Basketball will host Arizona Thursday night


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Junior guard Jonah Mathews goes for the layup in a win against UCLA on Jan. 19 at the Galen Center. (Josh Dunst/Daily Trojan)

After an emphatic victory against UCLA Saturday, the men’s basketball team is looking to stay the course with a pair of home games this weekend.

The Trojans will first face off against Arizona Thursday before taking on Arizona State Saturday night. The two games will give the team a chance to face off against the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the Pac-12 after a two-game skid of losses on the road in Oregon.

The Wildcats are 5-1 in conference play with a lone 59-54 loss to Oregon last Thursday. The team’s high-powered offense has scored 75 or more points in their past three games, under the leadership of sophomore guard Brandon Randolph, who averages 15.4 points per game. Although the team is young — with three underclassmen as its leading scorers — the Wildcats have been building toward dominant wins, capped off by an 11-point victory over the Oregon State Beavers days after the Trojans fell to them.

After facing off against Arizona, the team will only have a few days to regroup before facing the Sun Devils. Ranked third in the conference, Arizona State is fresh off a pair of wins in Oregon. Standout freshman Luguentz Dort, a Canadian guard averaging 16.4 points per game, has led the team this season.

Both teams will provide a challenge for the Trojans, who are settled in the middle of the Pac-12 standings with a pair of conference losses. The team has been in its element at the Galen Center this season, going 9-2 at home and that continued strength will be vital to carving out a place in an evenly balanced conference.

Despite the Bruins’ rocky 10-8 start — which culminated in an early-season firing of sixth-year head coach Steve Alford — the Trojans’ dominant win over their rivals bolstered the team’s confidence on Saturday. At first, the rivalry game remained neck-and-neck, with the Trojans exiting the first half with only a 3-point lead. But the second half was a different story, and the Trojans powered on to an 80-67 victory.

Senior forward Bennie Boatwright and junior forward Nick Rakocevic led the flurry of scoring with 21 points apiece, tallying both players’ second double-digit game in a row. Junior guard Jonah Mathews added 16 points, providing a well-balanced attack that sustained the Trojans throughout the game.

The team isn’t fully operational yet, with freshman Kevin Porter Jr. remaining on the sidelines due to an indefinite suspension. The cause and terms of his suspension have yet to be disclosed by USC Athletics, but Enfield said after practice on Tuesday that the freshman is “trying” to meet expectations to return to game action soon. Before his suspension, Porter Jr. averaged 10.7 points per game for the Trojans.