The No. 9 Oregon Ducks have all the motivation they need to win Saturday’s game against the USC Trojans. A win for the Ducks in Los Angeles will give them a solo share of the Pac-12 regular season title, which would be Oregon’s first since 2002. As for the Trojans, they are looking to notch their first 20-win season since 2008-09.
Read on for more about this game. You can also check out our preview of Georgetown vs. Villanova.
Oregon played like it’s the best team in the Pac-12 on Wednesday, beating UCLA on the road, 76-68.
Tyler Dorsey led the Ducks with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Dillon Brooks contributed 15 points, six boards, and four assists, as the Ducks won their fourth-straight game.
A chance for Oregon to finish its regular season schedule on a positive note comes later tonight at Galen Center, where the Ducks are 5-0 SU and 4-1 ATS in their last five trips dating back to 2010.
The Ducks’ 89-81 win over USC on January 21 saw Dorsey take a backseat to Elgin Cook, who waxed hot from the field, going 8-for-13 on his shots to finish with a game-high 26 points.
Cook is on some sort of scoring spree of late, as he’s averaged 20.0 points in his last four games. Oregon’s going to expect him to put up solid numbers opposite USC’s defense that has generously allowed opposing teams to score 80.3 in the past three games. Cook leads Oregon with 17.2 points per game.
Speaking of defense, Oregon will look for Chris Boucher and company to rule the boards again against the Trojans. Boucher had 16 points and nine rebounds. Oregon outrebounded USC in the first meeting, 43-38.
After three-straight losses, the Trojans finally have their shooting form back to end their slump and get back in the win column. Led by Jordan McLaughlin, the Trojans defeated Oregon State 81-70 on Wednesday to move into sixth place in the Pac-12 standings.
McLaughlin top scored for the Trojans with 17 points while also grabbing a team-high nine rebounds. Overall, the Trojans shot 46.9 percent from the floor, which was very much acceptable than the 40.0 FG% they had in the previous game, an 87-65 loss to California. McLaughlin, who leads the Trojans with 13.0 PPG, just had three points against Oregon in January, but Bennie Boatwright compensated with 23 points on 9-for-18 from the field.
Forward Nikola Jovanovic appeared to have gotten past an offensive slump, as he’s scored in double figures in back-to-back games after failing to do so in four straight contests. He is second on the team in scoring with 12.1 points per game. He had 11 points and seven rebounds against Oregon in the first meeting.
The Trojans also made 11 three-pointers against Oregon State. They should keep knocking those long bombs down against Oregon this Saturday to open up the Ducks’ tight interior defense. Oregon, which is second in the conference with 5.9 blocks per game, had seven rejections in the earlier matchup with USC.
USC is 9-1 SU and 6-4 ATS in its last 10 home games. The Ducks are 18th in the nation in points with 81.2 per game.
