USC To Face No 15 Arizona In Pac-12 Championship Title Game

The No. 2 seed USC Trojans (23-10, 12-6) will play the No. 1 seed Arizona Wildcats (26-7, 14-4) in the Pac-12 Tournament title game at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. on March 10 at 7:00 p.m. USC's second-place conference finish was it highest since tying for second in 2002 and its first outright second-place finish since 1992. USC's 12 Pac-12 wins were its most since also finishing 12-6 in 2002. USC has won 12 of its last 16 games.

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 70 wins over the past three seasons is the most in a three-season stretch in school history. USC has won 23 games for the eighth time in school history and second consecutive season (school-record 26 wins in 2017).

USC AGAINST ARIZONA -- USC lost 81-67 at Arizona on Feb. 10 in the only meeting of the season between the two teams. USC has lost its last four games against Arizona, since winning 103-101 in four overtimes on Jan. 9, 2016. Arizona leads the all-time series 65-41, which reflects one win by both schools vacated due to NCAA penalty.

USC ADVANCES TO PAC-12 FINALS WITH WIN OVER OREGON -- USC used a smothering defense and the hot shooting of Jonah Mathews to defeat Oregon 74-54 in a Pac-12 semifinal game at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. on March 9. Mathews opened the scoring with a 3-pointer 23 seconds into the game and didn't stop until he had made a career-high 7 3-pointers and scored a career-best 27 points. The 7 3-pointers tied him with many others for the 3rd most in a single game by a Trojan. USC's all-time 3-point shot maker Elijah Stewart also made 3 shots from beyond the arc and finished with 15 points. USC led 29-23 with 4:47 remaining in the first half, then held Oregon scoreless until the break to build a 37-23 lead at the half. USC held Oregon to 2 points in the first 4:23 of the second half to extend its lead to 53-25. Oregon began to chip away and cut the lead to 14 points with 6:30 remaining, but USC answered with a Mathews 3-pointer and a Chimezie Metu dunk and never looked back. Metu finished with 10 points and nine rebounds and Nick Rakocevic added 7 points and 11 rebounds. USC held Oregon to 33.3 percent shooting, while making 50 percent of its own shots. USC had 10 steals and forced 14 turnovers. The Trojans were uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball, committing a season-high 20 turnovers, with a career-high 10 by All-Conference guard Jordan McLaughlin.

USC AT THE PAC-12 TOURNAMENT -- USC is 2-0 at the Pac-12 Tournament this season, and 5-3 in the last four seasons. USC went 1-1 at last year's Pac-12 Tournament and is 17-17 all-time at the conference tournament, which reflects one win vacated due to NCAA penalty. USC won the 2009 conference tournament behind Tournament MVP DeMar DeRozan, beating ASU and James Harden 66-63. USC is 0-4 all-time against Arizona at the conference tournament, last facing the Wildcats and falling 67-62 in the 2011 semifinals.

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 7.4 assists this season. McLaughlin leads all Pac-12 players this season in assists with 245, which is fourth 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 33 games this season as well, running his nation's longest streak to 70 consecutive games with at least three assists (dating back to the 2015-16 season).

GOOD BALANCE -- USC was the only team in Pac-12 play to rank in the top 5 in scoring offense (5th, 75.8) and scoring defense (2nd, 70.0). Its +5.8 scoring margin was 2nd in Pac-12 play.

PROTECTING THE ROCK -- USC ranks 13th in the country with a 1.48 assist to turnover ratio through games of March 9. USC also ranks 15th in fewest turnovers per game at 10.7 per game. USC leads all Pac-12 teams in both categories.

DEFENSIVE CHARGE -- Since allowing Washington to shoot 67.3 percent in a loss on Dec. 29, the highest shooting percentage by a Trojan opponent since 2003, USC has combined to hold its last 19 opponents to a 42.3 shooting percentage (430-for-1016), despite allowing Arizona to make 56.1 percent of its shots on Feb. 10 and UCLA to make 50.8 percent on March 3. USC has held the opposition to an average of 67.1 points in that span (1274 total). In the 19 games, USC has registered 137 steals (7.2 spg) and forced 265 turnovers (13.9 topg). USC is 10-0 this season when holding the opposition to under 40 percent shooting, 18-0 when holding them to 70 points or less and 11-1 when forcing it into 15 or more turnovers. USC's opponents took 19.0 seconds per possesion before shooting, tops in the country during the regular season.

JONAH FROM THE ARC -- Jonah Mathews has made 50.7 percent (37-for-73) of his shots from beyond the arc over the past 15 games. For the year, Mathews has made 44.7 percent of his three-pointers (55-for-123) which ranks fourth among conference players. Mathews started the last seven games after coming off the bench the previous nine games and has averaged 10.3 points per game in that span (165 total points).

CLEANING THE GLASS -- USC has outrebouned the opposition 35.0 to 33.2 this season. USC was outrebounded by Arizona 40-22 on Feb. 22. The 18-rebound deficit was USC's largest since getting outrebounded by UCLA 41-20 (21) on Jan. 14, 2015. USC has had 8 games this season with at least 40 rebounds and has had 9 games in which it has had at least 10 more rebounds than its opponent (USC outrebounded Oregon 41-25 on March 9). USC is 13-3 in games it has more rebounds than the opposition, last losing when it had more rebounds on Feb. 8 at ASU (39 to 36).

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Players Mentioned

Jonah Mathews

Jordan McLaughlin

Chimezie Metu

Nick Rakocevic

Elijah Stewart