USC Set To Invade The Inland Empire
November 29, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 29, 2011
USC (3-4) will play at UC Riverside (2-4) at the Student Recreation Center in Riverside, Calif. on Nov. 30 at 7:00 p.m. USC is 2-1 in its last three games.
BREAKING DOWN THE HIGHLANDERS -- UC Riverside is coming off a 64-63 win vs. Washington State on Nov. 27 at the Anaheim Classic to improve to 2-4. Two of Riverside's losses have come in overtime. USC leads the all-time series 4-0 with the last win being a 77-67 victory on Nov. 17, 2009. This will be the first time USC has ever played at the Student Recreation Center in Riverside, Calif. UCR is led in scoring by senior guard Phil Martin who is averaging 14.3 points per game.
FEELING THE "MOJO" IN WIN -- Maurice Jones scored 28 and converted all seven of his 3-pointers to lift USC over South Carolina 63-60 in the final round of the Las Vegas Invitational held at the Orleans Arena on Nov. 26. Jones set the USC record for most 3-pointers made without a miss and his seven makes tied for the third-most ever in a game by a Trojan. Jones scored 14-straight points for the Trojans from the 8:39-3:09 mark, turning a 4-point deficit into a 5-point lead at 58-53. Jones wasn't done, though, as he then made two free throws with 19.5 seconds left in the game to help the Trojans seal the win. Dewayne Dedmon had 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks and Aaron Fuller hauled in 10 rebounds for the Trojans. USC outrebounded South Carolina by 10, after being outrebounded in five straight games.
USC MAKES RARE VISIT TO MINNESOTA -- USC's next game will be at Minnesota (6-1) in Minneapolis, Minn. on Dec. 3 at 1:15 p.m. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network. The Gophers are 4-0 at home with their only loss being an 86-70 setback at the hands of Dayton in the Old Spice Classic championship game. Minnesota will face Virginia Tech at home on Nov. 30 before hosting USC. The Gophers leading scorer and rebounder senior Trevor Mbakwe (14.0 ppg/9.1 rpg) suffered a torn ACL in their last game and is out for the season. Minnesota's next leading scorer is sophomore Austin Hollins at 10.3 ppg. USC is 2-2 all-time against Minnesota with the last game being a 76-58 loss in the NIT quarterfinals on March 24, 1993 in Bloomington, Minn. USC last played in Minnesota during the 2009 NCAA Tournament, when it defeated Boston College (72-55) before losing to eventual NCAA finalist Michigan State (74-69).
JONES EARNS HONORS -- USC guard Maurice Jones was named Pac-12 Player of the Week as he averaged 19.0 points and 3.0 assists and the Trojans went 2-1. In the 63-60 win vs. South Carolina on Nov. 26, Jones set a USC record by making all seven 3-point attempts. He made 57.1 percent of his field goal attempts for the week (20-for-35) and 62.5 percent of his 3-point attempts (10-for-16). He was also named Pac-12 Player of the Week by College Sports Madness and was named to the Las Vegas Invitational All-Tournament team.
ALWAYS ENTERTAINING -- Forty-five of the 71 games played by USC in the last three seasons have been decided by 10 points or less (63.4 percent). Also, 18 of the 33 losses have been decided by 6 points or less (54.5 percent). USC played five consecutive games decided by 7 points or less to start the season before losing by 11 points to UNLV on Nov. 25. It was the first time since the 2010 season and just the third time in the past 21 seasons USC had played five straight games decided by 7 points or less. USC then defeated South Carolina be three points on Nov. 26, making it six of seven games decided by 7 points or less this season.
