Scouting report: Arizona Wildcats vs. USC Trojans

The Star's Bruce Pascoe previews all of the game day essentials, from projected starting lineups to storylines and series history, ahead of Arizona's  showdown with USC. 

Game info

Who: Arizona (19-8, 9-5) at USC (19-9, 8-7) 

Where: Galen Center, Los Angeles

When: 8 p.m.

TV: ESPN

Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Follow: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

Pregame Wildcast Podcast, featuring ex-Wildcat Reggie Geary

Probable starters: Arizona

G Nico Mannion (6-3 freshman)

G Dylan Smith (6-5 senior)

F Josh Green (6-6 freshman)

F Stone Gettings (6-9 senior)

C Zeke Nnaji (6-11 freshman)

Probable starters: USC

G Ethan Anderson (6-1 freshman)

G Jonah Mathews (6-3 senior)

F Daniel Utomi (6-6 senior)

F Onyeka Okwongu (6-9 freshman)

C Nick Rakocevic (6-11 senior)

How they match up

The last time: Arizona took two 20-point leads in the second half but USC cut it down all the way to three in the final minute before the Wildcats held on for an 85-80 win over the Trojans on Feb. 6 at McKale Center. UA hit just 5 of 22 3-pointers while allowing USC to shoot 50% overall from the field, but the Wildcats ultimately won it at by taking 40 trips to the free throw line, making 28 of their free throws, scoring 10 more than USC made at the line (the Trojans were 18 for 24).

The last time at the Galen Center: Arizona shot a season-low 27.8% while losing 80-57 to USC on Jan. 24, 2019, at that point only the fourth time in the Sean Miller era that the Wildcats had been beaten by 20 or more points. Arizona was 5 of 25 from 3-point range and just 31.9% from inside the arc, missing layups, putbacks and other close-in shots. Nick Rakocevic had 27 points and 12 rebounds to lead USC.

Series history: Arizona leads the series 14-6 in the Sean Miller era and 68-44 overall.

What’s new with the Trojans: Since leaving McKale Center, USC lost at ASU by only two points (66-64) and swept the Washington schools at home before a rough trip through the mountains last weekend. USC lost 70-66 at Colorado and, while several players were battling flu-like symptoms, were beaten badly at Utah 79-65. Center Nick Rakocevic played only five minutes against the Utes because of illness while wing Jonah Mathews visited the locker room during the game to throw up, and forward Isaiah Mobley played with a sore ankle. The weekend trip wrapped up USC’s road record at 5-6, with three of its last four losses by a combined 11 points, including their 85-80 loss at Arizona on Feb. 6.

Overall, though, Mathews has been a bright spot for the Trojans, surging toward the end of his senior year by averaging 14.2 points in USC’s last 13 games. He’s made 39.4% of his 3-pointers during that stretch, although he made only 1 of 5 against Arizona on Feb. 6 at McKale Center. Also a senior, Rakocevic has become USC’s second alltime leading rebounder (904) behind only Ron Riley (1,067).

The Trojans are going with the same starting lineup they used at McKale Center, with Rakocevic and Onyeka Okwongu making up one of the Pac-12’s best post duos. One of the country’s best offensive rebounders, Okwongu is among the top candidates for Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, along with UA’s Zeke Nnaji and Washington’s Isaiah Stewart. On the perimeter, Mathews joins grad transfer Daniel Utomi, who hit 4 of 7 3s against Arizona earlier this month, and freshman point guard Ethan Anderson. The highly regarded Mobley brings versatility to the frontcourt off the bench.

He said it

“Those two big guys (Rakocevic and Okwongu) are two of the best big guys in the league. They’re really talented and Mathews can really, really shoot it. In game one, we did a good job of handling him but Utomi just got going. Rakocevic is more experienced but you can’t take Mobley for granted because he brings outside shooting. (Against USC’s bigs) you have to do your work early, make their catches tough, try to push them out a little bit.

“(In the first USC game) we had moments I thought we were good and moments where we weren’t as locked in as we probably should have been. I just want to see us defend consistently for 40 minutes.”

— UA assistant coach Justin Gainey, who scouted the Trojans.

Key player (USC): Nick Rakocevic

The Trojans’ crafty inside veteran didn’t start against Arizona earlier this month for a violation of team rules, something that arguably might have cost the Trojans the game. He had 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting along with six rebounds in just 22 minutes off the bench.

Key player (Arizona): Stone Gettings

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Arizona’s versatile power forward was coming into his own as a starter when the Trojans appeared at McKale Center, collecting 12 points and eight rebounds while hitting the only 3-pointer he took and helping Zeke Nnaji get 18 and 11 inside. But he will have to help defend Onyeka Okwongu.

Sidelines

Game time moved to 8 p.m.

For the second game in a row, Arizona’s tipoff time was moved by an hour to get it on ESPN. But while last Saturday’s Arizona-Oregon game was moved back to 7 p.m. Arizona time, Thursday’s game was pushed up until 8 p.m. Arizona time. Bill Walton and Dave Pasch will work both Arizona games this weekend for ESPN, with former Wildcat standout Richard Jefferson joining them Saturday at UCLA.

A homestand, sort of

Exactly half of Arizona’s 10 active scholarship players have ties to Southern California, which has historically been something of a distraction for the Wildcats. But of the five, four are veterans — Ira Lee, Max Hazzard, Stone Gettings and Jemarl Baker — while freshman Christian Koloko is actually from Cameroon but played two years of high school ball in the San Fernando Valley.

UA coach Sean Miller said the fact that the Southern Californians are older should mean it’s all less of a distraction, but he also said he wasn’t sure what to expect.

“I can only go on the last two trips and I thought we’ve been really focused and played good basketball,” Miller said. “Really hasn’t been one player. It’s been the team … there’s different guys that have stepped up. We trust the guys that they’re going to focus on the task at hand.”

Oddly, the Wildcats have actually played better overall on their past two two-game road trips than during their last two game homestands: They swept the Washington and Bay area schools but lost to UCLA and Oregon, while nearly melting down against USC at home.

“I think our team in some ways is very easily distracted because we’re dependent on a number of guys that have a lot at stake who are first year players,” Miller said. “We’ve been a very inconsistent team at home. We really have.

“Just watching us play at home is really a head-scratcher because even within the same game we we’ve been two different teams. On the road, we’ve been more of the same. We’ve struggled at times, early on with shot selection and maybe getting off to a good start, but if you look at the final scores of the road games that we’ve played, I think that speaks to my point.”

In his backyard

Arizona guard Jemarl Baker on his experiences at Galen Center and Pauley Pavilion: pic.twitter.com/Hp87jOwxVX

— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) February 25, 2020

Nobody will hit closer to home this weekend than Baker, who was born in Compton and then lived in Carson before moving to suburban Menifee as a nine-year-old.

“Very excited,” Baker said. “And it’s in the same neighborhood where I lived. So I’m very excited to be there. Hopefully we can go out there, play hard and win some games.”

Baker has yet to play at either USC’s Galen Center or UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, but said he once played for fun at Pauley Pavilion after his sister played in a tournament there.

“It was great for me, knowing that I wanted to play Division I basketball at a big-time school,” he said.

Alkins heads to Portugal

Former Arizona wing Rawle Alkins is headed to Portugal after signing with FC Porto.

After leaving UA as a sophomore in 2018 but going undrafted, Alkins was under a two-way contract with Chicago Bulls last season and spent most of his time in the G League. Over 10 games in the NBA with Chicago, Alkins averaged 3.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.

Alkins played for Houston in the NBA Summer League last July.

“I am very excited to be playing again and to be with this organization,” Alkins said in an FC Porto news release. “I’ve seen a game and the team has shown that it is not selfish and that it plays hard. I really want to be able to help the team with whatever is necessary and, who knows, maybe return to the NBA.

“I am here to help my teammates to be better, as there is always room for improvement. I think I can add winning mentality, intensity, physical capacity, points, defense. Whatever I need to do to win, I’ll do it.”

FC Porto coach Moncho Lopez said Alkins will help fill in holes created by injuries to Max Landis and Will Sheehey, with five games remaining in the regular season that ends on April 11.

“For a week, we were considering strengthening ourselves in a position where we were having a lot of problems,” Lopez said. This will “allow us to have a more complete squad for the final part of the season.”

Surprise

Across town earlier this week, UCLA coach Mick Cronin was asked about hosting a showdown for first place with ASU at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday.

“It’s great,” he said. “Obviously, we all saw this coming five weeks ago.”

At that point, both ASU and UCLA were in a three-way tie for sixth place at 2-3 in the conference – after UCLA went 7-6 during a nonconference season when it lost to Hofstra at home.

Numbers game

4 

Straight conference road wins for Arizona, the Wildcats’ longest such streak since they won four straight from the end of the 2016-17 season until January 2018.

8.5

Rebound average that only five pairs of teammates have nationally, including USC’s Rakocevic (8.5) and Okwongu (8.9).

12

Double-doubles from Zeke Nnaji, first among Pac-12 freshmen (Stewart has 11 and Okwongu has 10), while trailing only Memphis’ Precious Achiuwa (15) and Duke’s Vernon Carey Jr. (13) nationally.

66.9

USC’s free-throw shooting percentage in Pac-12 games, the worst in the conference.

73.0

Arizona’s scoring average in Pac-12 games, the most in the conference.