Washington St.-USC: Preview

The USC Trojans will be flying high into Pullman for their game with Washington State Saturday afternoon.

USC is coming off another impressive win on the road. This time they have defeated the UW Huskies, a team that many experts felt would be an upper tier PAC-10 team before the season started. The Dawgs looked like puppies last night, getting their noses smacked by OJ Mayo and company, 73-59.

Yes, OJ Mayo is playing up to all the pre-season hype. After pouring in 29 points last night, his season scoring average is up to 20.5 points per game. Though OJ is making an unimpressive 44% of his field goal attempts, some of that can be attributed to opposition defenses focusing on him. He’s anything but a prima donna, averaging 36.5 minutes per game.  That effort is significantly greater than any of his teammates.

USC vs WSU

Site: Friel Court, Pullman, WA

Tipoff: 12:30pm

Television: ABC TV

Online: Gametracker

Speaking of scoring, four of the five starters for USC are averaging in double digits.  The exception is Daniel Hackett who is just below that benchmark with 9.7 points per game. And as a team, the Trojans put up close to 70 points a game.

After a porous start, Coach Tim Floyd has his troops playing some pretty good defense. With the exception of their matchup with Oregon, defense has been the hallmark of the Trojans' conference play.  Don’t be fooled by the 61 points they give up per game; the guys in cardinal and gold are playing tough on both ends of the court.  Also keep in mind that they are the only team in the Pac-10 to hand UCLA a conference loss. And that was on the Bruins' court in Pauley Pavilion.

Coach Floyd uses a defensive scheme that takes advantage of the superb athletic ability of big men Davon Jefferson and Taj Gibson. They are genuine shot blockers. For example, they each rejected 4 Husky shots last game, something that is a regular happening for any opponent trying to take shots in the paint. Jefferson was riding the pine for disciplinary reasons when the Cougs defeated the Trojans in Los Angeles, so this will be their first look at the outstanding freshman.

Turns out it was good fortune to catch the Trojans early in the Cougars PAC-10 schedule. USC has only one PAC-10 loss since that game, falling to Arizona in Tucson. It would be fair to say that they are coming together as a team rather than a collection of talented players.

Though there’s plenty of season remaining, many folks are crying out about this game being a “must win” for Washington State. Fortunately, Coach Tony Bennett does a great job getting his team ready for play. Worrying about securing a “must win” won’t be part of the Cougars preparation. Playing their game and working to take advantage of the few weaknesses of the Trojans. That’s how WSU will prepare.

Here’s the question. Will Coach Floyd be able to avoid having his players fall in love with their press clippings? We’ll find out.

GO COUGS!!!