USC To Take On No. 12 Kansas At Galen Thursday
December 20, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2011
USC (5-7) will host No. 12 Kansas (7-3) at the Galen Center on Dec. 22 at 8 p.m. The game will be broadcast on FSN with Steve Physioc, Marques Johnson and Steve Kerr calling the action.
BREAKING DOWN THE JAYHAWKS -- Kansas is coming off an 80-74 loss to Davidson in Kansas City, Mo. on Dec. 19 which snapped a four-game winning streak. Kansas' previous two losses this season were to No. 3 Kentucky by 10 and No 7 Duke by seven points at the Maui Invitational. Kansas is led in scoring and rebounding by junior forward Thomas Robinson who has averaged a double-double with 18.1 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. Senior guard Tyshawn Taylor averages 15.8 points and had arthrosopic knee surgery on Dec. 11, but returned 8 days after surgery without missing a game to score 15 points in the loss to Davidson. USC has played Kansas three times since the 2007 season, falling by 10 at Kansas in 2007, losing at home by four in 2008 and falling by two at Kansas last season. USC trails the all-time series with Kansas 5-10 and has lost six consecutive games to the Jayhawks.
USC RUNS TO VICTORY OVER TCU -- USC never trailed in scoring a season-high 83 points in an 83-59 win vs. TCU at the Galen Center on Dec. 19. USC scored 42 first-half points, more than it had tallied in three of its first 11 games and coasted to the 24-point victory. Maurice Jones led USC with 25 points, 18 in the first half. USC had a season-high 17 assists and a season-low five turnovers in the game. Dewayne Dedmon added 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals. Bryron Wesley had 13 points and a season-best six assists.
USC TO OPEN PAC-12 PLAY IN THE BAY -- USC will open the Pac-12 schedule by playing at California (10-2) on Dec. 29 at 6 p.m. and at Stanford (10-1) on Dec. 31 at 3:30 p.m. The teams are a combined 20-3, with a 16-0 record at home. California, the Pac-12 preseason No. 2 pick, has three guards averaging in double figures in scoring: Allen Crabbe (16.1), Jorge Gutierrez (13.9) and Justin Cobbs (12.0). Stanford has scored an average of 18.6 points more than its opponents and also has three players scoring in double figures: Josh Owens (12.3), Chasson Randle (11.4) and Aaron Bright (11.4).
A BIG HILL TO CLIMB -- When starting point guard and senior leader Jio Fontan went down with a knee injury in August it left USC with just 19.7 percent of its scoring returning and 12.4 percent of its rebounding returning entering the 2011-12 season. In terms of returning scoring for teams from BCS conferences (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12), only 3 schools: St. Johns (3.7 percent), Boston College (10.8 percent) and Texas (17.0 percent) have a lower percentage of returning production. There were only eight schools in the country which entered the season with less than 20 percent of its scoring returning from a season ago.
MIGHTY MO -- USC's Maurice Jones leads the country in minutes played per game, averaging 39.33 through the first 12 games. Only Zach Rosen of Penn (39.18) also averages more than 39 minutes per game. It is nothing new for Jones who averaged 38.33 minutes per game through 12 games last season and finished averaging 34.5 minutes played per game.
TROJANS TAKE ROUTE 66 -- USC has held its opponents to an average of 55.4 points per game (11th lowest in the country) and has not allowed an opponent to score more than 66 points this season. It is the first time USC has started a season holding the opposition to 66 points or less for the first 12 games since the 1948 season when it held all 24 opponents to under 66 points.
TOE THE LINE -- USC has gotten to the free throw line 50 times in the last two games. In games USC has at least 20 free throw attempts they are 3-2 with the losses being a double-overtime setback vs. Nebraska and a 4-point loss to Georgia, which made 9 of 13 3-point shots to earn the win.
FRESHMAN FOUNDATION - USC freshmen guards Byron Wesley and Alexis Moore look to be providing the Trojans with good building blocks for the future. Through 12 games, Wesley is the fourth-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder on the team with averages of 6.8 and 4.1 respectively. He is also second on the team in assists with 23. Moore is fifth on the team with a 5.8 scoring average and is second on the team in three-point baskets (15). Wesley has started every game and his 32.5 minutes per game played are the most by a freshman in the Pac-12.
THE YOUNG AND SURE-HANDED - As a young team playing with no senior scholarship players and just three scholarship players who had played in the USC system before, USC has committed just 12.0 turnovers per game, tied for 35th in the country. In the last six games, USC has committed 9.8 turnovers per game.
CONNECTIONS - Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor and USC guard Jio Fontan were high school teammates and best friends at St. Anthony's in New Jersey. They helped lead St. Anthony's to a perfect 32-0 record in the 2007-08 season and the No. 1 national ranking. Their season was featured in the PBS documentary "The Street Stops Here," which focused on well-known high school coaching legend Bob Hurley, Sr. and followed the team during its magical run. Kansas assistant coach Kurtis Townsend was an assistant at USC for two seasons (2002-03).
NO DEFENSE FOR THIS -- USC has been outscored from the free throw line by 27 points in the first 12 games. USC has struggled at the charity stripe, making just 61.5 percent (123-for-200). USC's opponents have connected at an amazing 78.9 percent (150-for-190). To put that in perspective, USC's opponents have combined to hit free throws at a rate nearly as high as the top team in the country a year ago (81.8%).
ALWAYS ENTERTAINING -- Forty-seven of the 76 games played by USC in the last three seasons have been decided by 10 points or less (61.8 percent). Also, 20 of the 36 losses have been decided by 6 points or less (55.6 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, before winning by 21 at UC Riverside and losing by 15 at Minnesota. USC then returned home to lose by three points to New Mexico and by four to Georgia. Eight of USC's 12 games this season have been decided by 7 points or less and 5 by 3 points or less.
DRIVEN BY DEFENSE -- USC has held its opponents to 55.4 points per game and a 39.2 shooting percentage through the first 12 games. USC held opponents to a conference low of 62.7 points per game during the 2010-11 season. USC was 13-1 in games it held the opponent under 60 points last season, the lone loss being its NCAA Tournament loss to VCU (59-46). In the past seven seasons, USC has held the opponent to under 60 points 88 times and is 70-18 in those games (.795 winning percentage). USC also held the opposition to under 40 percent shooting 16 times during the 2010-11 season and was 14-2 in those games. During the past seven seasons USC has held the opponent to under 40 percent shooting 109 times and is 84-25 in those games (.771 winning percentage). USC has allowed 80 points or more just five times in the first 76 games under head coach Kevin O'Neill and one of those games was a double-overtime contest. USC is 0-5 in those games.
BOARD GAMES -- USC is 4-1 this season when having more or the same amount of rebounds as the opposition and is 1-6 when being outrebounded. USC allowed 10 or more offensive rebounds seven times. USC was 4-11 in the games it was outrebounded last season.
