Most memorable USC v Arizona men’s basketball games
No. 16 USC holds an all-time record of 17-36 against Arizona since 1996. With Head Coach Andy Enfield’s squad facing the No. 2 ranked Wildcats on Tuesday, let’s look at five memorable matchups between the two Pac-12 powerhouses.
2000: USC upsets Arizona 80-72
The last time the Trojans defeated a squad ranked as high as No. 2 in the AP Poll, forward Brian Scalabrine led the upset over Arizona in the Sports Arena. Despite being without their leading scorer, forward Sam Clancy — who was out for the season due to his fractured right foot — Scalabrine’s career-high 27 points and forward David Bluthenhal’s career-high 26 points covered up the holes in USC’s offense.
The win was especially crucial as the Trojans snapped the Wildcats’ seven-game winning streak and leapfrogged Arizona to take hold of the top spot in the Pac-10 conference.
2018: Arizona defeats USC 75-61
In the 2018 Pac-12 championship game, the Trojans ran into a future No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, Deandre Ayton, who showed why he was the top player in the draft.
Ayton put up 32 points and 18 rebounds, finishing with an array of jump hooks, and-ones and alley-oops, to secure Arizona’s second-straight Pac-12 championship. Throughout this heavily anticipated meeting, Ayton repeatedly took advantage his matchup against former Trojan Chimezie Metu.
2021: USC blows out Arizona 87-73
Heading into 2021, the Trojans were defeated 10 consecutive times when visiting Tucson at the McKale Memorial Center. However, a second-half explosion led by then-redshirt junior guard Isaiah White and freshman forward Evan Mobley snapped the losing streak and gave USC momentum heading into their next game against Arizona State.
Wildcat freshman Azuolas Tubelis put up 31 points, but it wasn’t enough to combat the combined 25 second-half points from White and Mobley. Mobley also finished with a double-double, while making his presence felt on the defensive end.
2011: USC defends home court, upsetting Arizona 65-57
Led by now-Chicago Bull forward Nikola Vucevic, the Trojans upset the No. 10 Wildcats in the midst of an up and down season. Sitting at 15-12, USC marched into Galen Center determined to defend its home court against a better opponent.
Vucevic led the way with 25 points and 12 rebounds, drilling four clutch free throws late in the game to put the Wildcats away for good. Guard Jio Fontan also added 21 points as the Trojans knocked off a top-10 ranked team for the first time in two years.
However, the most impressive stat of the night for the Trojans was a season-low eight points for future No. 2 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft forward Derrick Williams. While Williams’ professional career did not result in stardom, he was not a player anyone wanted to face during his time with the Wildcats, averaging 19.5 points and 8.3 rebounds a game in his final collegiate season.
USC’s staunch defense threw Williams off his rhythm and pulled off a huge upset to turn the tide in the Pac-10 conference.
2016: USC defeats Arizona 103-101 in a 4-overtime thriller
By far the most memorable matchup between USC and Arizona, the two squads could only be separated after four overtimes. The Trojans eventually came out on top after two game-winning free throws by guard Elijah Stewart with 22 seconds left on the game clock.
USC was up 12 points with just over five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, but the Wildcats clawed their way back into the game to force overtime, led by guard Allonzo Trier’s 25 points.
On the other side, Stewart put up a career-high 27 points across the 60-minute game, mentally willing it out until guard Kadeem Allen’s contested three-pointer bounced off the rim and the buzzer sounded off. The Trojans came out on top after their first quadruple-overtime game in over 20 years.
USC used this historic game as momentum, heading into UCLA four days later and defeating their crosstown rivals.