USC Takes On No. 1 Seed Washington In Pac-12 Quarterfinals Thursday

The No. 8 seed USC Trojans (16-16, 8-10) will play the No. 1 seed Washington Huskies (24-7, 15-3) in a quarterfinal game at the 2019 Pac-12 Tournament at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. on March 14 at noon. USC defeated Arizona 78-65 yesterday in a first-round game to snap a four-game losing streak, while Washington is playing its first game of the tournament. The winner of the USC-Washington game will face the winner of the No. 4 seed Oregon State/No. 5 seed Colorado game on March 15 at 6:00 p.m.

BREAKING DOWN WASHINGTON - Washington, the 2018-19 Pac-12 regular season champion, is coming off a 55-47 loss at Oregon on March 9. Sophomore Jaylen Nowell leads Washington with a 16.3 scoring average. Washington defeated USC 75-62 in Seattle, Wash. on Jan. 30 in the only meeting of the season between the two schools. Washington leads the all-time series 73-72 which reflects two USC wins vacated due to NCAA penalty (original record, USC leads 74-73). USC is 1-0 against Washington at the Pac-12 Tournament, winning 78-73 in the 2017 first round.

USC DEFEATS ARIZONA IN PAC-12 FIRST ROUND - USC used a balanced scoring effort with six players scoring at least 8 points in a 78-65 win over Arizona in a Pac-12 Tournament first round game in Las Vegas, Nev. on March 13. Bennie Boatwright led USC with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists. It was his fifth double-double of the season and 10th of his career. USC had an 18-2 run in the first half to open up a 23-12 lead, but Arizona rallied to tie it at 40-all at halftime. USC began the second half on a 23-5 run in the first 9:30 after the break to open up a 63-45 lead and Arizona never got closer than 13 points the rest of the way. USC made 48.3 percent of its shots, while holding Arizona to 40.4 percent shooting, including 32.3 percent in the second half. Derryck Thorton scored 12 points and had three steals. Shaqquan Aaron scored 11 points on 5 of 6 shooting. USC's bench outscored Arizona's 22-11 and the Trojans had a 17-8 advantage on points off turnovers. USC led for 31:52 of the 40 minutes.

USC AT THE PAC-12 TOURNAMENT - USC opened the 2019 Pac-12 Tournament with a win over Arizona, making USC one of three Pac-12 teams to win at least one game in each of the last five conference tournaments. USC went 2-1 at the 2018 Pac-12 Tournament, defeating Oregon State (61-48) and Oregon (74-54) before falling to Arizona (75-61) in the final. Jonah Mathews and Jordan McLaughlin were named to the 2018 All-Tournament team. USC is 18-18 all-time at the Pac-12 Tournament which includes one win vacated due to NCAA penalty (original record 19-18). USC won the 2009 Pac-12 Tournament.

AS THE SAYING GOES, NOTHING IS FREE IN LIFE...OR BASKETBALL - USC is shooting 64.1 percent from the free throw line this season, 11th in the conference and 334 out of 351 schools. USC has not made more than 70 percent of its free throws in 11 consecutive games and has shot over 70 percent seven times in 32 games. USC had its first game in school history without making a free throw (0-for-6) vs. Oregon State on Feb. 23 and went 1-for-7 at UCLA on Feb. 28 to match the previous school record for fewest makes and lowest free throw percentage in a game. USC was outscored 33-1 from the FT line in the two games, both five-point losses.

BOATWRIGHT 1ST TEAM, RAKOCEVIC HONORABLE MENTION ALL-PAC-12 - Senior forward Bennie Boatwright was named to the 10-man All-Pac-12 First Team on March 11. The players were selected by a vote of the league's 12 head coaches. Boatwright ranks third among Pac-12 players this season with an 18.1 scoring average and is second in the conference with 82 three-pointers made. Junior forward Nick Rakocevic was named honorable mention All-Pac-12, averaging 14.9 points and 9.3 rebounds. USC has had four different players in the past four season named to the All-Pac-12 first team, after having one in its previous seven seasons.

RECORD-SETTING STRETCH - USC has won 87 games during the last four seasons (2016-19), the most wins in a four-year stretch in school history.

BOATWRIGHT KEEPS RISING UP THE USC SCORING CHARTS - Senior Bennie Boatwright missed the first two games of the season while still coming back from offseason knee surgery, but has averaged a team-leading 18.3 points per game (3rd in Pac-12) since his return. He scored 14 points vs. Texas Tech on Nov. 19 to give him 1,008 career points. He now has scored 1,526 career points which is 6th on USC's all-time scoring, 80 behind Desmon Farmer (5th, 1,606). Boatwright has averaged 14.5 points (1,526) in 105 career games played, despite being slowed by injuries. Boatwright averaged 13.6 points in 23 games last season, first being slowed by a foot injury and then having his season end with a knee injury. He led USC to the 2017 Diamond Head Classic title by scoring a then career-high 33 points vs. New Mexico State on Dec. 25, making a career-best six three-point baskets. Boatwright has also made 239 career three-point baskets, 2nd on USC's all-time list, 6 behind Elijah Stewart (1st, 245) on USC's all-time list.

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Players Mentioned

Shaqquan Aaron

Bennie Boatwright

Jonah Mathews

Jordan McLaughlin

Nick Rakocevic

Elijah Stewart