USC To Host Northern Arizona On Saturday
December 09, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 9, 2010
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The USC Trojans (5-4) will play the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (7-2) at the Galen Center on Dec. 11 at 1:00 p.m. The game will air on Fox Sports West with Paul Sunderland and Brandon Granville calling the action and Nischelle Turner providing sideline commentary.
BREAKING DOWN NAU -- Northern Arizona is 7-2 and coming off a 68-55 home win vs. Texas-Pan American on Dec. 8. Cameron Jones, Eric Platt, Gabe Rogers and Shane Johannsen are all averging double-figures in scoring. The Lumberjacks lost their first two games of the season, but have won seven consecutive games. NAU went 14-14 last season and finished fifth in the Big Sky Conference. They return four starters and nine lettermen from that team.
TROJANS HOOK THE HORNS -- USC returned from a tough road trip with renewed focus on defense and held No. 19 Texas to a season-low in points in a wire-to-wire 73-56 victory over the Longhorns at the Galen Center on Dec. 5. Nikola Vucevic scored a career-high 24 and grabbled 9 rebounds, while Alex Stepheson had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. USC had an eight-point halftime lead, then scored the first nine points of the second half and never looked back. Texas was held to 32.1 percent shooting in the game.
CLICK YOUR HEELS, WE'RE HEADING TO KANSAS -- USC's next game will be at No. 4 Kansas (8-0) in Lawrence, Kan. on Dec. 18. Kansas is coming off an 81-68 win vs. No. 13 Memphis at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 7. The Jayhawks have won a school-record 64 consecutive games at Allen Fieldhouse and will host Colorado State on Dec. 11 before facing the Trojans. USC is 5-9 all-time vs. the Jayhawks, losing the last meeting 59-55 at the Galen Center on Dec. 2, 2007. USC has lost five consecutive games to Kansas. Forward Marcus Morris has led Kansas in scoring in its first eight games with an 18.0 points per game average.
GOOD START TO TOUGH STRETCH -- On Dec. 5 vs. then-No. 19 Texas, USC began a stretch of four games against opponents with a combined record of 25-3. USC defeated a then 6-1 Texas team, but now plays in succession NAU (7-2), at Kansas (8-0) and at Tennessee (6-0).
SUDDEN IMPACT -- In the first nine games USC has relied heavily on freshmen with guards Maurice Jones playing 344 and Bryce Jones playing 272 out of a possible 360 minutes. In nine games, the two Jones and fellow freshman Garrett Jackson have combined to score 42.1 percent of USC's points (265 of 629) and play 41.3 percent of the team's minutes. The Joneses also have 58.8 percent of USC's assists (60 of 102) and 44.9 percent of its 3-point baskets (22 of 49). Maurice Jones and Bryce Jones rank No. 1 and No. 2 respectively among conference freshmen in per game averages in points (12.6 and 12.0), steals (1.9 and 1.7) and minutes (38.2 and 30.2).
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 13.3 points (53 total) and 10.5 rebounds (42 total) in the four games while hitting 72.2 percent of his shots (26-for-36). He has had a double-double in 3 of the last 4 games.
NOAH WOULD BE PROUD... -- Two by two the wins and losses have been coming for the Trojans in pairs, as USC has alternated winning two and losing two games all season. The Trojans are coming off a win vs. Texas on Dec. 5.
SIMMONS DOES IT AGAIN - Senior guard Marcus Simmons has frequently been called upon in his career to guard the opponent's top scorer and on Sunday 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. Simmons added 11 points in the game himself and in the first nine games (all starts) has averaged 6.9 points and 4.1 rebounds.
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 nine collegiate games, Jackson has hit 71.4 percent of his shots from the field (20-for-28).
SMITH STEPPING UP -- Senior guard Donte Smith is coming off the bench and averaging 7.7 points for USC, fifth-best on the team. He is tied for the team lead with 15 three-pointers made and leads the team with a 83.3 percent success rate from the free throw line. Smith scored a career-high 14 points in the loss at Nebraska on Nov. 27.
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 are games against perennial national powers: at Kansas on Dec. 18, at Tennessee on Dec. 21 and a home game vs. Texas on Dec. 5 (W, 73-56).
DRIVEN BY DEFENSE -- USC has held 75 teams to 60 points or less in the last six seasons (174 games), including four this season. The Trojans held 17 of their opponents last season (13-4) to 40.0 percent shooting or less, and have held 90 teams (72-18) 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 has held it opponents in the 2009-10 season to a 38.4 shooting percentage, best in the Pac-10.
