USC To Face TCU Friday In Dickies Arena Opener

The USC Trojans (7-2) will face the TCU Horned Frogs (6-1) in the inaugural men's basketball game at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas on Dec. 6 at 6:00 p.m. PT. The game will air on ESPN2 with Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla calling the action. USC is 1-0 in road games this season. Last season USC went 2-9 in road games.

GONE FROM GALEN -- USC is in the midst of playing 8 of 10 games (2-1) away from the Galen Center. USC played three games at the Orlando Invitational (Nov. 28, Nov. 29 and Dec. 1), now is at TCU to open Dickies Arena on Dec. 6, home vs. Long Beach State on Dec. 15, at Staples Center (in L.A.) vs. LSU on Dec. 21, home vs. FGCU on Dec. 29, then the Trojans will open the new year and the conference season with three road games - at Washington St. (Jan. 2), at Washington (Jan. 5) and at UCLA on Jan. 11).

BREAKING DOWN TCU -- TCU is 6-1 and coming off an 81-69 home win over Illinois State on Dec. 3. TCU is led in scoring by Desmond Bane at 18.7 points per game. TCU leads the all-time series with USC 2-1, winning last season 96-61 at the Staples Center on Dec. 7, 2018.

USC RIDES DEFENSE & OKONGWU TO VICTORY OVER HARVARD -- USC claimed the third-place game at the Orlando Invitational with a 77-62 win over Harvard on Dec. 1. USC led for all but 31 seconds in the game and by as many as 25 points in the second half, before settling in for the 15-point win. Both teams where hot from the floor in the first half with USC leading 52-43 by making 60 percent of its shots, while Harvard made 46.7 percent. USC turned up the defense in the second half, holding Harvard to one FG in the first 11:53 of the second half (1-for-17) and to 25.9 percent from the floor after the break. USC led 70-45 at that point and cruised to the victory. Onyeka Okongwu led USC with 27 points on 12 of 14 shooting and 14 rebounds to earn selection to the 5-man All-Tournament team. Quinton Adlesh made 4 of 6 three-pointers to finish with 12 points. Jonah Mathews also had 12 points and added 5 assists and 2 steals. Isaiah Mobley started and had 8 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks. Harvard made 8 of 17 3-pointers in the 1st half (47.1 percent) to stay close, but made only 2 of 10 (20 percent) in the 2nd half. USC tied season bests to date of 49.2 percent shooting from the floor and 50 percent from 3-point range (7 of 14).

LONG BEACH STATE ON DECK -- USC will not play again until hosting Long Beach State (3-6) at the Galen Center on Dec. 15. LBSU will host Pacific on Dec. 7 before facing USC. Chance Hunter (15.8) and Michael Carter Jr. (13.8) lead The Beach in scoring. LBSU has played two home games so far and has road losses at Pac-12 foes UCLA (65-69), at Stanford (58-86) and at Arizona (67-104). USC leads the all-time series with LBSU 9-6, winning the last meeting 75-65 on Nov. 28, 2018.

OKONGWU NEAR THE TOP OF THE CLASS -- Freshman forward Onyeka Okongwu ranks 5th among all NCAA freshman with an 17.9 scoring average. He also leads all freshmen in total blocks (26), is 2nd in blocks per game (2.89), 3rd in free throws made (39), 4th in double-doubles (4), 5th in shooting percentage (61.6), 7th in offensive rebounds per game (3.33) and 8th in rebounds per game (9.0).

OPPONENTS USE SNIPER ATTACK -- Seven of USC's opponents have made at least nine three-pointers in their games against USC, including the last six. Marquette made 14 three-pointers against USC on Nov. 29 to the Trojans' three for a 42-9 advantage in points from beyond the arc. In its first nine games, USC has made 55 three-pointers (6.1 per game) to its opponents' 85 three-pointers (9.4 per game). USC has been outscored by 90 points from three-point range this season for an average of 10.0 points per game. The Trojans' opponents have scored 41.9 percent of their points this season from three-point range.

10 FOR 10 -- All 10 available scholarship players on USC's team have had at least one 10-point scoring game this season.

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Players Mentioned

Quinton Adlesh

Jonah Mathews

Isaiah Mobley

Onyeka Okongwu