The Oregon Ducks and the USC Trojans will bring the heat of their Pac-12 rivalry into the NCAA Tournament, as they lock horns in a Sweet Sixteen showdown this coming weekend down in Indianapolis. Check out our preview of this game below.
After ending the college career of Luka Garza by eliminating the Iowa Hawkeyes in the second round via a 95-80 upset win. The Ducks capitalized on Iowa’s lame defense and shot 55.9 percent from the floor and 44.0 percent from behind the arc. The Ducks, who advanced to the second round, on a walkover past the VCU Rams due to COVID-19-related technicality, will look to carry over that form on offense against USC, which shut them down in a 72-58 loss on the road back in the regular season. Oregon has to be aggressive here and take the Trojans out of its comfort zone. On defense, the Ducks can be expected to be all over USC. Oregon is 23rd in the nation with a 7.2 steal percentage, while USC is 314th in opponents’ steal percentage (6.8).
Oregon is 5-0 in its last five games as the underdog and 6-1 ATS in its last seven overall.
Betting on the USC Trojans (-1.5)
Record: 24-7 Overall / 15-5 Conference
The Trojans laughed in the face of Big 12’s Kansas Jayhawks and eliminated Bill Sefl’s team via a dominant 85-51 win in the second round. Evan Mobley showed why he’s on his way to becoming a lottery pick in this year’s NBA Draft by scoring 10 points and grabbing 13 rebounds with three blocks in 27 minutes of action against Kansas. Mobley will be a matchup problem for Oregon, which will have to deal with the challenge presented by the big man. However, it wasn’t even Mobley that made the Ducks’ heads explode in the first meeting. Tahj Eaddy had 24 points with six threes in that game. Nevertheless, it’s going to be Mobley who will be the leader of this team, and his performance in the Kansas game could be taken as a preview of what he’s about to do this coming Sunday. The Trojans’ defense is another component of USC’s success, thus far. The Trojans own the best defense inside the arc in all of Division I basketball, letting opponents to shoot just 41.4 percent on 2-point shots.
