GAME: Washington (13-10 overall, 5-5, Pac-12) at USC (10-13 overall, 5-5 Pac-12). WHEN: Sunday, 7 p.m., Galen Center, Los Angeles. TYPE: Conference. MEETING: 137th (series tied 68-68). STREAKS: UW L 1; USC W 2. RANKINGS: Neither school ranked. COACHES: Lorenzo Romar, Washington; Bob Cantu, USC. TV: ROOT. RADIO: KJR 950 AM
The USC team that Washington faces Sunday is not impressive statistically. The Trojans rank near the bottom of the Pac-12 in just about every category that matters, including scoring offense (10th), scoring defense (10th), scoring margin (12th), field goal percentage (10th), 3-point percentage (8th) and rebounding (11th).
It’s actually worse than that. USC’s opponents have made 144 three-pointers to the Trojans’ 122 and have made 66 more free throws. In 10 conference games, USC has been called for 50 more fouls than its opponents, which has led to 59 more points.
Even with all those negatives, USC is 6-5 in its last 11 games, 3-3 under interim head coach Bob Cantu and has a 75-71 victory over UCLA to its credit. Washington, meanwhile, has lost five of its past six, including a buzzer-beater setback to UCLA Thursday.
The USC player most likely to occupy Washington’s attention Sunday is redshirt senior Eric Wise, a stat stuffer who ranks among the Trojans’ leaders in most categories while averaging 12.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Among USC players, he is first in field goals made (109) and points (283), second in rebounds (127), free throws made (45), and steals (20), and third in blocks (9) and assists (41).
Wise has been USC’s leading scorer in 10 of the 23 games and been the second-leading scorer four times. He also has scored in double figures in 18 of 23 games. He notched his third double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds at UCLA Jan. 30.
Washington is 3-3 all-time at the Galen Center and ts seeking to avoid a sweep by the Los Angeles schools, which has occurred four times in Lorenzo Romar’s tenure (2007, 2008, 2010).
Washington has a 5-6 record against the RPI Top 100, but a 1-6 mark against the RPI Top 50, and an 0-3 record against AP ranked teams. While the Huskies have a single quality win against RPI #25 Colorado, they also have four bad losses to RPI #166 Oregon State, RPI #161 Utah, RPI #125 Nevada, and RPI #178 Albany.
SERIES: Dates to Feb. 26, 1925, when the Huskies won 40-23 in Los Angeles. Washington has won two in a row from the Trojans and three of the past four. In the last meeting, March 1, 2012, Terrence Ross had 18 points and seven rebounds and Darnell Gant 14 points and nine rebounds as the Huskies pummeled USC 80-58 to clinch a share of the regular-season Pac-12 championship.
UW STATS / NOTES
- SEASON SUMMARY: Record: 13-10. Home: 8-5. Road: 4-4. Neutral: 1-1. Vs. Pac-12: 5-5. Vs. Pac-12 North: 3-2. Vs. Pac-12 South: 2-3. Vs. Non-Conference: 8-5. Points: 1594 (69.3). Field Goal Pct.: 44.0. 3-Pt. FG Pct.: 34.5. Free Throw Pct.: 69.4. Rebounds: 836 (36.3). Assists: 271 (11.8). Turnovers: 308 (13.4). Steals: 113 (4.9). Blocks: 101 (4.4). Points Against: 1540 (67.0). Opp. FG Pct.: 43.0. Opp. 3-Pt. FG Pct.: 33.2. Opp FT Pct.: 65.5. Opp. Rebounds: 752 (32.7). Opp. Assists: 279 (12.1). Opp. Turnovers: 289 (12.6). Opp. Steals: 150 (6.5). Opp. Blocks: 67 (2.9). Ratings Percentage Index (RPI): Ranked 72nd (71st last week). Stat Sheet Projection: No. 5 seed NIT.
- PAC-12 RANKINGS: Scoring Offense — 8th (69.3). Scoring Defense — 9th (67.0). Scoring Margin –11th (+2.3). FG Pct. — 9th (44.0). FT Pct. — 7th (69.4). 3-Pt FG Pct. — 5th (34.5). Rebound Margin — 4th (+3.7). Blocked Shots — 4th (4.4). Assists — 10th (11.8). Steals — 11th (4.9). Turnover Margin — 8th (-0.83).
- C.J. Wilcox (18.1) ranks 4th in Pac-12 scoring and Scott Suggs 24th at 12.0. Wilcox is 1st with 2.4 3-pointers per game T8 in 3-point percentage at 38.5.
- Wilcox is the 37th player in UW history to score 1,000 career points.
- Wilcox was named Pac-12 Player of the Week Jan. 14 after scoring 19 and 27 points, respectively, in road wins over California and Stanford.
- Senior Aziz N’Diaye, who had a career-high 16 points against Arizona State last week and a career-high 18 rebounds Thursday at UCLA, ranks 3rd in rebounding at 9.7 per game. N’Diaye also ranks 1st in offensive rebounds (3.6) and 1st (63.0) in field goal percentage. N’Diaye ranks third all-time in UW history with a 57.0 field goal percentage and has 13 career double-double (Huskies are 10-3 in those games).
- Washington’s 14-point halftime rally vs. Cal-State Fullerton was the team’s largest comeback at the half since Dec. 29, 2007 at LSU. The Huskies trailed 41-27 and won 74-66.
UW HEAD COACH: Lorenzo Romar (324-211 overall, 231-121 UW) is coming off a year in which the Huskies won the Pac-12 regular-season title. Romar has taken the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament six times and won three Pac-10 Tournament titles (2005, 2010, 2011). Romar, who signed a 10-year contract extension in April 2011, won his his 200th game at Washington Dec. 16, 2011. He had his 300th career victory and his 100th as a conference coach on Jan. 21, 2012. Romar was selected the Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.
Romar played for the Huskies under head coach Marv Harshman during the 1979-80 seasons (served as team captain his senior year), and had a five-year NBA career with Golden State (1981-84), Milwaukee (1984) and Detroit (1984-85). He became a college head coach at Pepperdine in 1997, where he coached for three seasons, then spent three years (1999-02) at St. Louis University before taking the Washington job in 2002-03.
2012-13 Washington Statistics
| Player | G | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C.J. Wilcox | 23 | 44.7 | 38.5 | 76.4 | 4.7 | 2.1 | 18.1 |
| Scott Suggs | 20 | 38.9 | 35.6 | 89.4 | 2.2 | 1.6 | 11.8 |
| Abdul Gaddy | 23 | 42.5 | 36.7 | 67.6 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 11.2 |
| Aziz N’Diaye | 23 | 63.0 | 0.00 | 45.7 | 9.7 | 0.3 | 10.7 |
| Andrew Andrews | 20 | 38.5 | 22.9 | 76.3 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 5.5 |
| Shawn Kemp | 16 | 50.0 | 0.00 | 62.5 | 2.4 | 0.2 | 5.2 |
| Desmond Simmons | 23 | 35.7 | 38.5 | 76.4 | 7.3 | 1.0 | 5.1 |
| Jenard Jarreau | 22 | 36.8 | 0.00 | 80.0 | 2.5 | 0.3 | 2.6 |
| Hikeem Stewart | 14 | 25.0 | 0.00 | 66.7 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| D. Overstreet | 3 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Martin Breunig | 8 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 50.0 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Q. Sterling | 3 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Total | 23 | 44.0 | 34.5 | 69.4 | 36.3 | 11.8 | 69.3 |
| Opponents | 23 | 43.0 | 33.2 | 65.5 | 32.7 | 12.1 | 67.0 |
USC NOTES: USC opened the season with a pair of victories, but then lost eight of 10. The Trojans fired Kevin O’Neill Jan. 14, a day after the Trojans lost to Oregon 76-74. USC has won three of five since, notably recording a 75-71 victory over UCLA . . . USC ranks 10th in the Pac-12 in scoring offense (66.0), 10th in scoring defense (67.1), 12th in scoring margin (-1.1), 10th in field goal percentage (42.9), 8th in 3-point percentage (34.2) and 11th in rebounding (35.6) . . . Junior Dewayne Dedmon leads the club in rebounding at 6.8 per game. Dedmon averages 2.1 blocks per game, which ranks third in the Pac-12 . . . Junior J.T. Terrell is USC’s best 3-point shooter, averaging 1.9 makes per game . . . The USC roster includes Tacoma native Zach Banner of Lakes High, a 335-pound freshman forward who also plays on the offensive line for the Trojans football team.
USC HEAD COACH: Bob Cantu, named interim head coach Jan. 14 replacing Kevin O’Neill, is in his 12th year with the program and in his 17th season overall on the collegiate level. Cantu joined USC in 2000-01 after serving as an assistant at Sacramento State. Cantu received his bachelor’s degree from Chapman University in 1987.
COMING UP: The Huskies return to Alaska Airlines Arena to host Oregon Wednesday and Oregon State Saturday.
University of Washington 2012-13 Schedule
(Rankings From Associated Press)
| Date | Opponent | UW Rnk | Opp Rnk | W/L | Score | Rec. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/11/12 | @vs. W. Washington | — | — | W | 88-78 | 0-0 |
| 11/11/12 | *vs. Loyola-MD. | — | — | W | 85-63 | 1-0 |
| 11/13/12 | *vs. Albany | — | — | L | 63-62 | 1-1 |
| 11/17/12 | *vs. Seton Hall | — | — | W | 84-73 | 2-1 |
| 11/18/12 | *vs. Ohio St. | — | 4 | L | 77-66 | 2-2 |
| 11/24/12 | vs. Colo. St. | — | — | L | 73-55 | 2-3 |
| 11/28/12 | vs. Saint Louis | — | — | W | 66-61 | 3-3 |
| 12/2/12 | vs. Cal-Fuller. | — | — | W | 74-72 | 4-3 |
| 12/8/12 | vs. Nevada | — | — | L | 76-73 | 4-4 |
| 12/13/12 | at Seattle U. | — | — | W | 87-74 | 5-4 |
| 12/15/12 | vs. Jackson St. | — | — | W | 75-67 | 6-4 |
| 12/20/12 | vs. Cal Poly | — | — | W | 75-62 | 7-4 |
| 12/22/12 | vs. N. Illinois | — | — | W | 67-57 | 8-4 |
| 12/29/12 | at Connecticut | — | — | L | 61-53 | 8-5 |
| 1/5/13 | at WSU | — | — | W | 68-63 | 9-5 |
| 1/9/13 | at California | — | — | W | 62-47 | 10-5 |
| 1/12/13 | at Stanford | — | — | W | 65-60 | 11-5 |
| 1/16/13 | vs. Colorado | — | — | W | 65-54 | 12-5 |
| 1/19/13 | vs. Utah | — | — | L | 74-65 | 12-6 |
| 1/23/13 | at Oregon St. | — | — | L | 74-66 | 12-7 |
| 1/26/13 | at Oregon | — | 16 | L | 81-76 | 12-8 |
| 1/31/13 | vs. Arizona | — | 8 | L | 57-53 | 12-9 |
| 2/2/13 | vs. ASU | — | — | W | 96-92 | 13-9 |
| 2/7/13 | at UCLA | — | — | L | 59-57 | 13-10 |
| 2/10/13 | at USC | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/13/13 | vs. Oregon | — | 19 | — | — | — |
| 2/16/13 | vs. Oregon St. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2/20/13 | at Arizona | — | 7 | — | — | — |
| 2/23/13 | at ASU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/3/13 | vs. WSU | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/6/13 | vs. USC | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/9/13 | vs. UCLA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/13/13 | ^First Round | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/14/13 | ^Quarterfinal | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/15/13 | ^Semifinal | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/16/13 | ^Championship | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/19/13 | #1st Four | — | — | — | — | |
| 3/21/13 | #2nd-3rd Rnds. | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3/28/13 | #Regionals | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4/6/13 | #Final 4 Semi | — | — | — | — | — |
| 4/8/13 | #Final 4 Champ. | — | — | — | — | — |
@=Exhibition; *=Hall of Fame Classic; ^=Pac-12 Tournament; #=NCAA Tournament