NCAA Tournament Notes Game 4.Indd
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USC Men’s Basketball Release • Game No. 33 • USC Trojans (25-7, 15-5) vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs (29-0, 15-0) • March 30, 2021 • • 2021 NCAA Tournament • Elite Eight Game • Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Ind. • University of Southern California Sports Information Offi ce, Heritage Hall 103A, L.A., CA 90089-0601 - Phone: (213) 740-8480 - Fax: (213) 740-7584 2020-21 USC Schedule USC FACES UNDEFEATED GONZAGA IN ELITE 8 Date Opponent Result/Time • No. 23 USC Has Won 20+ Games For 5th Time In 6 Seasons • 11/25 Cal Baptist W, 95-87 (OT) 11/28 Montana W, 76-64 TONIGHT’S GAME -- The No. 6 seed USC Trojans (25-7, 15-5) will face the No. 1 overall 12/1 ^vs. BYU W, 79-53 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs (29-0, 15-0) in an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight game at Lucas Oil 12/3 ^vs. UConn/Vanderbilt L, 58-61 Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. on March 30 at 4:15 p.m. PT. The game will air on TBS with Kevin 12/8 UC Irvine W, 91-56 Harlan and Dan Bonner calling the action, and Dana Jacobson providing courtside reports. It will 12/13 Stanford Ppd. also be on Westwood One Radio with Kevin Kugler and P.J. Carlesimo calling the action. USC 12/16 San Francisco Canceled has won 20 or more games for the fi fth time in its last six seasons under Andy Enfi eld. USC’s 25 12/20 at Oregon State Ppd. wins are tied for the second most in school history (25-12 in 2007) and one behind the school 12/23 Texas Southern Canceled record of 26 wins set in 2017 (26-10). 12/29 Santa Clara W, 86-63 USC IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT - USC is 17-19* all-time in NCAA Tournament ac- 12/31 Colorado L, 62-72 tion (*1 loss in 2008 vacated due to NCAA penalty, original record 17-20). USC was last in the 1/2 Utah W, 64-46 tournament in 2017 when the Trojans went 2-1, defeating Providence 75-71 in a First Four game 1/7 at Arizona W, 87-73 and SMU 66-65 in a fi rst-round game, before falling 84-78 to Baylor in the second-round. USC 1/9 at Arizona State W, 73-64 is 5-2 in the NCAA Tournament under head coach Andy Enfi eld, the most NCAA Tournament 1/12 UC Riverside W, 67-62 (OT) wins ever by a USC head coach. The only player on USC’s roster who previously had played 1/14 Washington W, 95-68 in the NCAA Tournament was forward Chevez Goodwin who played for Woff ord in 2019 which 1/16 Washington State W, 85-77 defeated Seton Hall before losing to Kentucky. USC’s No. 6 seed is its highest since also being 1/19 at Oregon State L, 56-58 a No. 6 seed in 2008. USC is now 8-5 against this year’s NCAA fi eld. 1/21 at Stanford Ppd. BREAKING DOWN GONZAGA -- The Gonzaga Bulldogs (29-0, 15-0) are coming off an 1/23 at California W, 76-68 83-65 win over Creighton on March 28. Only one team the Bulldogs faced this season has kept 1/28 Oregon State W, 75-62 the game within 10 points as West Virginia lost 87-82 on Dec. 2. Gonzaga has seven players 1/30 Oregon Ppd. averaging at least 7.4 points, led by Corey Kispert (19.0 ppg) and Drew Timmie (18.9 ppg). USC 2/2 at Stanford W, 72-66 is 2-0 all-time against Gonzaga, winning 77-60 in the 1992 season and 77-59 in the 1993 season. 2/6 UCLA W, 66-48 USC BEATS CONFERENCE FOE OREGON, ADVANCES TO ELITE EIGHT -- 2/11 at Washington W, 69-54 Isaiah White made a career-best four 3-pointers and matched a seaon-best with 22 points and 2/13 at Washington State W, 76-65 Tahj Eaddy added 20 points to lead No. 6 seed USC to an 82-68 win over No. 7 seed Oregon 2/17 Arizona State W, 89-71 on March 28 in a Sweet 16 game. USC trailed 13-9 early in the game and led 21-19 with just 2/20 Arizona L, 72-81 under eight minutes left in the fi rst half, but fi nished on a 20-7 run before the break to take a 41- 2/22 Oregon W, 72-58 26 lead. USC led by 21 points with 10 minutes remaining in the game, but Oregon closed it to 69-60 with 3:54 remaining. Eaddy then hit a 3-pointer with 3:22 left to end the Ducks run. Isaiah 2/25 at Colorado L, 62-80 Mobley added 13 points and 6 rebounds, while Evan Mobley had 10 points, 8 rebounds and a 2/27 at Utah L, 61-71 team-leading 6 assists. USC held Oregon to 37.7 percent shooting while making 57.4 percent 3/3 Stanford W, 79-42 of its own shots. USC also held the Pac-12’s top 3-point shooting team to 23.8 percent from 3/6 at UCLA W, 64-63 beyond the arc. USC made 10 of 17 three-pointers for 58.8 percent. The win advances USC 3/11 vs. Utah W, 91-85 (2OT) to its fourth Elite Eight in school history and its fi rst since the 2001 team lost in the Elite Eight to 3/12 vs. Colorado L, 70-72 Duke. USC’s +64 point diff erential is the second-most by a seed No. 6 or higher behind only No. 7 seed Florida in 2012 (70 points). USC had defeated Oregon 72-58 in its only previous meeting 3/20 vs. Drake W, 72-56 this season, but Oregon won the regular season Pac-12 title by percentage points as USC was 3/22 vs. Kansas W, 85-51 15-5 and Oregon 14-4 in conference play. 3/28 vs. Oregon W, 82-68 3/30 vs. Gonzaga 7:15 p.m. USC IN THE ELITE EIGHT -- USC is playing in its fourth Elite Eight in school history and ^ Legends Classic (Uncasville, Conn.) fi rst since the 2001 season. USC also reached the Elite Eight in 1940 (8 teams total in the tournament) and 1954. USC has been in the Final Four twice, 1954 and 1940. -- Home Games in Bold , All times local to site -- 2021 Pac-12 Tournament (Las Vegas, Nev.) MOBLEY’S HISTORIC HAUL OF PAC-12 AWARDS -- Evan Mobley was named the 2020-21 Pac-12 Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year on 3/10 First Round March 9. He became the fi rst Pac-12 player to win all three awards in a single season and joined 3/11 Quarterfi nals Anthony Davis of Kentucky (2011-12) as the only other major conference player to accomplish 3/12 Semifi nals the feat. Mobley joins Shareef Abdur-Rahim (California, 1996), Kevin Love (UCLA, 2008) and 3/13 Finals Deandre Ayton (Arizona, 2018) to win the Pac-12 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year 2021 NCAA Tournament Awards in the same season. The only player to double as Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year was Gary Payton (Oregon State, 1987). Mobley became USC’s fourth confer- 3/16-17 First Four ence Player of the Year (Wayne Carlander - 1985, Harold Miner - 1992 and Sam Clancy - 2002). 3/18-21 First and Second Rounds Mobley also becomes USC’s second Conference Freshman of the Year, joining Miner who won 3/25-28 Regional Semifi nals & Finals the award in 1990. Mobley is the third USC player to be selected as the top defensive player in 4/3, 4/5 Final Four, Championship (Indianapolis, Ind.) the Pac-12, joining Marcus Simmons (2011) and Taj Gibson (2009). USC Quick Facts THE UNICORN -- USC freshman Evan Mobley, who is averaging 16.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, Location: Los Angeles, Calif. 2.4 assists and 3.0 blocks, is the only Division I player to be averaging at least 16.0 points, 8.5 Enrolment: 48,500 (20,500 undergraduates) rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 2.0 assists. In USC’s three NCAA Tournament games, the versatile Nickname: Trojans forward is averaging 12.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.7 blocks per game, while Colors: Cardinal and Gold making 55.6 percent of his shots. Head Coach: Andy Enfi eld (8th year at USC) Associate HC: Jason Hart (8th year at USC) ENFIELD NAMED PAC-12 COACH OF THE YEAR -- USC head coach Andy Enfi eld Assistant Coaches:, Chris Capko (7th year was named the 2021 John R. Wooden Pac-12 Coach of the Year recipient as he guided the at USC, 5th as assistant), Eric Mobley (3rd year Trojans to a 22-7 regular season record and second place in the Pac-12 with a 15-5 record, at USC) percentage points behind Oregon (14-4). USC’s current 25 victories are the most by a Pac-12 team and only six Division I teams have won more games this season through games on March BROADCAST NEWS 28. Enfi eld has guided the Trojans to a 157-109 record in his eight seasons as USC’s head coach, March 30 - CBS with Kevin Harlan (pxp), Dan the fourth most wins in school history.