Game info

Matchup: USC (17-8, 8-4) at No. 13 Arizona (19-6, 9-3)

Where: McKale Center

When: 8:15 p.m. Saturday

Watch: ESPN

Listen: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Updates: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

Probable starters: Arizona

Probable starters: USC

How they match up

Series history

Arizona has won five of its last six games against USC, the lone loss a four-overtime thriller at the Galen Center in 2015-16. Arizona beat the Trojans 73-66 in Los Angeles last season, when Lauri Markkanen had 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting, and 90-77 at McKale Center, when the Wildcats hit 11 of 20 3-pointers to overcome the fact that the Trojans shot 52.9 percent. UA leads the all-time series 66-42.

USC overview

After spending the first half of the season bogged down by injuries and uncertainty regarding suspended guard De’Anthony Melton, USC pulled off six straight wins before losing to UCLA and ASU on a single basket in each of its last two games. But USC remains dangerous with a combination of size, talent and experience that only Arizona matches in the Pac-12.

Like Arizona, the Trojans feature a much more efficient offense than defense, and their 46.2-percent shooting in conference games is bolstered by the fact that they turn the ball over only 14.6 percent of possessions in Pac-12 games, the second-best percentage in league play. Behind point guard Jordan McLaughlin, who leads the conference with 7.3 assists in Pac-12 games, the Trojans have a league-best 17.3 assists per game and also lead with an assist-turnover ratio of 1.7 in Pac-12 games.

McLaughlin is tied with UA’s Parker Jackson-Cartwright atop the Pac-12 in assist-turnover ratio at 3-1. Even without Melton, whose suspension was extended through the season last month, USC also has plenty of driving ability, shooting and experience on the wings, with Elijah Stewart, Jonah Mathews and Shaqquan Aaron, while Duke transfer Derryck Thornton comes off the bench after missing nine games with a shoulder injury.

The Trojans are explosive in the frontcourt, especially with stretch-four Bennie Boatwright back from a foot injury and potential NBA draft first rounder Chimezie Metu, who shoots 51.2 percent and hits free throws at a 76.6 percent rate.

Key player: Jordan McLaughlin

Where to start with this bunch? Elijah Stewart dropped 27 on the UA in a four-overtime game in ’15-16. Bennie Boatwright had 23 and Chimezie Metu had a double-double at McKale Center last season. Then there’s the head of it all in McLaughlin, who is playing at an all-conference level and has three inches over longtime rival Parker Jackson-Cartwright.

Key player: Deandre Ayton

NBA Draft prospects Metu and Boatwright will likely be aiming to prove themselves against the Wildcats’ projected high-lottery pick. Metu has the sort of unusual athleticism and shot-blocking ability for his size that could challenge Ayton offensively, while Boatwright’s stretch-four shooting ability could keep Ayton busy on the other end of the floor.

Different vibe

After Arizona lost 82-74 on Thursday to UCLA, UA coach Sean Miller spoke for only about half his usual time and with only about half his usual passion in his postgame media address.

It was easy to see why.

“It didn’t feel the same,” Miller said. “We had won 80 of 82 games. You’re not used to losing, especially like that.”

Miller has lost 14 games at McKale Center in eight-plus seasons as the UA’s coach, and the losing margin is often just a basket or two. Oregon beat the Wildcats by the same eight-point margin two seasons ago, while you have to go back at least five years to see other UA home losses that did not go down to the wire.

UCLA soundly beat the UA 84-73 in 2012-13, and Bucknell shocked the Wildcats with a 65-54 win in the first round of the 2012 NIT. All other UA losses under Miller at McKale have been by eight points or less — except when BYU’s Jimmer Fredette dumped 49 points on Miller’s rebuilding Wildcats en route to a 99-69 BYU victory in 2009-10.

UCLA’s win on Thursday was also the first time anybody had beaten Miller-coached UA teams in back-to-back seasons at McKale. The last visiting team to win twice at McKale was ASU, which did so against Kevin O’Neill in 2007-08, against Russ Pennell in 2008-09 and against Miller in 2009-10.

Silver lining?

Maybe it’s no coincidence that the Trojans have played their best of the season since USC declared guard De’Anthony Melton ineligible for the entire season on Jan. 11, winning five straight games and losing close games to UCLA and USC. Before then, Melton had been suspended indefinitely, and uncertainty hung over the team.

Not that that makes USC coach Andy Enfield feel any better. Enfield has made it clear he believes Melton did nothing wrong with regard to a federal allegation that said a Melton family friend accepted $5,000 in exchange for steering Melton toward a sports agent.

“I think everyone in our program was disappointed when you have a key member of your team out and someone who works as hard as De’Anthony, and is such a fine young man,” Enfield said.

“It’s really difficult to see him sitting on the sideline, knowing he should be on the court with us.

“We were expecting him to be eligible but it was game-by-game, and now that there is finality to his situation, and our players have come back from injuries, we were at able to go into a practice prior to a game knowing who would be in our rotation, and healthy. It’s challenging when you don’t know who’s going to be eligible to play or who’s gonna be healthy to try to compete at the level we’re trying to go to.”

USC’s foot issue

Among the many similarities Arizona and USC have had this season — beside the federal investigation, shaky defenses and high expectations — have been forwards with lingering foot issues.

But while UA’s Rawle Alkins has experienced repeated soreness after breaking his right foot, USC’s Boatwright has been sidelined with a … callus.

Sound minor? It’s not, according to the way Boatwright described it in an Orange County Register story.

Boatwright developed a quarter-sized callus on his right foot during the NCAA Tournament last season, worsened it during offseason workouts and tried to take Ibuprofen early this season to ease the pain.

“It sounds like I’m just being a baby,” Boatwright told the Register, “but it was real thick. … If you think about it, you gotta go on your toes to shoot, and I couldn’t put pressure on it, so I was shooting off one leg, basically.”

The pain became so bad that a podiatrist shaved the callus in December.

But after Boatwright began feeling pain again early in January, it was discovered that particles from the shaving had entered his foot and caused an infection. That led to another procedure by another podiatrist, and the second of four total games Boatwright missed.

Boatwright struggled in his return last week against UCLA but had 18 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes on Thursday against ASU. He told the Register this week he’s now “100 percent.”

Numbers game

4

USC’s national Kenpom.com rank in “minutes continuity,” a measure of what percentage a team’s minutes are played by the same players as last season.

8

Straight games UA’s Dusan Ristic has scored in double figures

8

Seasons since Arizona lost back-to-back games in McKale Center (OSU and ASU near the end of the 2009-10 season).