USC To Face No. 6 Arizona In Pac-12 Tournament Quarterfinals

The No. 9 seed USC Trojans (15-17, 8-12) will face the No. 1 seed Arizona Wildcats (24-7, 15-5) in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Pac-12 Tournament held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. on March 14 at noon. The game will air on the Pac-12 Network with Roxy Bernstein and Matt Muehlebach calling the action and Jordan Kent providing sideline reports. USC has won its last four games, its longest winning streak of the season. USC has also won 5 of its last 6 games and is 7-4 in its last 11 games with two of the losses coming in overtime and one being a one-possession game.

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).

USC AT THE PAC-12 TOURNAMENT -- USC is 21-22 all-time at the Pac-12 Tournament (1 win in 2008 vacated due to NCAA penalty, original record 22-22). USC defeated Washington 80-74 in the first round on March 13, the Trojans' eighth win in its last nine first games of the Pac-12 Tournament. USC has reached the tournament final five times, winning the conference postseason tournament title in 2009. USC is 1-5 all-time against Arizona at the Pac-12 Tournament, winning the last meeting 78-65 in the 2019 first round.

FACING No. 6 ARIZONA -- The No. 1 seed Arizona Wildcats (24-7, 15-5) won the 2023-24 Pac-12 regular season title. The Wildcats have won 10 of their last 12 games and lead the Pac-12 with an 89.5 scoring average. Guard Caleb Love leads five Arizona players scoring in double figures with an 18.7 average. Arizona defeated USC 82-67 on Jan. 17 in Tucson, Ariz., then USC defeated then No. 5 Arizona 78-65 on March 9 to snap its six-game winning streak against the Trojans. The win was USC's first over an AP Top 5 team since 2008. USC is 46-74 all-time against Arizona (1 win and 1 loss vacated due to NCAA penalty, original record 47-75).

ON DECK: OREGON/UCLA WINNER -- The winner of the USC-Arizona game will face the winner of the No. 4 seed Oregon-No. 5 seed UCLA game. That game is scheduled for March 15 at 5:00 p.m. and it will air on the Pac-12 Network. USC lost both games to Oregon this season, falling 82-74 in Eugene, Ore. on Dec. 28 and 78-69 at the Galen Center on Feb. 1. USC and UCLA split the season series with each winning on the other's home court. UCLA won 65-50 at the Galen Center on Jan. 27 and USC won 62-56 at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 24.

ENFIELD 3RD ON USC'S ALL-TIME WINS LIST -- USC head coach Andy Enfield is in his 11th season at USC and has compiled an 220-146 record. Enfield's win total ranks third on USC's all-time wins list, trailing only Sam Barry (260) and Forrest Twogood (251). Including his two seasons as the head coach at FGCU (2012-13), Enfield has compiled a 261-174 record.

THE OFFENSE COMING ALIVE -- USC has averaged 76.3 points (839 total) in its last 11 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 58 games of action due to injury or illness. Players missing games are Gardner (31), James (8), Collier (6), Ellis (4), Morgan (2), Iwuchukwu (2), Johnson (2), Page (2), Rodman (1). USC has at least one projected starter missing in 10 of its 32 games.

APPARENTLY SHOOTING IS IMPORTANT -- USC is 13-5 in games it outshoots its opponent and 2-12 in games the opponent has a better shooting percentage. USC picked up its second win when being outshot vs. ASU on March 7 (50.0 percent to 45.8 percent).

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 11-4. USC is 8-2 vs. Pac-12 opponents with this lineup, with the losses being in OT vs. Colorado and by 3 points at WSU.

COLLIER RISING UP USC'S ALL-TIME FRESHMAN CHARTS -- Isaiah Collier is having one of the better freshman seasons in school history. The point guard has scored 427 points (9th on USC's all-time freshman list), averaged 16.4 points per game (T-5th all-time). He also has 148 FGs (10th), 105 free throws made (5th), 155 FT attempts (3rd) and 112 assists (5th).

KOBE JOHNSON: MAN OF STEAL -- Junior Kobe Johnson has 68 steals this season which ranks second in the conference. He now has 156 career steals which rank 8th on USC's all-time steals list. Johnson had one steal against ASU on March 7, but in the previous four games had 4 steals in each game, the first Trojan with four consecutive games with four steals or more since Jeff Trepagnier during the 1999-2000 season. There have been nine instances since the 1996-97 season with a Pac-12 player registering 4 steals or more in four consecutive games, last by Matisse Thybulle of Washington in 2019. Johnson has 26 steals in his last 7 games.

BOOGIE 2K -- Boogie Ellis scored 25 points vs. Washington on March 13 to give him 2,002 points scored as a collegian (1,468 with USC, 534 with Memphis).

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Players Mentioned

Isaiah Collier

Boogie Ellis

Kobe Johnson

Joshua Morgan

DJ Rodman