Indiana tries to close out a perfect Los Angeles road swing Tuesday when it visits Southern California for a Big Ten Conference clash.
The Trojans (16-6, 5-6 Big Ten) and Hoosiers (15-7, 6-5) are embroiled in a heated middle-of-the-pack race ahead of the final month of the regular season, each looking to gain ground ahead of next month’s Big Ten tournament in Chicago.
Indiana comes into Tuesday’s contest on a three-game winning streak after surviving a double-overtime marathon at UCLA, 98-97. Nick Dorn scored 26 points and Lamar Wilkerson added 24, combining to hit nine 3-pointers as the Hoosiers rallied from squandering a 10-point lead in the final 91 seconds of regulation.
“Road wins are hard, in this league especially,” Indiana coach Darian DeVries said on his postgame radio show. “Whatever you have to do, we’ll take it.”
The Hoosiers have won two straight Big Ten road games heading into Tuesday, beating Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., to ignite their current overall three-game winning streak.
They face a USC squad that rebounded from back-to-back home losses with its last outing, a 78-75 defeat of Rutgers on Saturday.
USC led almost wire-to-wire, but needed a late-game steal by Chad Baker-Mazara to prevent the Scarlet Knights from forcing overtime after the Trojans squandered most of a late, 17-point lead.
“We’re 6-1 in games decided by one possession, which is the best in the country,” USC coach Eric Musselman said.
The one loss came last week after a rally from down 17 points at Iowa fell just short in a 73-72 Trojans loss.
The USC post tandem of Ezra Ausar and Jacob Cofie combined for big performances against Rutgers, with Ausar going for a team-high 21 points and Cofie’s 10 rebounds marking his fourth game in the last five with a double-digit total on the glass.
Ausar and Cofie are USC’s second- and third-leading scorers at 16.1 and 9.9 points per game, following Baker-Mazara’s team-best 18.8.
While USC and Indiana have similar offensive production — with the Trojans shooting 47.1% from the floor en route to 81.5 points per game, and the Hoosiers connecting 47% from the field for an identical 81.5-ppg average — Ausar and Cofie’s interior scoring contributions contrast with Indiana’s perimeter-oriented approach.
Top-scoring Hoosiers Wilkerson (19.6 points per game), Tucker DeVries (14.1) and Tayton Conerway (11.2) will test a USC backcourt still integrating highly touted freshman Alijah Arenas into the lineup.
–Field Level Media
