USC Men’s Basketball Release • Game No. 31 • USC Trojans (23-7, 15-5) vs. Kansas Jayhawks (21-8, 12-6) • March 22, 2021 • • 2021 NCAA Tournament • Second-Round Game • Hinkle Fieldhouse, 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 TAKES ON KANSAS IN THE NCAA 2ND ROUND 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 (23-7, 15-5) will face the No. 3 seed 12/1 ^vs. BYU W, 79-53 Kansas Jayhawks (21-8, 12-6) in an NCAA Tournament second-round game at Hinkle Fieldhouse 12/3 ^vs. UConn/Vanderbilt L, 58-61 in Indianapolis, Ind. on March 22 at 6:40 p.m. PT. The game will air on CBS with Ian Eagle 12/8 UC Irvine W, 91-56 and Grant Hill calling the action, and Jamie Erdahl providing courtside reports. It will also be 12/13 Stanford Ppd. on Westwood One Radio with Jason Benetti and Robbie Hummel calling the action. USC has 12/16 San Francisco Canceled won 20 or more games for the fi fth time in its last six seasons under Andy Enfi eld. USC’s 23-7 12/20 at Oregon State Ppd. record is its best after 30 games since being 24-6 during the 1992 season. The 23 wins are tied 12/23 Texas Southern Canceled for the eighth most in school history. 12/29 Santa Clara W, 86-63 USC IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT - USC is 15-19* all-time in NCAA Tournament ac- 12/31 Colorado L, 62-72 tion (*1 loss in 2008 vacated due to NCAA penalty, original record 14-20). 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 is 1/9 at Arizona State W, 73-64 3-2 in the NCAA Tournament under head coach Andy Enfi eld. The only player on USC’s roster 1/12 UC Riverside W, 67-62 (OT) who previously had played in the NCAA Tournament was forward Chevez Goodwin who played 1/14 Washington W, 95-68 for Woff ord in 2019 which defeated Seton Hall before losing to Kentucky. USC’s No. 6 seed is its highest since also being a No. 6 seed in 2008. USC is now 6-5 against this year’s NCAA fi eld. 1/16 Washington State W, 85-77 1/19 at Oregon State L, 56-58 BREAKING DOWN No. 12 KANSAS -- The No. 12 Kansas Jayhawks (21-8, 12-6) won 1/21 at Stanford Ppd. its fi rst-round game 93-84 over Eastern Washington on March 20. Kansas has won 9 of its last 1/23 at California W, 76-68 10 games with its lone loss coming in overtime. Kansas has fi ve players averaging 9.9 points 1/28 Oregon State W, 75-62 or more, led by Ochai Agbaji who scores 14.4 points per game. Kansas leads the all-time series 1/30 Oregon Ppd. with USC 11-5, having won the last seven meetings, the most recent a 63-47 victory on Dec. 22, 2011. USC’s last victory in the series was a 89-83 overtime win on Dec. 21, 1978. Ten of the 16 2/2 at Stanford W, 72-66 games between the two schools have been decided by 10 points or less.The teams have met 2/6 UCLA W, 66-48 once in the NCAA Tournament, with Kansas beating USC 43-32 in 1940. The two schools were 2/11 at Washington W, 69-54 originally set to begin a home and home series this season with USC traveling to Kansas for a 2/13 at Washington State W, 76-65 Dec. 19 game, but that was before the schedules were re-worked due to COVID-19 considerations. 2/17 Arizona State W, 89-71 2/20 Arizona L, 72-81 DEFENSE STIFLES DRAKE IN 2ND HALF -- Evan Mobley had 17 points and 11 2/22 Oregon W, 72-58 rebounds, and No. 6 seed USC used smothering defense to earn a 72-56 victory over No. 11 2/25 at Colorado L, 62-80 seed Drake in the fi rst round of the NCAA Tournament on March 20. Evan Mobley made of 7 of 2/27 at Utah L, 61-71 15 fi eld goals and Isaiah Mobley added 15 points to lead USC. Drew Peterson added 14 points and 2 assists and USC improved to 20-0 this season when at least three Trojans score 10 or 3/3 Stanford W, 79-42 more points. Joseph Yesufu scored 26 points, 18 in the fi rst half to keep Drake in the game at 3/6 at UCLA W, 64-63 40-37 at halftime. USC tightened up the defense on Yesufu, holding him to 2-for-10 shooting in 3/11 vs. Utah W, 91-85 (2OT) the second half, and holding the Bulldogs to an 18.9 shooting percentage after the break. For 3/12 vs. Colorado L, 70-72 the game, USC held Drake to 29.4 percent shooting, while making 50 percent of its own shots. 3/20 vs. Drake W, 72-56 Yesufu hit his 6th 3-pointer to cut USC’s lead to 57-50 with 6:35 remaining,which led to a USC 3/22 vs. Kansas 9:40 p.m. timeout. Peterson came out of the timeout with a 3-pointer for USC, then Tahj Eaddy made a ^ Legends Classic (Uncasville, Conn.) three to push the advantage out to 13. Eaddy fi nished with 9 points and a season-best 10 as- sists. USC won for the fi rst time this season when being outrebounded (39-35), improving to -- Home Games in Bold , All times local to site -- 1-5. The 16-point victory was USC’s largest in the NCAA Tournament since defeating Boston 2021 Pac-12 Tournament (Las Vegas, Nev.) College 72-55 in the fi rst round of the 2009 Tournament. 3/10 First Round MOBLEY’S HISTORIC HAUL OF PAC-12 AWARDS -- Evan Mobley was named the 3/11 Quarterfi nals 2020-21 Pac-12 Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year on 3/12 Semifi nals March 9. He became the fi rst Pac-12 player to win all three awards in a single season and joined 3/13 Finals Anthony Davis of Kentucky (2011-12) as the only other major conference player to accomplish 2021 NCAA Tournament the feat. Mobley joins Shareef Abdur-Rahim (California, 1996), Kevin Love (UCLA, 2008) and Deandre Ayton (Arizona, 2018) to win the Pac-12 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year 3/16-17 First Four Awards in the same season. The only player to double as Freshman of the Year and Defensive 3/18-21 First and Second Rounds Player of the Year was Gary Payton (Oregon State, 1987). Mobley became USC’s fourth confer- 3/25-28 Regional Semifi nals & Finals ence Player of the Year (Wayne Carlander - 1985, Harold Miner - 1992 and Sam Clancy - 2002). 4/3, 4/5 Final Four, Championship (Indianapolis, Ind.) Mobley also becomes USC’s second Conference Freshman of the Year, joining Miner who won the award in 1990. Mobley is the third USC player to be selected as the top defensive player in USC Quick Facts the Pac-12, joining Marcus Simmons (2011) and Taj Gibson (2009). Location: Los Angeles, Calif. Enrolment: 48,500 (20,500 undergraduates) THE UNICORN -- USC freshman Evan Mobley, who is averaging 16.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, Nickname: Trojans 2.2 assists and 3.0 blocks, is the only Division I player to be averaging at least 16.5 points, 8.5 Colors: Cardinal and Gold rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 2.0 assists. 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 has guided the at USC, 5th as assistant), Eric Mobley (3rd year Trojans to a 22-7 record and second place in the Pac-12 with a 15-5 record, percentage points at USC) behind Oregon (14-4). USC’s 22 victories are tied for the most by a Pac-12 teams and only 11 Division I teams have won more games this season through games on March 13. Enfi eld has BROADCAST NEWS guided the Trojans to a 154-109 record in his eight seasons as USC’s head coach, the fourth March 22 - CBS with Ian Eagle (pxp), Grant Hill most wins in school history. The Trojans currently ranked No. 24 in the AP poll. Enfi eld is now (analyst) & Jamie Erdahl (courtside) fi ve wins away from picking up his 200th career victory, as he is 195-137 in 10 years as a col- - Westwood One with Jason Benetti (pxp) & lege head coach.