The modus operandi for the USC basketball team this season, especially of late, has been just finding a way to win -- somehow, someway with someone delivering the big play when it's needed.
And that formula has worked more times than not as the Trojans are 9-1 in games decided by 5 points or less. Take the last three games, for example.
Boogie Ellis' buzzer-beating game-winner vs. Washington State, the double-overtime win to hold off an upset bid from Oregon State and then Drew Peterson's late 3-pointer and Josh Morgan's defense to win by a point at Oregon.
The one recent exception for the No. 16-ranked Trojans was the 72-63 loss at Arizona on Feb. 5 -- a game that like most USC games was close down the stretch until the Trojans' shooting woes took them out of it.
There was no hero of the night with the big shot in that one. Quite the contrary, as USC made just 1 of its final 15 shots.
"If you want to win close games against a highly-ranked team, your best players have to step up and make plays, and they've done that -- we're 25-4 -- so we're very happy that they've done that so many times. That was one game we just didn't have it," coach Andy Enfield said Monday while getting his team ready for the rematch.
USC (25-4, 14-4 Pac-12) plays host to No. 2 Arizona (25-3, 15-2) on Tuesday night at Galen Center (8 p.m. PT on ESPN) before the Trojans' second sold-out crowd of the season. USC's marketing department is trying to create a "white out" in the stands, passing out white t-shirts to the first 1,000 students and encouraging all fans to wear white.
If the previous sell-out -- against UCLA last month -- is any indicator, it should be a high-energy atmosphere for this showdown of the Pac-12's two best teams.
The Trojans have won six straight games since that loss at Arizona and are one win away from matching the program's single-season record. They also have a backdoor chance at the conference's regular-season title, with the Wildcats losing by 16 points at Colorado over the weekend, leaving USC two games back entering the final week.
"It means a lot. Just in general for ourselves, and for the Pac-12 -- it gives us a chance to win it. This game is extremely important," junior forward Isaiah Mobley said. "I just told everyone come out here and be loose, play hard and just keep doing what we've been doing."
Said Enfield: "This is a big game. Sold-out crowd against Arizona, whose second in the nation, we're both top 2 teams in the league currently with the standings, and we've been playing good basketball, so have they. So this is a huge game for us. We're going to try to hold home court advantage here and it should be a lot of fun."
Asked what he took away from the first meeting with the Wildcats, Enfield joked that he learned his team can't shoot 1-for-15 to close the game and beat a highly-ranked opponent.
The Trojans were 7 for 30 from 3-point range in that game and guards Peterson (1 for 13 overall) and Ellis (3 of 12) were notably off their games.
That has seemingly served as a turning point for Peterson, though, as he's won two Pac-12 Player of the Week honors since then while averaging 18.8 points per game over the last six games and shooting 14 of 26 from 3-point range in that span.
"I think Drew's been playing out of his mind. It's a good time to. In March we need everybody to be on their best game," Mobley said. "Again, I think anyone can help us on any given night. ... We've just got to keep that going and I think that makes us even better. On any given night, you can't [assume] anything from anybody."
Indeed, it could be Peterson (12.5 points, 6.4 rebounds per game), Mobley (14.6/8.4), Ellis (12.3 PPG, 21 points two games ago vs. WSU), center Chevez Goodwin (11.6/6.7), etc.
Arizona is equally balanced, led by Bennedict Mathurin (17.1 PPG), Azuolas Tubelis (15.4), Christian Koloko (11.7) and Kerr Kriisa (10.2).
Enfield said he's more focused on scouting his team's last game vs. the Wildcats rather than trying to dissect what Colorado did in its stunning 79-63 win over Arizona on Saturday.
"We just played Arizona so we look at our game. Of course, we'll look at some of the things from the Colorado game, but they're a different team, they play a little different style than us. So we have to use our strengths and try to play as competitive defense as we can for 40 minutes," he said.
Meanwhile, it's USC's final home game of the season, meaning it could likely be the final game in Galen Center for Mobley (along with Goodwin and Isaiah White). He said he hasn't thought in those terms yet.
"I try to just stay in the present because anything's possible, but yeah, I mean this year I have enjoyed super much. I'm so glad to be a Trojan, I'm happy I came back and who's to say. I don't know what's going to happen going forward -- it's up in the air," Mobley said. "But man, it's been great so far and I can't wait to see how far we go this year."
