There was a bid stealer in the Pac-12, but it was not USC men’s basketball.

The Trojans (15-18, 8-12 Pac-12) — on the heels of three straight wins to open March — traveled to Las Vegas, hoping to carry their late-season momentum to a Pac-12 Tournament win, but fell to the No. 1-seeded Arizona Wildcats (25-8, 15-5) in the tournament quarterfinals.

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“There’s adversity in every college student’s life and these guys did it on and off the court,” said Head Coach Andy Enfield after losing to Arizona. “That’s what college athletics is about: to figure it out, stay together as a team. I’m very proud and our staff is very proud of our young men to stick together.”

Oregon (23-11, 12-8), the No. 4 seed, went on to win the tournament after beating the Wildcats in the semifinals. The Ducks automatically qualified for March Madness with the tournament win.

USC and Oregon came into the tournament in similar situations, needing to win it all to make it into the big dance. The Ducks were able to do what the Trojans could not, earning themselves a No. 11 seed in March Madness. 

Oregon, with a winning record heading into the tournament, was much closer to a tournament bid than USC in the first place, but the Ducks’ No. 11 ranking shows they likely would not have made it in without the win. All the No. 12-No. 16 seeds in the bracket are mid-major programs that earned automatic bids, so the No. 11 slot is usually reserved for at-large bids, not Power Six conference tournament winners.

The stakes of the tournament were not the only similarity between USC and Oregon. Both teams dealt with injuries throughout the season, as fifth-year guard Boogie Ellis and freshman guard Isaiah Collier — the Trojans’ two leading scorers this season — combined to miss 10 games. 

“We had some serious offseason injuries and surgeries, and then we had some serious injuries in November,” Enfield said. “And, of course, the first week of January, we had our two leading scorers get out at the same time … and [redshirt senior forward Joshua Morgan] got sick and lost 15 pounds … I’ve never had this many injuries in my 29-, 30-year coaching career.”

Similarly, the Ducks missed major pieces this season but for much longer periods. Only two players in Oregon’s opening-day starting lineup played in the Pac-12 Tournament final as the other three have combined to miss 74 games up to this point in the season. Even the Ducks’ leading scorer — senior center N’Faly Dante, the Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player — missed 14 games earlier in the season.

The difference between Oregon and USC is that the Ducks overcame the injuries on the backs of Dante and senior guard Jermaine Couisnard, the latter of whom did not miss a game this season and was Oregon’s second-leading scorer.

The Trojans went on a mini run toward the end of the season as they were able to roll out the same starting lineup for the last nine games of the season to the tune of a 6-3 record. Enfield was only able to use that lineup of Collier, Ellis, junior guard Kobe Johnson, Morgan and graduate forward DJ Rodman seven other times throughout the season outside of the nine-game run because of injuries and benchings. USC went 11-5 when that quintet started on the court together and 4-13 with other lineups.

“Very, very proud of our team to come back and play our best basketball,” Enfield said. “This team has improved dramatically since the beginning of the season, especially with guys in and out of the lineup all season. For them to stick together and really compete the last month, they’ve done a great job.”

Teams never want to lose their starters to injuries, but teams still have to adapt when that happens. Oregon showed its mettle to do just that, earning its automatic bid, and USC did not, playing to a losing record for the first time in five years and the Trojans’ worst winning percentage in nine years — Enfield’s second year at the helm.

“I’m not disappointed at all,” Enfield said. “We’ve been to [three] straight NCAA tournaments. For the first time in five years, we had to play on opening night. We’re the only team to finish third or better [in the Pac-12] the last four years … We’re used to winning.” 

The Trojans came into the season with astronomical expectations, ranked No. 21 in the first Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll of the season, but did not deliver.

“Was it challenging? Very, very challenging,” Enfield said. “Disappointing? Absolutely not.”

Now, as USC did not get a bid to either the NCAA Tournament or NIT, the Trojans will have to go back to the drawing board for next season, likely losing Ellis, Rodman and Collier, if not more, to the NBA Draft or graduation.

USC does bring in the 14th-ranked recruiting class according to the 247 Sports Composite rankings as it tries to find a way to make its way back to national prominence.

Until then, the Trojans will have to sit on their couches and watch Oregon and three other Pac-12 teams dance their way through March Madness.