Because time constraints kept our scouting report out of Saturday's print edition, it will take the spot of the usual postgame blog here:
ARIZONA SCOUTING REPORT
No. 2 seed USC (23-10) vs. No. 1 seed Arizona (26-7) * Pac-12 Tournament championship game * T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas * 8 p.m. * FS1 * 1290-AM, 107.5-FM
PROBABLE STARTERS
ARIZONA:
G Parker Jackson-Cartwright (5-10 senior)
G Allonzo Trier (6-3 junior)
F Rawle Alkins (6-5 sophomore)
F Deandre Ayton (7-1 freshman)
C Dusan Ristic (7-0 senior)
USC
G Jordan McLaughlin (6-1 senior)
G Jonah Mathews (6-3 sophomore)
F Elijah Stewart (6-5 senior)
F Chimezie Metu (6-11 junior)
C Nick Rakocevic (6-11 sophomore)
HOW THEY MATCH UP
How they got here: At 12-6 in conference play, USC finished in second place and two games behind Arizona to earn the Pac-12 Tournament’s No. 2 seed. The Trojans beat Oregon State 61-48 in the quarterfinals and Oregon 74-54 in the semifinals on Friday to reach the championship game.
The season series: Arizona beat USC 81-67 at McKale Center on Feb. 10 in the only game the teams played during the regular season. Just two days earlier, Arizona suffered an 82-74 loss to UCLA at McKale Center but rebounded by holding the Trojans to 43.4-percent shooting and crushing them on the rebounding glass, 40-22. The Wildcats also shot 56.1 percent from the field while getting a double-double from Dusan Ristic (16 points, 11 rebounds).
What’s new with the Trojans: Despite losing forward Bennie Boatwright for the season with a knee injury on Feb. 15, the Trojans have won six of their last seven to all but secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Even before Boatwright’s injury, though, the Trojans had been playing him off the bench while starting Chimezie Metu at power forward and Nick Rakocevic at center. Sophomore guard De’Anthony Melton also announced on Feb. 21 that he was withdrawing from school. He had been suspended all season because the federal complaint regarding college basketball alleged that a family friend accepted money from an agent in exchange for steering Melton to that agent as a pro. As a result, USC doesn't go deep in its lineup, with all five starters playing 32 or more minutes Friday despite their blowout win. Shaqquan Aaron was the only player off the bench playing double-figure minutes against the Ducks. But USC has been sharp defensively in the Pac-12 Tournament. The Trojans allowed UCLA to shoot 50.8 percent from the field in the Bruins’ 83-72 win at the Galen Center on March 3 but held OSU to just 30.5 percent shooting on Thursday and held Oregon to 33.3 percent shooting on Friday.
KEY PLAYERS
USC
Jordan McLaughlin
As the Pac-12 Networks suggested, the senior point guard just might be the best passer on USC’s campus now that Sam Darnold is off to the NFL. Or maybe he already was: McLaughlin had by far the most assists among Pac-12 players and was third nationally with 232 entering the Pac-12 Tournament.
Arizona
Parker Jackson-Cartwright
Maybe it’s fitting that both Jackson-Cartwright and McLaughlin will meet one last time in the Pac-12 title game after both were top recruiting targets of Arizona as rival high school players in Southern California. PJC is on a roll, too, having contained UCLA guard Aaron Holiday in Friday’s semifinals and hitting 3 of 5 3-pointers.
SIDELINES
Tireless Trojans
While averaging nearly 35 minutes a game this season, USC point guard Jordan McLaughlin has come up with a philosophy.
“My motto is, I can rest tomorrow,” McLaughlin said late Friday night, and then realized he was actually kind of wrong. USC beat Oregon, meaning he would have to play Saturday in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game against Arizona.
“Technically, I can’t” rest, McLaughlin said. “I just have to go back to the hotel, ice before I go to bed and try to keep my legs fresh.”
USC has had little choice but to rely heavily on its top seven players, with De’Anthoy Melton missing all season because of federal investigation issue, and Bennie Boatwright lost for the season last month with a knee injury. The Trojans actually used only six for the most part Friday against Oregon.
“After Boat went out, it was just like one of those things,” USC guard Elijah Stewart said. “We’re kind of used to it and we have a lot of seasoned people. Our rotation could be deeper if need be but honestly we’re in such good shape that six or seven people can play the whole game and we’ll be fine.”
Road team
Thanks to the Pac-12’s unbalanced schedule, USC never had a chance to host Arizona at the Galen Center, although plenty of SoCal-based UA alums and fans always show up for that game. Instead, the Trojans were sent to McKale Center for a Feb. 10 loss and are likely to see 60-70 percent of the crowd pulling for the Wildcats on Saturday in Las Vegas.
“Arizona is one of the schools in the Pac-12 where the crowd travels,” Stewart said. “So I’m expecting a big sea of red and blue out there… and our red and yellow. Should be a really good game.”
Arizona already had a dominant crowd Friday, with about 8,000 or so fans showing up for the Wildcats’ win over UCLA. With the tight game heading into overtime, the crowd noise for UA arguably surpassed that of the McKale Center crowd on Feb. 10 – at home in McKale Center.
“Our fans, they’re one of the best in all of the country,” UA coach Sean Miller said Friday. “On the road, we heard the U of A chant quite a bit and no question this tournament has become a destination spot for a lot of them. It’s a fun place to come and watch basketball.”
Bubble talk
Both UCLA and USC are still projected to reach the NCAA Tournament field, though neither team is taking anything for granted with Selection Sunday looming.
UCLA sits at 21-11 after losing to Arizona on Friday, projected to receive a No. 10 seed by ESPN and a No. 9 by CBS.
“I think we’re warranted making the tournament,” UCLA coach Steve Alford said after the Bruins lost to Arizona on Friday. “But we’re like everybody else – when you don’t win the league tournament, you’re at the mercy of just seeing if you can get an at-large, and we’ll all have to wait and see on Sunday.
Despite being in the Pac-12 final, USC may be in a more precarious position. CBS lists the Trojans as one of the first four teams out, while ESPN has them in with a 10 seed in the Midwest.
“I can’t worry about that,” USC forward Chimezie Metu said after the Trojans beat Oregon on Friday. “We gotta worry about what we do tomorrow.”
Numbers game
1 – Arizona win over USC in their only meeting in the Pac-12 Tournament since Sean Miller took over the Wildcats in 2009-10, a 67-62 win in the 2011 semifinals.
2 – Arizona wins in five Pac-12 Tournament championship game appearances under Miller, though the Wildcats have won the last two they played in (2015 and 2017).
17 – Arizona wins in 21 Pac-12 Tournament games as the No. 1 seed.
-- Bruce Pascoe
