg) has missed all four games,

MISSING IN ACTION -- USC has now had players miss 42 games of action due to injury or illness. To date players missing games are Gardner (19), James (8), Ellis (4), Collier (4), Morgan (2), Iwuchukwu (2), Johnson (2), Rodman (1). USC has at least one projected starter missing in eight of its 20 games. In the last four games, of USC's 20 starting assignments (5 per game), USC has had 60.0 percent of its starters available (12 of 20).

WELL, THAT WAS ODD -- USC had back-to-back 82-67 losses on the road trip to Arizona (Jan. 17) and Arizona State (1/20). It had been 584 games since USC last played an 82-67 game, falling to California in the conference tournament on March 9, 2006. USC then fell 65-50 vs. UCLA on Jan. 27, making it three consecutive losses by 15 points. The last time USC lost three consecutive games by 15 or more points was Feb. 3-10, 1996.

STANFORD TIP TIME SET -- USC's game at Stanford on Feb. 10 has been set for a 7 p.m. tip.

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Players Mentioned

Isaiah Collier

Boogie Ellis

Oziyah Sellers