USC SPORTS INFORMATION OFFICE • HER 103 • LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90089-0601 TELEPHONE: (213) 740-8480 • FAX: (213) 740-7584 • WEB: USCTROJANS.COM

POSTGAME NOTES USC vs. UCLA Galen  Los Angeles, Calif. Saturday, March 3, 2018 Final: USC 72, UCLA 83

 With the loss tonight, USC fell to 21-10, 12-6 and UCLA improved to 20-10, 11-7.  With Arizona winning earlier in the day, USC finishes in second place in the Pac-12 standings and will have the No. 2 seed for the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas. USC finished second in the conference for the first time since 2002 when it tied for second. The last time USC finished second outright was the 1992 season.  USC’s 12-6 conference record is its best since also finishing 12-6 in 2002.  USC led 43-40 at halftime. USC made 47.1 percent of its shots in the first half and UCLA made 44.1 percent of its first-half shots.  UCLA made 60.0 percent of its second half shots, while USC shot 32.3 percent in the second half.  The loss snapped a seven-game conference home winning streak, its longest conference home winning streak since going 9-0 during the 1992 season. USC opened conference play with a home loss to Washington, won its next seven, then had its loss tonight at home.  Elijah Stewart played in his 133 game as a Trojan, tying Dwight Lewis for the most games played all- time by a Trojan.  Jordan McLaughlin played 38 minutes tonight to make it a school-record 4,098 career minutes played. He passed Dwight Lewis who played 4,069 career minutes from 2007-10.  Derryck Thornton made first three free throws tonight before missing to start 21-for-21 on the season. His first miss came at the 8:19 mark of the second half, to drop him to 21 of 22 on the season.  With his 4 assists tonight, Jordan McLaughlin now has with 689 assists, sixth on the Pac-12 all-time list. Brandon Granville (USC) is fifth with 779 career assist and is USC’s all-time leader in assists. McLaughlin has had 20 games with 7 or more assists this season. He ran his nation-leading streak to 68 consecutive games with at least three assists.  Jordan McLaughlin scored 19 points tonight, his highest total since scoring 20 vs. Colorado on Jan. 10.  Chimezie Metu scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season and 17th of his career.  Shaqquan Aaron scored 9 points tonight, his most since scoring a season-high 14 points at UCLA on Feb. 3.  ’s 34 points were the most scored by a USC opponent this season.  Tonight’s game was a sellout of 10,258, USC’s first sellout of the season. The Trojans’ last sellout was Jan. 25, 2017 vs. No. 7/No. 8 UCLA. USC won that game 84-76.  USC’s next game will be in the Pac-12 quarterfinals vs. the winner of No. 7 seed Washington and No. 10 seed Oregon State on March 8 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. at 6 p.m.

ANDY ENFIELD QUOTES: “It was a tough game for us. UCLA played extremely well offensively. They hit shot after shot in that run. It was hard stopping them. I’m proud of our team, they finished in second place in the Pac-12. This game won’t define our season. UCLA played well. Give them credit. We tried our best to stop Holiday and Wilkes. We missed a lot of open shots, a lot of 3s, a lot of shots at the rim. They outplayed us the last 10 minutes.

“Holiday is a very good player. He split ball screens and got in the lane.

“We’re all disappointed, especially being senior night. At the same time, we have a lot to play for in Las Vegas.

“Our league is extremely deep. That is why I think our accomplishment of coming in second is tremendous.

Our players have achieved a lot this year. We had a lot of good wins. We just have to stay focused and try to do our best in Las Vegas.”

USC SPORTS INFORMATION OFFICE • HER 103 • LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90089-0601 TELEPHONE: (213) 740-8480 • FAX: (213) 740-7584 • WEB: USCTROJANS.COM

JORDAN McLAUGHLIN QUOTES: “Every loss is tough, especially against your rival and on senior night too. We just couldn’t get stops. “Holiday is a good player. He won the battle. He was just being aggressive, getting in the paint and knocking down shots.

“I was just staying aggressive, taking what the defense gave me. Then they switched and put a bigger guy on me.”

ELIJAH STEWART QUOTES: “In the Pac-12, anyone is vulnerable.

“Coming in, I was trying to stay mellow, not get emotional. It was a rollercoaster, up 10, then down. Nowhere in the game did we think we’d lose.”

UCLA HEAD COACH STEVE ALFORD QUOTES: "Really happy and proud of the guys. We were undermanned again and I thought guys just stepped up. All of them had great effort, Wilkes and Holiday in particular."

"[Holiday] has been giving us effort all year long and for him to get 34 in this building with all the things that were going on, just with the pressure and magnitude of the game, it speaks volumes to just how special a player he is."

"We just had to be a little more patient on offense. We knew they were going to mix their defenses and we struggled with that a little bit early, but then we got into a pretty good rhythm to end the half.

"He's [McLaughlin] special. He's a special player."

"It was a battle to get this win and get another road win. It puts us in a great situation. Now we'll get a little rest and get back to work Monday."

"It's huge [for the Pac-12 Tournament]. You get a road win this time of year and you do that against a team like USC. They've only lost one game in here. Washington beat them to start the season and they hadn't lost [at home] since. So, against one of the top two teams in our league we went 2-0 and I think that bodes very well for us."

"We held them to five threes. When we hold them to five and we make 13, those are the types of numbers we're looking for."