USC Back Home To Face Lehigh Thursday
December 22, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2010
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. -- The USC Trojans (7-5) will host the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (6-5) at the Galen Center on Dec. 23 at 5:30 p.m. The game can be watched on USCTrojans.com. USC will begin a four-game homestand after playing six of the first 12 games away from the Galen Center.
BREAKING DOWN LEHIGH -- Lehigh is coming off wins at Marist (91-78) on Dec. 10 and at home vs. St. Francis-Pa. (79-61) on Dec. 13. The Mountain Hawks are led in scoring by sophomore C.J. McCollum who is averaging 22.5 points per game, including scoring a career-high 42 at Kent State. Lehigh returns two starters and 10 lettermen from last year's team which advanced to the NCAA Tournament and played Kansas close until midway through the second half. This is the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
USC WINS AT No. 19/18 TENNESSEE -- Maurice Jones led four Trojans in double figures with 15 points and Donte Smith hit a clutch three-pointer with 2:13 left in the game and USC held on to defeat No. 19/18 Tennessee 65-64 in Knoxville, Tenn. Smith's three-pointer gave USC a 65-60 lead, but Tennessee added a pair of free throws each by Scotty Hopson and Melvin Goin to cut it to one and had a three-point attempt by Tobias Harris go off the rim as time expired. USC was outrebounded 38-23 and committed twice as many fouls (24-12), but held the Vols to 38.3 percent shooting.
PAC-10 PLAY TIPS OFF NEXT VS. WASHINGTON -- USC's next game will be vs. Pac-10 preseason favorite Washington on Dec. 29 at 7:30 p.m. The game will air on a delayed basis on USCTrojans.com. Guard Isaiah Thomas leads four Huskies in double-figures in scoring with a 16.0 average. USC won both meetings last season and lead the all-time series 67-65 (2 wins in 2008 later vacated due to NCAA penalty).
FONTAN HAS GOOD START IN TOUGH ENVIRONMENTS -- Guard Jio Fontan, who transfered to USC from Fordham last January, played in his first game for the Trojans on Dec. 18 at No. 3 Kansas and then again at No. 19/18 Tennessee on Dec. 21. He scored 15 points in his debut at Kansas, then added 13 points, four assists and three steals in the win at Tennessee. Fontan made the A-10 All-Rookie team as a freshman in 2009 (15.3 ppg, 4.7 apg) and averaged 15.0 points per game in five games last season at Fordham.
TROJANS NEAR PERFECT IN TOUGH STRETCH -- USC went 3-1 in a four-game stretch against three ranked teams (Texas, Kansas & Tennessee) and a 7-2 Northern Arizona team from Dec. 5-21. First USC defeated No. 19 Texas 73-56 and NAU 60-52 at home on Dec. 5 and 11 respectively. Then USC lost 70-68 at No. 3 Kansas, narrowly missing on snapping its 64-game home winning streak. USC followed that up with a 65-64 win at No. 19/18 Tennessee on Dec. 21, just the fourth nonconference home loss (40-4) in the Bruce Pearl era.
TWO BIG STREAKS SNAPPED -- USC's win at Tennessee snapped a six-game road losing streak dating back to last season (Feb. 18 at Washington). It also snapped the Trojans' pattern of alternating between two consecutive wins and two consecutive losses to start the season.
TEAM TROJAN -- Six of the players in USC's eight-man rotation have had a game with at least 15 points scored and the other two have had 12 points in a game. Five different Trojans have led the team or tied for game-high honors in assists, steals and scoring and six different players have led or tied for the team lead in blocks for USC in a game.
FRESHMEN HAVING IMPACT -- USC has relied heavily on freshmen with Maurice Jones leading the team in minutes played and assists, while starting every game and Bryce Jones ranking fourth in minutes played, third in points and second in assists and three-pointers made. In addition, Garrett Jackson leads the team with a .724 shooting percentage. The Joneses also have 53.1 percent of USC's assists (76 of 143).
SIMMONS IS KRYPTONITE AGAIN - Senior guard Marcus Simmons has frequently been called upon in his career to guard the opponent's top scorer and on Dec. 5 vs. No. 19 Texas was asked to guard Texas' Jordan Hamilton, averaging 21.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Simmons held Hamilton to 12 points on 4-for-13 shooting and limited him to four rebounds. The next game against NAU on Dec. 11, he covered Cameron Jones who was coming off a 27-point performance and had averaged 20.0 points in the previous 5 games. Simmons held Jones to 10 points on 4 of 14 shooting. He was also matched up against Tennessee's top scorer Scotty Hopson on Dec. 21 and was part of the reason he was held to just eight points. Simmons has started USC's first 11 games and averaged 6.0 points and 3.7 rebounds.
STEPHESON LENDING A HAND...JUST ONE -- Senior Alex Stepheson scored six points, had three blocks and grabbed 13 rebounds in the season opener vs. UC Irvine on Nov. 13, but also suffered a fracture in his left hand. Since then he wears a cast between games and a brace during games. He had an X-ray on Monday Nov. 22 which showed he is healing well and since has averaged 12.9 points (90 total) and 9.7 rebounds (68 total) in the seven games while hitting 61.2 percent of his shots (41-for-67). He has had a double-double in 3 of the last 7 games.
SENIOR SHARP-SHOOTER SMITH -- Senior guard Donte Smith scored 14 consecutive points for USC in the second half of the victory over NAU on Dec. 11 after the Lumberjacks had cut the lead to three points. In Smith's second-half barrage was four three-pointers and a layup which put the game away. Smith scored a career-high 22 points in the game and made a career-best five three-pointers. He followed that up with 20 points in 20 minutes at Kansas on Dec. 18, also making five three-pointers and hitting six of eight shots overall. He was held to six points at Tennessee, but hit a big three-pointer at the end of the game. Smith is coming off the bench and averaging 9.8 points for USC, tied for fifth-best on the team. He leads the team lead with 27 three-pointers made and leads the team with a 77.8 percent success rate from the free throw line (minimum 10 attempts).
JACKSON UNMASKED - Freshman forward Garrett Jackson suffered a fractured nose in preseason practice and eventually had it reset. As a result, Jackson began his college career behind a mask, wearing protective gear until the game at Nebraska on Nov. 27. With the mask removed, Jackson went 3-for-3 from the field and scored seven points in nine minutes. It wasn't really a big change for the freshman, who after adjusting to the college game and shooting with a mask on, has been one of the Trojans' top shooters. In his first 12 collegiate games, Jackson has hit 72.4 percent of his shots from the field (21-for-29).
FACING THE BEST -- USC's 2010-11 schedule features 21 of 31 games against teams which finished the 2009-10 season with a record of .500 or better. Among the nonconference highlights were games against perennial national powers: at Kansas on Dec. 18 (L, 70-68), at Tennessee on Dec. 21 (W, 65-64) and a home game vs. Texas on Dec. 5 (W, 73-56).
DRIVEN BY DEFENSE -- USC has held 76 teams to 60 points or less in the last six seasons (177 games), including five this season. The Trojans have held seven teams this season (6-1) to 40 percent or less shooting from the field, 17 last season (13-4) and have held 93 teams (74-19) under 40 percent shooting in the last six seasons. USC held Sac. State to 23.0 percent shooting on Dec. 8, 2009 the lowest percentage by a Trojan opponent since LMU shot 22.4 percent from the field on Dec. 9, 1998. USC held it opponents in the 2009-10 season to a 38.4 shooting percentage, best in the Pac-10.
