USC hosts Golden Bears at Galen Center


By
 in , ,

The USC men’s basketball team will continue its quest for its first Pac-12 win under first-year head coach Andy Enfield as they prepare to take on California tonight at 8 p.m.

Key addition · Guard J.T. Terrell is averaging 10.4 points per game this season, good for second on the team. Terrell has only played in 10 games since being declared academically eligible in mid-December. - William Ehart | Daily Trojan

Key addition · Guard J.T. Terrell is averaging 10.4 points per game this season, good for second on the team. Terrell has only played in 10 games since being declared academically eligible in mid-December. – William Ehart | Daily Trojan

USC (9-9, 0-5 Pac-12) remains the only team in the Pac-12 without a conference win after losing 84-66 to Utah (14-4, 3-3) and 83-62 to Colorado (15-4, 4-2). Senior guard J.T. Terrell led the Trojans over the weekend, averaging 14 points in losses to the Utes and Buffaloes. The team shot a combined 46-of-107 (43 percent) from the field in those two games, including 8-of-25 (32 percent) from behind the arc.

“We had a great energy to start the game and we missed five point-blank shots in the lane in the first three, four minutes of the game,” Enfield said after the game against Colorado. “Then we turned the ball over when we had a layup. We basically missed 12 points to start the game. That enabled them to jump out on us and Colorado is an excellent team.”

The Trojans have been outscored by an average of 22.4 points in their last five games — all losses. It’s the second time in the last three years USC has started 0-5 in conference play — they lost their first eight games in the Pac-12 in 2012.

The bright spot for the Trojans is their 7-2 record this season at the Galen Center, including a seven-game winning streak at home to start the season. Home dominance has been a theme in the Pac-12 this season. Every team in the conference claims a winning record at home, which makes home contests such as the Trojans’ next two extremely important.

Junior guard Byron Wesley leads the team with 16.5 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game. Terrell is USC’s only other double-digit scorer, averaging 10.4 points per game. Senior guard Pe’Shon Howard is averaging 9.8 points per game and is second on the team with 3.9 assists per game, while senior center Omar Oraby is averaging 8.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game.

The Golden Bears (14-4, 5-0 Pac-12) are tied for first in the Pac-12 with No. 1 Arizona (18-0, 5-0). Cal is coming off of dominating performances over both Washington schools, picking up an 82-56 victory against Washington (11-8, 3-3) and a 76-55 win over Washington State (8-10, 1-5).

Justin Cobbs leads five Cal players averaging double-digit points on the season with 14.9 points per game, while also leading the team in assists per game with 6.4. Richard Solomon is averaging 12.1 points per game, and is the team’s leading rebounder with 10.3 per game. Highly touted freshman Jabari Bird has averaged 10.1 points per game in one of the deepest conferences in the nation.

USC has lost its last four games against California, and is 8-8 against the Golden Bears in their last 16 meetings. The Golden Bears lead the all-time series 132-120. Coach Mike Montgomery has led the Bears to the NCAA tournament in four of the last five seasons. In the same span, USC has only reached the tournament twice.

USC will play Stanford (12-5, 3-2) on Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. at the Galen Center before heading to Oregon next week as they take on Oregon State (10-7, 2-3) on Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. and Oregon (13-4, 1-4) on Sunday, Feb. 1 at 5 p.m. All three games will be available on the Pac-12 Networks.