USC To Play Final Road Game At Utah Saturday

The USC Trojans (20-9, 11-5) will play at the Utah Runnin' Utes (18-9, 10-6) in Salt Lake City, Utah on Feb. 24 at 11:30 a.m. PT. USC is in second place in the Pac-12 and its 11-5 start to conference play is its best since also beginning 11-5 in 2007. The 2007 team was 11-6 after 17 games. The last time USC was 12-5 after 17 conference games was the 1997 season. USC has won 9 of its last 12 games. USC is attempting to accomplish its first Mountain road trip sweep since Utah and Colorado entered the Pac-12 (2011-12).

SUCCESSFUL STRETCH -- USC has won 20 or more games for the third consecutive season, just the second time in school history (2007-09). The 2008 team was 21-12, but had 21 wins and one loss vacated due to NCAA penalty, so technically this is the first time in school history with three consecutive 20-win seasons. The 67 wins over the past three seasons would then be the most in a three-season stretch for the Trojans (68 total from 2007-09 before 21 wins vacated).

BREAKING DOWN UTAH -- Utah is coming off an 84-78 win over UCLA on Feb. 22, running its winning streak to five games. USC defeated Utah 84-67 at the Galen Center on Jan. 14, which snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Utes. USC has lost its last three games at Utah (by an average of 21.3 points) and trails 17-22 in the all-time series. Utah has four players averaging double figures in points, led by Justin Bibbins at 14.3 points per game.

USC SHOOTS DOWN COLORADO -- Chimezie Metu scored 21 and Jordan McLaughlin 18 to lead USC to a 75-64 win at Colorado on Feb. 21. USC led 36-31 at the half and 50-38 5 minutes into the second half, before Colorado went on a 14-0 run to take a 52-50 lead with 12:27 remaining. USC regrouped and after Utah tied it at 58-all with 8:30 remaining, USC went on a 12-0 run of its own to go up 70-58 with 1:11 remaining, holding the Buffalo scoreless for over 7 minutes. McLaughlin hit two 3-pointers in the USC run to put the game away and made 4 of 6 from 3-point range in the game. Metu made 10 of 16 shots and scored 14 of his points in the second half. Colorado made 8 of its first 12 shots in the second half, but USC's defense stiffened and held them to 2 of 11 down the stretch. For the game, USC held Colorado to 41.5 percent shooting, while making 54.7 percent of its own shots. USC also made 50 percent of its 3-pointers.

UCLA ON DECK - USC's next game will be vs. UCLA (19-9, 10-6) at the Galen Center on March 3 at 7:15 p.m. UCLA will play at Colorado on Feb. 25 before facing USC. UCLA defeated USC 82-79 at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 3. UCLA leads the all-time series 141-108, which reflects a win by USC vacated due to NCAA penalty. UCLA has four players averging double figures in points, led by Aaron Holiday (19.5).

McLAUGHLIN A COUSY AWARD FINALIST -- Jordan McLaughlin is one of 10 players remaining on the watch list for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation's top point guard. McLaughlin, a three-year team captain, is averaging 12.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 7.7 assists this season. McLaughlin leads all Pac-12 players this season in assists with 223, which is third nationally. Last season he was the only player in the country with at least three assists in every game and he has accomplished that in all 29 games this season as well, running his nation's longest streak to 66 consecutive games with at least three assists (dating back to the 2015-16 season).

GOOD BALANCE -- USC is the only team in the conference to rank in the top 4 in scoring offense (4th, 78.6) and scoring defense (4th, 71.3).

PROTECTING THE ROCK -- USC ranks 12th in the country with a 1.53 assist to turnover ratio through games of Feb. 21. USC also ranks 15th in fewest turnovers per game at 10.7 per game. USC leads all Pac-12 teams in both categories.

STEWART SETS USC 3-POINT RECORD -- Elijah Stewart made two 3-point baskets at Colorado on Feb. 21 to give him 233 makes from beyond the arc in his career to set the USC record. The previous record for 3-pointers made in a career was 232 by Lodrick Stewart (2004-07).

METU AT THE RIM -- USC forward Chimezie Metu has registered 73 dunks in USC's first 29 games, with at least one in every game except vs. Akron on Dec. 22. He has out-dunked USC's opponents 73-63 this season and USC has had 130 dunks to its opposition's 63.

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Players Mentioned

Jordan McLaughlin

Chimezie Metu

Elijah Stewart