USC Faces UNC Asheville At Galen In NIT Opener Tuesday

The No. 1 seed USC Trojans (23-11, 12-6) will host the No. 8 seed UNC Asheville Bulldogs (21-12, 13-5) at the Galen Cener on March 13 at 8:00 p.m. The winner of this game will face the winner of the Boston College/Western Kentucky game in the second round, date TBD (between March 16-19). 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 6 of its last 8 and 12 of its last 17 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 IN THE NIT -- USC has played in the NIT four other times, the last time being the 1999 season when it lost in the first round at Wyoming 81-77. USC also played in the NIT in 1973, 1993 and 1994.

USC AGAINST UNC ASHEVILLE -- USC is facing UNC Asheville for the first time. UNC Asheville won the Big South regular season title with a 13-5 record, but was upset by Liberty, 69-64, in the conference tournament semifinals and earned an automatic berth into the NIT. The Bulldogs were lead in scoring by senior guard Ahmad Thomas (16.6 ppg) and sophomore guard MaCio Teague (16.5 ppg). UNC Asheville has won 10 of its last 13 games.

USC FALLS IN PAC-12 TOURNAMENT FINAL -- USC was outscored 26-15 over the final 9 and a half minutes of the second half and fell 75-61 to Arizona in the Pac-12 Tournament Championship game at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. on March 10. It was still a 6-point game with 4:11 remaining, when Arizona went on an 8-0 run to put the game away. USC led 33-30 at halftime, but Arizona's size started to take its toll. Chimezie Metu picked up his fourth foul with USC trailing 46-43 with 11 minutes remaining and Arizona's bigmen went to work. Deandre Ayton finished with 32 points and 18 rebounds, while Dusan Ristic added 16 points and 5 rebounds. USC was outrebounded 42-19 in the game, including surrendering 13 offensive boards. Arizona made 58.6 percent of its shots in the second half and outscored USC 26-12 on points in the paint after the break. USC struggled with its shooting in the second half, making 40.7 persent of its shots, including 30.8 percent from 3-point range and 25 percent from the free throw line. Nick Rakocevic led USC with 13 points and 6 rebounds. Jordan McLaughlin scored 12 points and had nine assists, while Jonah Mathews added 11 points, all in the first half. McLaughlin and Mathews were named to the Pac-12 All-Tournament Team. USC did register 11 steals and forced 14 turnovers. It was USC's first visit to the title game since winning it in 2009.

USC AT THE PAC-12 TOURNAMENT -- USC reached the Pac-12 Tournament final for the first time since winning the title in 2009 behind Tournament MVP DeMar DeRozan, beating ASU and James Harden 66-63. USC defeated Oregon State 61-48 in the quarterfinals on March 8 and Oregon 74-58 in the semifinal on March 9. Guards Jonah Mathews and Jordan McLaughlin were named to the All-Tournament Team.

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 7.5 assists this season. McLaughlin leads all Pac-12 players this season in assists with 254, which is tied for 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 34 games this season as well, running his nation's longest streak to 71 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 12th in the country with a 1.48 assist to turnover ratio through games of March 11. USC also ranks 15th in fewest turnovers per game at 10.6 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 20 opponents to a 42.8 shooting percentage (460-for-1074), despite allowing Arizona to make 53.9 percent of its shots in the game on Feb. 10 at Arizona and March 10 in the Pac-12 Tournament final. USC has held the opposition to an average of 67.4 points in that span (1349 total). In the 20 games, USC has registered 148 steals (7.4 spg) and forced 279 turnovers (14.0 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.

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Players Mentioned

Jonah Mathews

Jordan McLaughlin

Chimezie Metu

Nick Rakocevic