USC looks to continue six-game winning streak against ASU

With the season concluding soon, men’s basketball has caught fire at just the right time. The Trojans have won 13 of their last 15 games, earning themselves the No. 17 ranking in the country. 

They’ll look to continue their outstanding play against Arizona State Wednesday night at Galen Center.

In their earlier matchup against the Sun Devils, USC handled ASU on the road in a comfortable 73-64 victory. The Trojans were without sophomore guard Ethan Anderson, but freshman forward Evan Mobley made it up with 19 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks. 

ASU was also without their leading scorer, senior guard Remy Martin. The 6-foot guard from Chatsworth typically spearheads a Sun Devil guard trio that can pose a huge threat. Martin, who’s averaging nearly 20 points per game, freshman guard Josh Christopher and senior guard Alonzo Verge Jr. make up a dangerous and lightning-quick group unit. They combine for nearly 47 points per game and, with Martin set to play Wednesday, could give USC’s defense fits.

Head coach Andy Enfield highlighted the importance of containing the three players. 

“They’re so dangerous with their guard play and they’re so dynamic. They shoot a lot of 3s and they have the quickest guards in the league,” Enfield said in a virtual press conference Saturday. “They’re a really hard team to guard and we’ll just try to come up with a game plan to do our best.” 

In the two teams’ first matchup of the season, the trio of Verge Jr., Christopher and senior guard Holland Woods combined for 46 of the team’s 64 total points. 

This time around the Trojans will need to amp up defensive efforts to keep the Sun Devils in check. However, USC has earned national notoriety on that side of the ball, suffocating opponents to 37% shooting from the field — the fourth-best in the country. 

 The key, according to junior guard Drew Peterson, is forcing the guards toward the big men and always having help ready.

“They’re a quick team and they’re really tricky. And they got a lot of kind of [isolation] one on one guys that we got to keep in track,” Peterson said. “Being able to load up early, always having help because they like to play a lot of one on one. We got to be there [with the] next guy in line when they drive to the hoop.”

Because they are the tallest team in the nation, the Trojans have the ability to lean on their length to contain dangerous guards on the perimeter. 

Senior guard Isaiah White mentioned it’ll be important to use their length to disrupt shots and keep them from catching fire, which is something they are able to do quickly.

“Remy Martin and all those guys are very talented,” White said. “Trying to limit open shots and use our length on defense to bother everyone — I think that’ll be key just because they can get hot fast.”

USC should be able to feast on the other side of the ball.

Arizona State’s tallest player is 6-foot-10, sophomore forward John Olmsted who only played one minute in the first game. As a result, they rely heavily on freshman forward Marcus Bagley, sophomore forward Chris Osten and senior forward Kimani Lawrence to bang with the bigs down low. 

The three men not only struggled to contain Evan but also allowed his brother, sophomore forward Isaiah Mobley, to drop 13 points of his own. Peterson and senior guard Tahj Eaddy were able to reach double figures themselves too. 

“On the offensive end, we’re definitely going to try and dominate them on the inside,” Peterson said. “And obviously run through Evan [and] let him work and we’ll play off him and then hit open shots when we need to.”

With only six games remaining, each game is as important as the one before. USC is currently first in the Pac-12 and projected to be a four seed when March Madness comes around, according to ESPN.

The title race in the conference, however, is still alive and Peterson highlighted the importance of keeping the team focused. 

“We’re still shooting for this Pac 12 title [and we] got a one-game lead, and we can’t let anything up,” he said. “So no slip-ups can happen.”

USC looks to defend its Pac-12 lead on Wednesday against the Wildcats. Tip-off is at 5 p.m.