USC Men's Basketball Travels Crosstown To Face UCLA Saturday

The USC Trojans (10-16, 4-11) will play at the UCLA Bruins (14-12, 9-6) at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 24 at 7:00 p.m. The game will air on ESPN with Roxy Bernstein and Sean Farnham calling the action.

THE ROCKY ROAD -- USC lost 99-68 at Stanford on Feb. 10 to run its road losing streak to seven games, its longest road losing streak since falling in nine consecutive road contests in the 2015 season. USC is 1-8 in road games this season. Through games of Feb. 20, USC has played nine road games and four neutral site contests. The 13 games away from home (4 neutral, 9 road) are tied for the third most among all Power 6 schools.

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 UCLA -- The UCLA Bruins (14-12, 9-6) are coming off a heartbreaking 70-69 loss at home on a tip-in with 0.2 seconds remaining vs. Utah on Feb. 18. UCLA is led in scoring by freshman guard Sebastian Mack (13.1 ppg). UCLA and USC met at the Galen Center on Jan. 27 with both teams having an 8-11 record. UCLA won that game 65-50 to begin a six-game winning streak which ended Sunday, while USC is 2-5 in that stretch. USC has a 115-147 record all-time against UCLA (1 win vacated due to NCAA penalty, original record 116-147). USC is 6-4 in its last 10 games against UCLA.

ON DECK: AT No. 21 WASHINGTON STATE -- The No. 21 Washington State Cougars (20-6, 11-4) have won their last seven games and are coming off a 72-59 home win against Stanford on Feb. 17. The Cougars will play at Arizona (Feb. 22) and Arizona State (Feb. 24) beore hosting USC on Feb. 29. Washington State defeated USC at the Galen Center on Jan. 10 by a score of 72-64, scoring the final nine points of the game. USC is 82-50 all-time against Washington State. USC is 13-2 in its last 15 games against Washington State.

ENFIELD CLOSING IN ON 3RD ON USC'S ALL-TIME WINS LIST -- USC head coach Andy Enfield is in his 11th season at USC and has compiled an 215-145 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 256-173 record.

THE OFFENSE COMING ALIVE -- USC has averaged 76.8 points in its last five games, after averaging 62.5 points in its previous six games. USC scored 70 or more points in 14 of its first 15 games and averaged 78.9 points per game in that stretch.

MISSING IN ACTION -- USC has had players miss 50 games of action due to injury or illness. Players missing games are Gardner (25), James (8), Collier (6), Ellis (4), Morgan (2), Iwuchukwu (2), Johnson (2), Rodman (1). USC has at least one projected starter missing in 10 of its 26 games.

DINNERS WITH DEMAR -- Chicago Bulls' star and USC alum DeMar DeRozan launched a new digital series on YourTube called "Dinners with DeMar" on Feb. 20, a series which will feature "authentic, unrehearsed, unfiltered conversations about mental health." That same day DeRozan visited USC, shared his program and spoke with USC student-athletes and staff about his mental health awareness platform and joined on a panel with current USC basketball players Boogie Ellis and Dominique Darius. The first season of the show will feature DeRozan's conversations with Draymond Green, Dwyane Wade and Damian Lillard.

APPARENTLY SHOOTING IS IMPORTANT -- USC is 9-4 in games it outshoots its opponent and 1-12 in games the opponent has a better shooting percentage.

WINS VS. LOSSES -- No real surprises when you compare the stats from USC's wins vs. its losses. They shoot better across the board, get 5.2 rebounds and have 4.2 more assists per game.

                    G     FG%     3PT%     FT%     REB/G     AST/G     TO/G     STL/G
Wins: 10     .482     .383   .711   38.3 18.7 11.4    7.5
Losses:         16     .424     .322     .667 33.1 14.5 13.5 6.5

THE STARTING FIVE -- When USC has started its opening night lineup of Boogie Ellis, Isaiah Collier, Kobe Johnson, DJ Rodman and Joshua Morgan it is 7-3. USC outscores the opposition 82.2-73.9 in those games and outshoots the opposition .489-.439.

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Players Mentioned

Isaiah Collier

Boogie Ellis

Kobe Johnson

Joshua Morgan

DJ Rodman