USC Men’s Basketball Release Game No. 31 • USC vs. Washington State • March 3, 2012 University of Southern California Sports Information Offi ce, Heritage Hall 103, L.A., CA 90089-0601 - Phone: (213) 740-8480 - Fax: (213) 740-7584 2011-12 USC Schedule USC PLAYS FINAL HOME GAME SATURDAY VS. WSU Date Opponent Result/Time • Will Play Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. in Pac-12 Tourney • 11/11 CS Northridge W, 66-59 -- USC (6-24, 1-16) will host Washington State (14-15, 6-11) at the Galen 11/14 Nebraska L, 61-64 (2OT) TODAY’S GAME Center on March 3 at 3 p.m. The game will be streamed live and for free on USCTrojans.com. 11/17 at San Diego State L, 54-56 USC has lost eight consecutive games and is 1-17 in its last 18 games. Today is Senior Day 11/19 *Cal Poly L, 36-42 with Trojan senior guard Eric Strangis and senior managers Doug Cottier and Chris Steele being 11/22 *Morgan State W, 65-62 honored before the game. 11/25 ^vs. UNLV L, 55-66 11/26 ^ vs.South Carolina W, 63-60 BREAKING DOWN THE COUGARS -- The Cougars are led in scoring by junior forward 11/30 at UC Riverside W, 56-35 Brock Motum who averages 17.8 points per game. WSU defeated USC 60-53 on Feb. 2 in Pull- 12/3 at Minnesota L, 40-55 man, Wash., but the Trojans lead 67-45 in the all-time series. Washington State is coming off a 12/10 New Mexico L, 41-44 78-46 loss at UCLA on March 1 and is 1-7 in conference road games this season. 12/17 Georgia L, 59-63 TROJANS FALL TO WASHINGTON -- Washington scored an opponent-high in points in 12/19 TCU W, 83-59 cruising to an 80-58 win over the Trojans at the Galen Center on March 1. Washington led 40-26 12/22 Kansas L, 47-63 at the break on the strength of outrebounding USC 30-10 in the fi rst half. The 40 points allowed 12/29 at California L, 49-53 in the fi rst half were the most scored by a Trojan opponent this season. USC battled back to 12/31 at Stanford L, 43-51 1/5 Arizona State L, 53-62 cut the score to 49-40 with 13 minutes left in the game, but the Huskies responded with a 7-0 1/8 Arizona L, 46-57 run to take back command of the game. Bryron Wesley led USC with a career-high 23 points, 1/15 UCLA L, 47-66 while Garret Jackson chipped in with 14. James Blasczyk added a career-high 10 points. Ter- 1/19 at Oregon L, 62-65 rence Ross led Washington with 18 points. Washington ended up with a 49-23 rebound bulge, 1/21 at Oregon State L, 59-78 including hauling down 20 offensive boards. USC’s 45.1 percent shooting was its highest since 1/26 Colorado L, 50-74 hitting 48.0 percent vs. Utah in its only Pac-12 win on Jan. 28 and it was just the sixth time in 1/28 Utah W, 62-45 the last 22 games that the Trojans shot above 40 percent from the fi eld. 2/2 at Washington State L, 53-60 PAC-12 TOURNAMENT ON DECK -- USC will play in the Pac-12 Tournament on March 2/4 at Washington L, 41-69 7 at 2:30 p.m. at the Staple Center. What isn’t decided yet is who the Trojans’ opponent will be. 2/9 California L, 49-75 The game will be broadcast on 690 AM and televised on FSN. 2/12 Stanford L, 47-59 2/15 at UCLA L, 54-64 TROJANS STINGY WITH TURNOVERS - As a young team playing with no senior 2/23 at Arizona L, 54-70 scholarship players and just three scholarship players who had played in the USC system before, 2/25 at Arizona State L, 52-56 USC has committed just 10.8 turnovers per game, tied for 15th-best in the country. USC has 3/1 Washington L, 58-80 had 9 or less turnovers in 12 of the last 15 games and has had 12 or less turnovers 22 times. 3/3 Washington State 3:00 p.m USC is tops in the Pac-12 with a +4.5 turnover margin. USC has committed 135 less turnovers than its opponents. ^ Las Vegas Invitational (Las Vegas, Nev.) * Las Vegas Invitational (at school sites) WESLEY AMONG FRESHMAN LEADERS - USC wing Byron Wesley ranks among the top Pac-12 freshmen in six different category averages: scoring (9.6, 4th), rebounds (5.0, T-4th), -- Home Games in Bold -- defensive rebounds (4.1, 2nd), assists (1.8, 8th), steals (0.8, 7th) and minutes (34.5, 1st). He -- All times local to site -- has gotten better as the season has progress, registering a career high in points in each of his last three games (18, 22 and 23) for an average of 21 points per game in that stretch. 2012 Pac-12 Tournament 3/7 First Round MOJO, MAN OF STEAL - Sophomore guard Maurice Jones has 121 career steals, already 3/8 Quarter Finals ninth on the Trojans’ all-time steals list. Jones’ 69 steals last season set a USC freshman record 3/9 Semi Finals and his 52 so far this season already rank fourth all-time by a Trojan sophomore. Jones currently 3/10 Finals ranks fourth among active Pac-12 players in career steals, the only sophomore in the top 10. 2012 NCAA Tournament MIGHTY MO - USC’s Maurice Jones (38.1) is one of nine players in the country averaging 3/15-18 First and Second Rounds 38.0 or more minutes per game. Also, Jones’ 13.3 points per game average ranks eighth 3/22-25 Regionals in the conference, but in terms of percentage of a teams’ scoring, he is second in the 3/31, 4/2 Final Four, Championship conference at 24.1 percent. Washington State’s Brock Motum leads all players, scoring 25.7 percent of the Cougars’ points. USC Quick Facts Washington State Cougars Probable Starters Location: Los Angeles, Calif. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Class Hometown PPG RPG Enrolment: 37,000 (17,500 undergraduates) G 0 Marcus Capers 6-4 179 Sr. Winter Haven, Fla. 5.6 4.8 Nickname: Trojans G 1 Reggie Moore 6-1 178 Jr. Seattle, Wash. 9.2 2.5 Colors: Cardinal and Gold G 3 DaVonte Lacy 6-3 206 Fr. Tacoma, Wash. 9.0 2.0 Head Coach: Kevin O’Neill (3rd year at USC) F 12 Brock Motum 6-10 245 Jr. Bisbane, Australia 17.8 6.6 Assistant Coaches: Bob Cantu (11th year at F 31 Abe Lodwick 6-7 215 Sr.* Bend, Ore. 5.5 3.8 USC, Assoc. HC), Tony Miller (3rd year at USC), Dieter Horton (2nd year at USC) USC Trojans Probable Starters Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Class Hometown PPG RPG BROADCAST NEWS G 3 Alexis Moore 6-2 180 Fr. Long Beach, Calif. 4.3 2.1 March 3 - USCTrojans.com (free)/ESPN Radio 710 G 10 Maurice Jones 5-7 155 So. Saginaw, Mich 13.3 2.5 UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENTS G 25 Byron Wesley 6-5 210 Fr. Etiwanda, Calif. 9.6 5.0 March 3 - Maurice Jones Bobblehead to fi rst 2000 F 33 Garrett Jackson 6-7 225 So. Portland, Ore. 6.8 3.0 fans in the door C 31 James Blasczyk 7-1 260 Jr.* Friendswood, Texas 3.3 2.9 - Senior Day/Fan Appreciation Giveaways * utilized redshirt season KO’S CORNER -- Kevin O’Neill was named the USC head coach on June 20, 2009 and brought with him a tireless energy, a brilliant basketball mind and a vast depth of experience at both USC INFORMATION the collegiate and NBA levels. He has had highly successful stops as a coach or head coach at both the college and NBA levels which have helped him develop strong NBA ties and some impressive OUTLETS defensive systems. In three seasons at the helm of the USC program, O’Neill has compiled a 41-53 record. He guided USC to a 19-15 record and into the NCAA Tournament last season. The Trojans TROJANS ON THE WEB fi nished tied for fourth in the Pac-10 conference and reached the Pac-10 semifi nals. Along the way Current and historical USC men’s he oversaw the development of NBA fi rst round draft selection Nikola Vucevic, who went from av- baskeball information, as well as news, eraging 2.6 points per game prior to O’Neill’s arrival to averaging 17.1 points, a conference-leading statistics, features and cybercasts of the 10.3 rebounds and fi rst team all-conference honors. In his fi rst season in 2009-10, O’Neill led USC USC games can be found at the USC to a 16-14 record and a fi fth-place tie in the Pac-10 Conference. He was named the 2010 Pac-10 website: www.usctrojans.com. Coach of the Year by CollegeInsiders.com. USC was in the hunt for the conference title until the fi nal two weeks of the season, despite playing the second half of the year under the knowledge that self- The Pac-12 Conference web site ad- imposed sanctions would prohibit them from postseason play. O’Neill brings 14 years of collegiate dress is: www.pac-12.org.