Thursday, 7:30 p.m. vs. Arizona. Galen Center. TV: FSN. Radio: 710 AM, Sirius 130. Saturday, 7:30 p.m. vs. ASU. Galen Center. TV: Prime Ticket. Radio: 710 AM, Sirius 125.

Fresh off of a sweep of the state of Oregon, the USC Trojans return home to face the Arizona Wildcats and the Arizona State Sun Devils this week at the Galen Center. Up for grabs is 3rd place in the Pacific 10 conference, as all three teams are currently tied for that position at 4-3.

USC, which started the conference season at 0-3, is riding a 4-game conference winning streak, their first such streak since the 2001-02 season.

Records: USC (13-6, 4-3); Arizona (14-6, 4-3); ASU (14-5, 4-3).

Notable Wins Over Potential NCAA Tournament Teams: USC (UCLA, OU, at Oregon); Arizona (Texas A&M, WSU); ASU (Arizona, Xavier, Oregon).

Conference Ranks: Offense, Defense, Notable.

USC: 8th scoring offense (69.7 PPG); 5th scoring defense (61.5 PPG); 1st FG % defense (37.6 %).

UA: 4th scoring offense (73.9 PPG); 7th scoring defense (66.4 PPG); 2nd FG % offense (49.4%).

ASU: 7th scoring offense (70.1 PPG); 4th scoring defense (59.7 PPG); 1st steals (7.05 SPG).

G O.J. Mayo 19.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG.

F Davon Jefferson 12.5 PPG, 5.9 RPG.

G Daniel Hackett 11.1 PPG, 4.0 APG.

F Taj Gibson 9.6 PPG, 8.2 RPG.

G Jerryd Bayless 19.9 PPG, 4.6 APG.

F Chase Buddinger 17.7 PPG, 5.3 RPG.

F Jordan Hill 13.4 PPG, 8.2 RPG.

G Jawann McClellan 8.6 PPG, 3.0 APG.

G James Harden 18.8 PPG, 5.3 RPG.

F Jeff Pendergraph 13.4 PPG, 6.8 RPG.

G Ty Abbott 11.2 PPG, 3.6 RPG.

G Jerren Shipp 7.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG.

Last week, the USC Trojans swept the state of Oregon on the road for the 3rd consecutive year, defeating both Oregon State and Oregon. It was the first time since the 1966-67, 1967-68 and 1968-69 seasons that USC has swept both schools for 3 consecutive years on the road.

On Thursday, USC spoiled OSU Interim Head Coach Kevin Mouton's coaching debut, thrashing the Beavers by a 68-44 count. O.J. Mayo led USC with 19 points and Davon Jefferson added 18 points, 7 rebounds and several highlight-reel dunks. The Trojan MVP for the evening though was not either of these two freshmen sensations but rather was Taj Gibson, who dominated the Beavers once again. Gibson, who had been averaging 15 points and 10 rebounds against OSU in his career, had 14 points and 14 rebounds in the rout. The Trojan defense also held their 7th opponent to their lowest respective field goal shooting percentage game of the season, holding the Beavers to a woeful 27.7% shooting evening.

Saturday saw the Trojans defeat Oregon in an overtime thriller, 95-86. USC, which led throughout the contest and did so by as many as 14 points, was finally caught by the Ducks on Bryce Taylor's lay-up as time expired in regulation. The Ducks, trailing by 9 points with only 1:39 remaining, went on a 17-8 run to finish out regulation thanks largely to superb free throw shooting and foul trouble for USC. However, the Trojans responded in overtime and did so resoundingly. USC was 5-for-5 in the extra period, all in the form of 3-point shots. Keith Wilkinson and Angelo Johnson each knocked down critical threes during this period, as did regular stalwarts O.J. Mayo and Daniel Hackett. Hackett lead USC with 26 points as the starting Trojan guards, Hackett, Mayo and Dwight Lewis combined for 75 points, 15 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals.

USC is now 4-3 in Pacific 10 play after starting the conference season with 3 consecutive losses. The Trojans are tied for 3rd place with both Arizona and ASU.

THIS WEEK—SCOUTING THE TEAMS: TED'S TAKE:

Ted Venegas is a long time contributor to USCFootball.com. Here are Ted's thoughts on Arizona and Arizona State.

USC vs. Arizona: As Ted notes, the Trojans and Wildcats are very similar teams in terms of personnel. Both are led by star freshmen guards that handle the ball a considerable amount of time, both rely on one significant post player, and both are extremely athletic, especially on the wings. Also, both are streaking right now and doing so in the right direction .

Arizona is flying offensively at the moment, having won 3 in a row including a thorough whipping of then-#6 Washington State at home. Any where that you look on the Wildcat roster, there is a player that is currently setting the gym ablaze. Freshman do-everything point guard Jerryd Bayless has averaged over 24 points on 58% shooting from the field during this time (not to mention averaging almost 6 assists). Junior guard/forward Chase Buddinger (and his 42-inch vertical leap) has averaged over 22 points per game during the streak on 51% shooting. Budding 6'9" sophomore superstar Jordan Hill, who plays much bigger than his size, averaged 10.5 rebounds and 5.5 blocks in the Wildcats sweep of the state of Washington this past weekend. And as a team, the Wildcats have shot 58% from beyond the arc the past two games.

So what must USC do to slow down the 'Cats? Simply put, play their trademark aggressive man defense. The Trojans match up well with Arizona at nearly each position. Bayless will be a challenge, but all 4 Trojan guards that see significant time (O.J. Mayo, Daniel Hackett, Dwight Lewis and Angelo Johnson) are superb defenders. Mayo, Lewis and Johnson may all see time guarding the speedy Bayless, and Hackett and Lewis will likely both draw Buddinger at different points during the game. When defending Bayless, you must stop (or at least limit) his ability to get to the basket. Bayless and Arizona live off of dribble penetration, driving and kicking and getting to the free throw line. The USC defense will have to rotate extremely well when helping each other out or coming off of screens because no team in the conference moves the ball around better than Arizona. USC may also employ their triangle-and-2 defense and play man on Buddinger and Bayless, but this defense has pros and cons when facing a team like the Wildcats. The pro is that the triangle zone will help limit the effectiveness of Jordan Hill and provide for more Trojans to be around the basket to protect the glass against only an average rebounding team. The con is that two men will be all alone guarding two great slashers, and it's not as easy to help on penetration in this defense, especially off of screens.

But, back to match-ups, a pivotal battle will be battle of the big men, Taj Gibson against Jordan Hill. USC, though, may be forced to double Hill if he gets off early and stays out of foul trouble. Davon Jefferson is the wild card in the equation on both sides of the ball. Jefferson will not be able to play with Buddinger all night on defense, but really no Wildcat is suited to guard Davon when USC is on offense.

There is no way to completely shut down Arizona on the offensive end as they simply have too many scorers on their roster. However, there is a clear way to slow them down. Again, USC must play steady defense and slow the tempo of the game, turning the contest into a half-court battle rather than the "run and gun" style that the Wildcats like to play. Making Arizona play defense and limiting turnovers will take Arizona out of any rhythm built. On top of this, USC must capitalize on the scoring end against a slew of "offense-first" minded defenders. The Wildcat defenders are certainly prone to giving up open looks, especially from beyond the arc (again, opponents have shot 48% from the field against the Wildcats, which is certainly not a good thing for Arizona).

The Trojans will be attacking Hill all evening as getting him in foul trouble puts the Wildcats squarely behind the 8-ball. When Hill is out, Arizona more or less becomes a jump shooting team, a facet of the game that plays directly into the USC's hands. If the Trojans can get a hand in the face of Wildcat shooters all night and attack Hill successfully, they will win by a decent margin. If not, the "run and gun" 'Cats will run all the way to Pauley Pavilion with a win against USC in their pocket.

However, this Trojan team is streaking right now and again, they match up as well as anyone with Arizona. We expect the young Trojans to win this contest and not to disappoint what should be a very good-sized Galen Center crowd.

USC vs. ASU: This game has "trap" written all over it, especially after what we hope will be a Trojan victory over Arizona on Thursday. USC has struggled mightily against Herb Sendek and his Sun Devils, losing track of their assignments on defense against the deliberate Sun Devil offense and trying in vain to force things offensively against the responsible man defense that Sendek employs. This year, also, ASU's star player, the walking "double-double" that is Jeff Pendergraph is not alone. Underrated freshman sensation James Harden has joined the fray, following his former Lakewood Artesia High coach Scott Pera and former Pioneer shooting guard Derek Glasser to Arizona State.

Harden is a player that literally lights up the box score. A former McDonald's All-American (and the first one to join ASU out of high school since 1984), Harden is 5th in the conference in scoring at 18.8 points per game, 1st in steals, 14th in rebounding, 10th in free-throw percentage, 9th in minutes played and 10th in defensive rebounding. We expect to see Hackett and Lewis defend the 6'5", 210-pound Harden, and each must do their best to limit James' ability to get to the basket as well as watch his defensive ability to get into the passing lanes. Harden is virtually a one-man fast break for the Devils, grabbing steals and effortlessly converting on the other end.

As Ted alludes towards, this game will be ugly. It will be a slow-down, half-court, grind-it-out type of game that will require the young Trojans to be very disciplined on both ends of the court, especially on offense. The Sun Devils are 1st in the conference in steals, 4th in blocked shots and 3rd in field goal percentage defense. They force a lot of turnovers, mainly due to the impatience of the other team when facing the "Princeton offense", and they do not turn the ball over often. ASU is 2nd in the conference turnover margin (+2.26) and 3rd in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.24 ratio). The Trojans, conversely are 8th and 9th in the aforementioned categories, respectively. Case in point: the Sun Devils January 3rd battle against high-scoring and turnover prone Oregon. The Devils forced 16 turnovers and had 10 steals in holding Oregon to 54 points, the lowest Duck scoring total in 61 games. Needless to say, USC must take care of the basketball if they hope to survive ASU.

On defense, USC must stay with their assignments, talk to each other all night and fight through the constant screens that ASU will employ. The ASU offense emphasizes constant motion, passing, back-door cuts, and disciplined teamwork. It is designed to neutralize teams just like USC; superior athletic teams that can lose focus for whatever the reason (in the Trojans' case, youth is the reason). The offense is extremely slow developing and heavily relies on the passing game, so the opportunity for lapses in coverage will be there for USC. The Trojans, unlike their usual modus operandi, will be looking to force a lot of turnovers and get out and run in transition. This will be essential to getting ASU out of their comfort zone. If USC fails, Arizona State will beat them with easy shots off of back door cuts and wide open looks from the perimeter. Young guards Jerren Shipp and Ty Abbott each shoot over 36% from beyond the arc. Abbott, in particular, is the one to watch from deep as he likes to shoot from downtown and do so very often (over 7 attempts per game).

In the end, the Trojans should have just enough to get past the Sun Devils. The Sun Devils are less talented and less athletic than USC, but that hasn't stopped ASU from defeating quality teams such as Xavier, Arizona, California and Oregon. But only the Cal win was on the road, a place where the Sun Devils are simply not as comfortable as they are at home. Because of their offense, ASU takes fewer shots than most of their opponents (ASU is 2nd to last in the conference in field goal attempts) and generally, the road rims prove to be less kind than the friendly confines of Wells Fargo Arena (Again, ASU has only played three road games, and lost two of them by 15 points each). Furthermore, as Ted notes, the Sun Devils have yet to get on track from the perimeter during conference play, shooting at a 28% clip from beyond the arc. This simply will not cut in the "Princeton offense", an offense that depends on some effective long range shooting to stretch the defense and free up cutters. No team has been able to get on track this season against USC when it comes to field goal percentage, and we do not expect ASU to be the first.

Offensively, USC must move the ball around effectively and their ball handlers must not fall into their bad habit of picking up their dribble. USC is the more athletic team and players such as Mayo, Gibson and Jefferson should all be able assert themselves offensively if USC is effectively attacking ASU. Additionally, the Trojans will need to knock down their open looks against the steady Sun Devil defense, so it will be essential that Dwight Lewis and Daniel Hackett continue their recent hot-shooting trends.

When it is all said and done, the defensive-minded Trojans and their experience in grind-it-out games should beat ASU this Saturday, despite the best attempts of Harden and Pendergraph.

But it certainly will not be easy.