TopFrog
Lifelong Frog
USCTrojans.com: USC Seeks Return To Winning Ways Against TCU Monday
No. 12 Kansas On Deck Thursday
Complete Game Notes
USC (4-7) will host TCU (7-3) at the Galen Center on Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. The game will be streamed live on USCTrojans.com and broadcast on 690 AM.
BREAKING DOWN THE HORNED FROGS -- TCU is 7-3 after falling in its last game 69-57 at home to Nebraska on Dec. 10. TCU has five players averaging 9.0 or more points through 10 games, led by senior guard Hank Thorns who averages 13.5 per game. USC met TCU for the first time ever last season and lost 81-69 in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU returns three starters and eight lettermen from that team.
USC SUFFERS ANOTHER CLOSE LOSS -- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 21 points and hit a key late 3-pointer to help Georgia beat USC 63-59 on Dec. 17 in the Galen Center in a rare West Coast appearance for the Bulldogs. Caldwell-Pope hit four 3-pointers, and Gerald Robinson scored 17 points for Georgia, which snapped a four-game losing skid. The Bulldogs, who hadn't shot better than 41.5 percent in their previous 7 games, shot a season-high 51 percent. They made 9 of 13 3-pointers. Alexis Moore scored a season-high 18 points to lead USC, while Maurice Jones had 11. Aaron Fuller added 10 points and 9 rebounds. The teams were tied at 25-all at the half and USC led by as many as 8 points in the second half.
KANSAS ON DECK -- USC will host No. 12 Kansas (7-2) at the Galen Center on Dec. 22 at 8 p.m. USC has played Kansas three times since the 2007 season, falling by 10 at Kansas in 2007, losing at home by four in 2008 and falling by two at Kansas last season. USC trails the all-time series with Kansas 5-10 and has lost six consecutive games to the Jayhawks. Kansas will face Davidson in Kansas City, Mo. on Dec. 19 before travelling to Los Angeles to face the Trojans. Kansas' only two losses this season have been to No. 3 Kentucky by 10 and No 7 Duke by seven points at the Maui Invitational. Kansas has been led in scoring and rebounding by junior forward Thomas Robinson who has averaged a double-double with 17.8 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. Senior guard Tyshawn Taylor averages 15.9 points but had arthrosopic knee surgery on Dec. 11 and is expected to miss 1-3 weeks of action.
A BIG HILL TO CLIMB -- When starting point guard and senior leader Jio Fontan went down with a knee injury in August it left USC with just 19.7 percent of its scoring returning and 12.4 percent of its rebounding returning entering the 2011-12 season. In terms of returning scoring for teams from BCS conferences (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12), only 3 schools: St. Johns (3.7 percent), Boston College (10.8 percent) and Texas (17.0 percent) have a lower percentage of returning production. There were only eight schools in the country which entered the season with less than 20 percent of its scoring returning from a season ago.
MIGHTY MO -- USC's Maurice Jones leads the country in minutes played per game, averaging 39.6 through the first 11 games. Only Zach Rosen of Penn (39.18) also averages more than 39 minutes per game. It is nothing new for Jones who averaged 38.2 minutes per game through 11 games last season and finished averaging 34.5 minutes played per game.
TERRELL'S BEEN A TERROR -- USC's top recruit JC guard J.T. Terrell has averaged 33.4 points through 7 games for No. 1 Peninsula JC (Wash.). He's hitting over 50 percent from the field and 42 percent from three-point range. In Peninsula's win on Dec. 3 vs. No. 7 Highline, Terrell hit a three-pointer for the lead and then added two free throws to seal the victory.
FRESHMAN FOUNDATION - USC freshmen guards Byron Wesley and Alexis Moore look to be providing the Trojans with good building blocks for the future. Through 11 games, Wesley is the fourth-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder on the team with averages of 6.2 and 4.1 respectively. He is also second on the team in assists with 17. Moore is fifth on the team with a 5.3 scoring average and is second on the team in three-point baskets. Wesley has started every game and his 32.5 minutes per game played are the most by a freshman in the Pac-12.
FACING THE BEST -- USC's 2011-12 schedule features 22 of 31 games against teams which finished the 2010-11 season with a record of .500 or better. Among the nonconference highlights are games against perennial national powers Kansas, UNLV, New Mexico, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Carolina and Georgia. Through games of Dec. 17, the teams USC has played are a combined 71-43 (62.3 winning percentage) and six of the 11 teams have three losses or less.
TROJANS TAKE ROUTE 66 -- USC has held its opponents to an average of 55.1 points per game (11th lowest in the country) and has not allowed an opponent to score more than 66 points this season. It is the first time USC has started a season holding the opposition to 66 points or less for the first 11 games since the 1948 season when it held all 24 opponents to under 66 points.
No. 12 Kansas On Deck Thursday
Complete Game Notes
USC (4-7) will host TCU (7-3) at the Galen Center on Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. The game will be streamed live on USCTrojans.com and broadcast on 690 AM.
BREAKING DOWN THE HORNED FROGS -- TCU is 7-3 after falling in its last game 69-57 at home to Nebraska on Dec. 10. TCU has five players averaging 9.0 or more points through 10 games, led by senior guard Hank Thorns who averages 13.5 per game. USC met TCU for the first time ever last season and lost 81-69 in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU returns three starters and eight lettermen from that team.
USC SUFFERS ANOTHER CLOSE LOSS -- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 21 points and hit a key late 3-pointer to help Georgia beat USC 63-59 on Dec. 17 in the Galen Center in a rare West Coast appearance for the Bulldogs. Caldwell-Pope hit four 3-pointers, and Gerald Robinson scored 17 points for Georgia, which snapped a four-game losing skid. The Bulldogs, who hadn't shot better than 41.5 percent in their previous 7 games, shot a season-high 51 percent. They made 9 of 13 3-pointers. Alexis Moore scored a season-high 18 points to lead USC, while Maurice Jones had 11. Aaron Fuller added 10 points and 9 rebounds. The teams were tied at 25-all at the half and USC led by as many as 8 points in the second half.
KANSAS ON DECK -- USC will host No. 12 Kansas (7-2) at the Galen Center on Dec. 22 at 8 p.m. USC has played Kansas three times since the 2007 season, falling by 10 at Kansas in 2007, losing at home by four in 2008 and falling by two at Kansas last season. USC trails the all-time series with Kansas 5-10 and has lost six consecutive games to the Jayhawks. Kansas will face Davidson in Kansas City, Mo. on Dec. 19 before travelling to Los Angeles to face the Trojans. Kansas' only two losses this season have been to No. 3 Kentucky by 10 and No 7 Duke by seven points at the Maui Invitational. Kansas has been led in scoring and rebounding by junior forward Thomas Robinson who has averaged a double-double with 17.8 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. Senior guard Tyshawn Taylor averages 15.9 points but had arthrosopic knee surgery on Dec. 11 and is expected to miss 1-3 weeks of action.
A BIG HILL TO CLIMB -- When starting point guard and senior leader Jio Fontan went down with a knee injury in August it left USC with just 19.7 percent of its scoring returning and 12.4 percent of its rebounding returning entering the 2011-12 season. In terms of returning scoring for teams from BCS conferences (ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12), only 3 schools: St. Johns (3.7 percent), Boston College (10.8 percent) and Texas (17.0 percent) have a lower percentage of returning production. There were only eight schools in the country which entered the season with less than 20 percent of its scoring returning from a season ago.
MIGHTY MO -- USC's Maurice Jones leads the country in minutes played per game, averaging 39.6 through the first 11 games. Only Zach Rosen of Penn (39.18) also averages more than 39 minutes per game. It is nothing new for Jones who averaged 38.2 minutes per game through 11 games last season and finished averaging 34.5 minutes played per game.
TERRELL'S BEEN A TERROR -- USC's top recruit JC guard J.T. Terrell has averaged 33.4 points through 7 games for No. 1 Peninsula JC (Wash.). He's hitting over 50 percent from the field and 42 percent from three-point range. In Peninsula's win on Dec. 3 vs. No. 7 Highline, Terrell hit a three-pointer for the lead and then added two free throws to seal the victory.
FRESHMAN FOUNDATION - USC freshmen guards Byron Wesley and Alexis Moore look to be providing the Trojans with good building blocks for the future. Through 11 games, Wesley is the fourth-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder on the team with averages of 6.2 and 4.1 respectively. He is also second on the team in assists with 17. Moore is fifth on the team with a 5.3 scoring average and is second on the team in three-point baskets. Wesley has started every game and his 32.5 minutes per game played are the most by a freshman in the Pac-12.
FACING THE BEST -- USC's 2011-12 schedule features 22 of 31 games against teams which finished the 2010-11 season with a record of .500 or better. Among the nonconference highlights are games against perennial national powers Kansas, UNLV, New Mexico, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Carolina and Georgia. Through games of Dec. 17, the teams USC has played are a combined 71-43 (62.3 winning percentage) and six of the 11 teams have three losses or less.
TROJANS TAKE ROUTE 66 -- USC has held its opponents to an average of 55.1 points per game (11th lowest in the country) and has not allowed an opponent to score more than 66 points this season. It is the first time USC has started a season holding the opposition to 66 points or less for the first 11 games since the 1948 season when it held all 24 opponents to under 66 points.
