Arizona men's basketball scouting report: No. 5 UA at USC

No. 5 Arizona (24-6, 15-4) at USC (13-17, 7-12) | Galen Center; Los Angeles | 8 p.m. Saturday| ESPN | 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Probable starters

ARIZONA

G Kylan Boswell (6-2 soph.)

G Caleb Love (6-4 senior)

F Pelle Larsson (6-6 senior)

F Keshad Johnson (6-7 senior)

C Oumar Ballo (7-0 senior)

USC

G Isaiah Collier (6-5 freshman)

G Boogie Ellis (6-3 senior)

F Kobe Johnson (6-6 junior)

F DJ Rodman (6-6 senior)

C Joshua Morgan (6-11 senior)

How they match up

The last time: Arizona shot just 40% from the field, missing 16 of 26 layups, but still managed to pull out an 82-67 win over USC on Jan. 17 at McKale Center. The Trojans were without their two top scorers, Isaiah Collier (broken hand) and Boogie Ellis (hamstring), while center Joshua Morgan was limited after missing two prior games with a respiratory infection, prompting freshman Bronny James to play a leading role. James had 16 points to lead USC, which shot 42.6% but shot 17 fewer free throws than Arizona and committed 19 turnovers that led to 16 UA points.

The last time at Galen Center: Azuolas Tubelis had 25 points on 11-for-17 shooting and 10 rebounds to lead Arizona to an 87-81 win over USC on March 2, 2023, clinching the No. 2 Pac-12 Tournament seed for the Wildcats. Ellis had 35 points for USC but the Trojans shot just 40.6% overall.

Series history: Arizona has beaten USC six times in a row, including five previous matchups in the Tommy Lloyd era, and leads 75-46 overall.

What’s new with the Trojans: Picked to finish second in the Pac-12 behind Arizona, the Trojans are starting to look like that team, even though they can finish no higher than ninth place. Collier wound up missing six games, while Ellis missed three and Morgan two but, with them active now, the Trojans have won three of their past five – losing only in a double-overtime home game to Colorado and a three-point game at second-place Washington State.

With Ellis and Collier back, the Trojans are an aggressive offensive team that complements drives to the basket with the conference’s fourth-best 3-point shooting (36.2). They also lead the Pac-12 in the ratio of assists to made baskets.

Defensively, USC uses a mix of man-to-man and zone defense, with its zone having particularly caused UA issues on Jan. 17, and it is tough to deal with inside. The Trojans keep Pac-12 opponents to just 48.3% shooting from 2-point range, the third-best defensive 2-point percentage in the league, and block 14.8% of Pac-12 opponents’ shots, the best block percentage in the conference.

Morgan rates fourth nationally in block percentage, swatting away 12.3% of opponents’ shots when he's on the floor, while guard Kobe Johnson ranks 40th in steal percentage, ending 3.2% of opponents’ possessions with a steal when he’s on the floor.

He said it: “They're playing better basketball now than they were a month ago. A lot of that is due to the fact that they've got guys back, probably their full allotment of guys are healthy and reenergized.

"(Ellis and Collier) can dominate the ball, dominate the game. They’re starting to play off each other. They didn't have them when we played them the first time, so you expect to get a heavy dose of each one of them this game.

“They run different sets and different things to put each other in position where they can score. Boogie is certainly a better outside shooter. He knocks down shots from deep range. He can score the ball. Collier's a playmaker, a guy who’s big, physical, strong. He can get to the basket to make layups and hit tough shots. He finds open people and can distribute the basketball.

"(Bronny James) is contributing. He had been a guy that looked to be super aggressive on the offensive end — he's a capable scorer that way — but with Boogie and Collier back, I think a lot of those guys have kind of deferred offensively to them. I think that's been a difference in what they do.

“As they’ve gotten more of their guys back and and playing together, I think their defense is better. They have size around the rim and athletic guys who can turn you over. They're very active defensively. Just like they are on the offensive end of the floor, they're still learning to play together

— UA assistant coach Steve Robinson, who scouted the Trojans

Key players

USC – Boogie Ellis

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Already having dropped his career high of 35 points on the Wildcats last season at the Galen Center, Ellis began his final weekend by hitting 6 of 8 3-pointers and scoring 28 points in USC’s 81-73 win over ASU on Thursday. Now it's his Senior Night game.

ARIZONA — Caleb Love

Love pretty much wrapped up the Pac-12 Player of the Year award when UA clinched the conference title on Thursday, but he’ll have a final chance to make a regular-season statement against a team he hit 5 of 12 3-pointers against on Jan. 17 while scoring 20 points.

Sidelines

Muddy Pac-12 field

While the Pac-12 Tournament’s top four seeds were set Thursday — and Oregon State already secured the 12th spot with its 5-14 record — the rest of the field was a complicated mess entering the final day of the regular season Saturday.

Arizona picked up the No. 1 seed by winning the regular-season title outright, while Washington State dropped into the No. 2 spot and Colorado’s 79-75 win at Oregon ensured the Buffaloes will get the No. 3 seed over the No. 4 Ducks.

Arizona will open Pac-12 Tournament play Thursday at noon against the winner of a No. 8 vs No. 9 game at noon Wednesday, but that could be any of five teams. According to a matrix posted by Pac-12 spokesman Jesse Hooker, the 8-9 game could contain USC, Washington, Cal, UCLA and/or Stanford depending on how the Saturday games play out.

Of the as-yet unseeded teams, the Wildcats are only assured of not facing ASU or Utah in their Thursday quarterfinal game. The Sun Devils will either be seeded sixth, seventh, 10th or 11th after finishing at UCLA on Saturday but can’t finish eighth or ninth.

Another Walton sub

Analyst Bill Walton will be replaced for the third time in the past two weeks for a UA game, this time by Sean Farnham, who will work ESPN’s telecast of the Arizona-USC game along with Dave Pasch.

On Feb. 28, Matt Muehlebach filled in for Walton when UA played at ASU and former Wildcat forward Richard Jefferson took Walton’s spot next to Pasch on Thursday at UCLA.

Wearing bright red sneakers with his dark suit, Jefferson noted lightly during the telecast that he wasn’t “unbiased,” and celebrated with the Wildcats in their Pauley Pavilion locker room afterward.

No reason has been given for Walton's absence.

Time to Boogie

USC lost all four games it played this season without Ellis, who was hurt in November and January, and it’s too late for Ellis to help the Trojans make the NCAA Tournament unless they win the Pac-12 Tournament next week.

But his 28-point performance on Thursday was another sign he’s trending in an upward direction, at least. Ellis hit 6 of 8 3-pointers and 6 of 8 free throws with three assits and a steal in just 26 minutes of USC’s 81-73 win over ASU.

“He’s had a very up-and-down season because of his injuries,” USC coach Andy Enfield said. “It’s really affected him, so I’m glad he’s back. Two and a half, three weeks ago was the first time all season since the injuries where he had a bounce in his step, he’s playing harder.

"Other than the Washington State game, where he was off (five points on 2-for-10 shooting), he’s really looked like the guy that we all have known and expect, but he’s come a long way in decision-making, defense, his playmaking, his scoring. He’s playing very well right now.”

Among the games Ellis missed was USC’s loss at Arizona on Jan. 17, but he'll get a shot at the Wildcats again Saturday.

“Just treating everything as an opportunity,” Ellis said of facing UA on Saturday. “We're obviously blessed to play the game that we love, play my last game in the Galen Center. Just taking that as an opportunity, at just being humble and treating it as a blessing.”

Numbers game

0: Pac-12 teams the Wildcats have not beaten on their campus under third-year coach Tommy Lloyd after beating UCLA on Thursday for their first win at Pauley during Lloyd’s tenure.

10: USC games when the Trojans have played without at least one projected starter.

100: Assists for Isaiah Collier despite missing six games this season.

— Bruce Pascoe

Photos: No. 5 Arizona defeats UCLA 88-65 to clinch 2024 Pac-12 regular-season men's hoops crown