USC Men's Basketball Heads To Pac-12 Tournament In Las Vegas

The No. 3 seed USC Trojans (22-9, 14-6) will face the winner of the No. 6 Arizona State Sun Devils (20-11, 11-9)/No. 11 seed Oregon State Beavers (11-20, 5-15) in the Pac-12 Quarterfinals at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. on March 9 at 8:30 p.m. The game will air on ESPN with Dave Pasch and Bill Walton calling the action. USC has won 9 of its last 12 games. USC finished tied for second in the Pac-12 regular season, the only conference team to finish in the top 3 of the standings in each of the last 4 seasons.

USC'S STELLAR STRETCH -- USC has won a school-record 95 games over the last four seasons (22 in 2020, 25 in 2021, 26 in 2022 and 22 in 2023). The four consecutive seasons of 20+ wins sets a school record for most consecutive 20-win seasons, breaking the mark of three consecutive seasons with 20 or more wins from 2016-18.

WINNING WAYS -- USC's 95 total wins the last four seasons are tied for the fourth-most among all Power 6 basketball programs, trailing only the last two NCAA champions Kansas (108) and Baylor (103), as well as Arizona (96). Also, USC's 162 wins the last eight seasons ranks 13th among all Power 6 conference teams.

ENFIELD WINS 200TH AS HEAD OF THE USC PROGRAM -- USC head coach Andy Enfield is in his 10th season at USC and has compiled an 205-127 record. He picked up his 200th win on Feb. 4 vs. Washington. Enfield's win total ranks fourth on USC's all-time wins list, trailing only Sam Barry (260), Forrest Twogood (251) and Bob Boyd (216). Including his two seasons as the head coach at FGCU (2012-13), Enfield has compiled a 246-155 record.

USC AT THE PAC-12 TOURNAMENT -- USC is 20-21* all-time at the Pac-12 Tournament (1 win vacated due to NCAA penalty, original record 21-21). USC has won its first game at the Pac-12 Tournament the last seven seasons (no tourney in 2020). USC has reached the conference final five times, winning the conference postseason tournament title in 2009.

FACING ARIZONA STATE -- The No. 6 seed Arizona State Sun Devils (20-11, 11-9) will face the No. 11 seed Oregon State Beavers on March 8 with the winner facing USC on March 9. USC defeated Arizona State 68-65 at the Galen Center on March 4 to closeout the regular season and complete a season sweep. USC defeated Arizona state 77-69 in Tempe, Ariz. on Jan. 21. Guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. leads Arizona State with a 13.4 scoring average. USC has won its last seven games against Arizona State and leads the all-time series 61-42* (2 wins vacated due to NCAA penalty, orginal record 63-42).

FACING OREGON STATE -- The No. 11 seed Oregon State Beavers (11-20, 5-15) will face the Arizona State Sun Devils on March 8 with the winner facing USC on March 9. USC defeated Oregon State 63-62 at home on Dec. 4, then lost 61-58 at Oregon State on Feb. 11. Freshman guard Jordan Pope leads Oregon State with a 12.4 scoring average. USC leads the all-time series with Oregon State, 78-67* (2 wins vacated due to NCAA penalty, original record 80-67).

IT STARTS WITH DEFENSE -- USC held California to 27.7 shooting on Nov. 30, the lowest by an opponent since holding Stanford to a 25.4 shooting percentage on March 3, 2021. USC allowed Oregon to make 53.8 percent of its shots on Feb. 9 and then Arizona an opponent high of 54.2 percent on March 2, the only two games this season allowing the opposition to shoot 50 percent or higher from the floor. USC has held its opponent to under 40 percent shooting in 18 of its 31 games this season. USC is holding its opponents to a 39.0 shooting percentage this season, 7th in the country. Over the last four seasons, USC's defense has held the opposition to 38.9 FG percentage, second in the country.

LEADERS OF THE PAC -- USC is third in conference regular season wins among Pac-12 teams for the past six seasons (since the 2017-18 season). USC is 74-40, Arizona is 75-39, while UCLA is 78-35 in that stretch. Next up would be Oregon at 70-42 and Colorado at 62-52.

PETERSON PROVIDING A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING -- Guard Drew Peterson is one of two players in a Power 6 conference (Jalen Pickett of Penn State) averaging at least 13.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game this season. Peterson is averaging 14.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He scored a career-high 30 points vs. Cal on Feb. 16 and has 24 games scoring in double figures. He also averages more than a steal a game. Peterson battled back spasms the last two games and was held to a combined 14 points.

WHEN FULLY LOADED... -- USC owns an 8-2 record in games this season it has all of its rotational players available. Included in that stretch is five wins over teams in the top seven in the Pac-12 standings. USC's two loss when the entire rotation of players was available have been to No. 8 Arizona. Forward Vincent Iwuchukwu missed USC's first 16 games this season plus the season finale (back) and forward guard Joshua Morgan (right ankle) and Reese Dixon-Waters (left foot) missed 4 games between Feb. 4-16. Both players were injured vs. WSU State on Feb. 2.

USC PAC-12 HONORS -- The Pac-12 announced its yearly honors on March 7 and the following Trojans earned recognition:

Pac-12 FIrst Team: Boogie Ellis and Drew Peterson
6th Person of the Year:  Reese Dixon-Waters
All-Defensive Team:  Kobe Johnson and Joshua Morgan
All-Freshman Team: Tre White

THE JOHNSON JUMP -- Sophomore Kobe Johnson is averaging 8.8 points and 4.8 points, while ranking T-14th in the country with 69 steals this season. Last year Johnson averaged 1.2 points and 1.0 rebounds while playing in 27 games. Johnson is also third on the team in assists (80) and tied for third in blocks (14). He did not score in double figures in his first 35 career games until scoring a 17 points vs. Oregon State on Dec. 4. He has reached double figures in scoring in 12 of his last 23 games and has averaged 10.0 points in that stretch (230 total). His career high for points is 21 scored vs. Washington on Feb. 4. He has recorded 5 or more rebounds 17 times this season. He began the season missing his first 7 three-point attempts, but has made 27 of his last 69 for a 39.1 shooting percentage from beyond the arc in that stretch.

BOOGIE DOWN, BUT NOT FOR LONG - Senior guard Boogie Ellis scored 9 points at Oregon State on Feb. 11, snapping a 14-game streak of scoring in double figures. He then followed up that game with 22 points vs. California on Feb. 16, a then career high 33 points vs. Stanford on Feb. 18 and a new career high of 35 vs. Arizona on March 2. He has averaged 20.4 points the last 20 games (407 total), including scoring a then-career-high 31 points vs. UCLA on Jan. 26. He began his streak by scoring a then career-best 28 points vs. Auburn on Dec. 18. Ellis leads USC with a 18.1 scoring average and leads the team with 81 three-pointers made (Pac-12 leader) and 117 free throws made. He is also second among Trojans with 44 steals. He now has 137 3-pointers made as a Trojan, 15th on USC's all-time list.

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Players Mentioned

Reese Dixon-Waters

Boogie Ellis

Vincent Iwuchukwu

Kobe Johnson

Joshua Morgan

Drew Peterson

Tre White