USC basketball coach Andy Enfield felt he had to remind everyone Thursday night that his 7-foot, 5-star freshman standout Evan Mobley is still learning on the job just nine games into his first season of college basketball.

"People forget, he's very talented but he's still a freshman and he only weighs about 210-215 pounds. So people think he's Superman -- he's not, he's a developing player like every other freshman," Enfield would say after this game. "He just happens to be 7-feet and very talented."

Mobley, meanwhile, had taken it upon himself the previous two hours to remind everybody exactly why such lofty expectations follow him onto the court each game -- just in case anyone had lost sight of that after his quiet outing against Utah the last time out.

On this night, Mobley most certainly made his presence felt while helping USC to an 87-73 win at Arizona with 19 points and 11 rebounds on 7-of-13 shooting with 0 turnovers.

It was the Trojans' first win at the McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz., since 2008, and according to USC it was the program's biggest win over the Wildcats in Arizona since 1927.

And so it was only fitting that the Trojans' biggest recruit with those big expectations night in and night out had a, well, big role in that.

USC (7-2, 2-1 Pac-12) had trailed by as many as 9 points early in the first half and led by as many 10 midway through the second half, but Arizona (9-2, 3-2) had the margin within 4 points with a little less than 5 minutes remaining Thursday night.

That's when Mobley truly took over.

The freshman phenom started with a smart read to pass the ball out of the low post toward the top of the key, where Drew Peterson hit a 3-pointer to push the Trojans' lead to 75-68.

On the next possession, Mobley started to drive toward the paint, lost control of his dribble, gathered the ball and calmly drained a turnaround jumper to make it a 9-point game. Two possessions later, he set a perfect off-ball screen to free Max Agbonkpolo on a clean back cut for an easy open layup off a feed from Peterson. And the next time down court, Mobley got great position down low to receive the ball and finished with a dunk to make it an 81-71 lead with 2:15 remaining.

"We tried to really get him the ball in scoring position or playmaking position, and I thought he just did an outstanding job tonight of being patient," Enfield said of Mobley. "He didn't leave his feet, he didn't flip balls around like he did against Colorado when he had 5 turnovers and missed a lot of shots. Tonight he grew up and I think he played a much better basketball game against a very physical team. ... He was special tonight offensively."

It wasn't just Mobley, of course. Far from it. USC had many key contributors in its best win of the season.

Isaiah White, the grad transfer forward, actually led USC with a season-high 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting while hitting 3 3-points to double his season total. Peterson had 7 points, 10 assists (with just 1 turnover) and 8 rebounds. Tahj Eaddy and Chevez Goodwin each chipped in 9 points, Noah Baumann had 8, Isaiah Mobley added 7 and Agbonkpolo scored 6.

That's now back-to-back lopsided Pac-12 wins for USC after a 64-46 win over Utah on Saturday.

"Huge road win for us over an exceptional basketball team," Enfield said. "Arizona has been so good at the McKale Center, and they had been 9-1 this year so we had our hands full. They're a very good team, they've got a great coaching staff and a great program, so to come in here and get a victory our kids deserve a lot of credit because they hung in there for 40 minutes and played great team basketball on both ends of the floor."

While it wasn't all about Evan Mobley, his storyline seemed the most significant subplot to the evening in a big-picture sense.

So much of USC's upside and potential this season hinges on the freshman phenom, and the last time out Utah had totally taken him out of the game by double-teaming him every time he touched the ball.

He ended up with zero field goal attempts, 3 points on free throws, 5 rebounds and 2 assists. He then started slow Thursday night as Arizona clogged the paint early on and played stout defense to build that quick lead. It didn't last, though, and Mobley looked aggressive, assertive and determined to leave his mark on this game.

"The Utah game he didn't play poorly, he was just not aggressive. He had some chances. Now Utah double-teamed him every time he touched the ball on the catch, and they doubled him in the low post, the mid post, the high post and also on the perimeter. They doubled him two or three times 20 feet from the basket, so they were running people at him and he just made the right plays. He didn't force things against Utah obviously because he didn't shoot the ball," Enfield said. "He got fouled a few times, but he also had some times where he could have made quick moves before the double came and he didn't do that. ...

"It's a learning process. He's a freshman, he's never had that where they're double-teaming him everywhere on the court as soon as he touches the ball. It can be frustrating, but we beat Utah by 18 points and so Evan was in the locker room happy as after every win. He didn't care about his scoring."

Enfield seemed to care, though, about making a point to get Mobley going Thursday night.

He was asked about that pivotal sequence -- from the assist on the Peterson 3 to the dunk to make it a 10-point lead late -- and what it was like watching Mobley take over the game.

"Well I wasn't sitting there watching -- I was standing up calling play after play to get Evan the ball," Enfield clarified. "We knew the way they were playing, they hard hedge on the ball screens and we tried to isolate him in space and get him the ball quickly. They would rotate their other big and come get him and then they would try to dig from their guards when he made a move. So he made the right plays."

Mobley also played a team-high 37 minutes as was especially needed with his brother Isaiah and Goodwin each fouling out of the game, thinning the frontcourt depth.

"This was not a game to rest Evan," Enfield said.

As for the rest of the cast, White had by far his best game as a Trojan. The previous season-high for the Utah Valley transfer was 12 points and he hadn't made multiple 3s in any game before hitting 3 of them in this one.

"He played a super all-around game and this was his best game as a Trojan," Enfield reiterated.

And Peterson just continues to prove to be a pivotal offseason pickup as a transfer from Rice. He now has two games with at least 9 assists, he has three games with at least 8 rebounds, and he's scored in double figures in four of the 10 games so far.

"We knew he could pass, shoot, dribble and also rebound at a pretty high level. He had 10 assists tonight, only 1 turnover. He's our best passer off ball screens because he's 6-7 1/2, he has great vision and he made a huge 3 tonight. He's a really good 3-point shooter -- he just doesn't shoot a ton of them, but he hit a huge one when we were up 4, put it to 7," Enfield said. "I thought that was a huge turning point in the game in the last 5 or 6 minutes. But to have 10 assists and 1 turnover at Arizona is a tremendous game for Drew."

And a tremendous game overall for this team.

While Azuolas Tubelis had a breakout game for Arizona with 31 points and 8 rebounds, the Wildcats' usual offensive leaders were held in check as James Akinjo finished scoreless on 0-of-9 shooting and Jemarl Baker had just 3 points on 1-of-7 shooting.

USC will look to keep it going Saturday at Arizona State.

"We were impressed as a coaching staff how resilient we were. We weren't playing perfect basketball, we gave up some defensive layups, transition early in the second half. Luckily we were scoring with them, and then it got tight late in the game. We kept getting some leads, and every time we got a 6, 8-point lead, they would score 4-5 straight points to cut it back down. So I thought our guys handled the adversity very well, especially in the first half when we got behind," Enfield said. "I think we were behind by 9 with 12:40 left in the first half and our players hung in there and chipped away at the lead and then finally took the lead. So I think we have matured a little bit as a basketball team. ... I think we're playing pretty good basketball right now."