USC Trojans vs. Arizona State, January 2, 2010 7:30 PST, Fox Sports West
The Pac-10's biggest surprise this season, USC, will look to improve its current winning streak to eight games, as the Arizona State Sun Devils come to Galen Center to face the 9-4 Trojans. Despite its 72-70 loss to sub-500 UCLA on Thursday, ASU is certainly a dangerous opponent, as they rank third nationally in scoring defense (55.8 points allowed a game) and posses arguably the conference's top point guard in Derek Glasser. Here's more on tonight's matchup from the official USC athletic site:
SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS -- Arizona State is 10-4 following its 72-70 loss at UCLA on Dec. 31. It has been a complete team effort by ASU as no one player ranks among the top 15 in the Pac-10 in scoring and only one player in the top 20 in rebounds. They have, however, shot the lights out, shooting at a 48.1 clip while holding opponents to 39.3 percent. ASU also stretches defenses with their outside shooting, having connected on a conference-leading 121 three-pointers in 14 games, as compared to the Trojans' 38 in their first 13 games. USC took two out of three games from ASU last season, including winning 66-63 in the Pac-10 Tournament title game. USC leads the all-time series with ASU, 48-32, and has won nine of the last 13 games against the Sun Devils.
USC OPENS PAC-10 PLAY WITH WIN VS. ARIZONA -- USC led by as many as 17 points in the first half and saw the lead shrink to five on several occasions in the second half before defeating Arizona 56-50 in the Pac-10 opener on Dec. 31. USC held Arizona to a season-low 30.0 percent shooting and registered eight blocked shots in the game. The 50 points allowed to Arizona were the fewest in the series since winning 26-25 in 1937. Marcus Johnson and Dwight Lewis led USC's attack with 14 points apiece.
With two defensive oriented teams, this one promises to be long, ugly, and low-scoring, but if it results in a victory for the Trojans, who the heck even cares. This is an exciting opportunity for Kevin O'Neill and company, as 'SC has a chance to extend its winning streak, its longest since 2005, and advance to 2-0 in confeence play when such a concept was laughable in mid-July.
Fight On! Beat the Sun Devils!