Senior guard Jonah Mathews was asked Thursday night if he pays attention to the NCAA tournament projections, which had USC very much on the bubble coming into the night.
"They take the teams that win, so as long as we keep on winning we're going to be in -- we win, we in. We keep on winning, they're going to have to put us in," he said.
The Trojans very much needed a win Thursday night and they got it, playing stifling defensive against Arizona and doing just enough on the other end to stay in control the entire second half on the way to a 57-48 victory at Galen Center.
USC (20-9, 9-7 Pac-12) was coming off two straight losses and was running out of time to boost its season resume before turning its fate over to the NCAA tournament selection committee.
Not only did the Trojans snap that skid, but they did it with perhaps their most impactful win of the season. Arizona (19-9, 9-6) is not ranked in the AP Top 25, but the Wildcats are No. 7 in the NET rankings, which is a metric that weights wins and factors into those decisions the committee will make in a couple weeks.
USC's previous best wins per the NET rankings were against now-No. 29 Stanford and No. 33 LSU.
"They understood this game was extremely important, to beat a top 10 team in the NET rankings -- how they judge the NCAA tournament, the committee. And it is Arizona, so we needed to win this game," coach Andy Enfield said.
USC held the Wildcats to 28.1 percent shooting -- their third-worst performance of the season -- and led the entire second half.
Mathews scored a team-high 14 points for USC while Onyeka Okongwu added 11 points and 10 rebounds, Daniel Utomi chipped in 9 points, Elijah Weaver had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals and Ethan Anderson contributed 7 points and 4 steals.
"To go through what we did the last two weeks with injuries, sicknesses, family tragedy, I'm really proud of our guys how they stuck together," Enfield said. "This was a huge game for us for a variety of reasons, and Saturday's game will be as well."
There was one prominent name missing from that paragraph of stat leaders, as senior forward Nick Rakocevic finished scoreless and had just 1 rebound and 1 block in 12 minutes of action. He was in foul trouble much of the night, but more to the point he is still recovering from a significant illness that struck he and Mathews during the road trip to Colorado and Utah. Rakocevic had said he lost 16.5 pounds in a matter of days as a result of the virus.
"Nick had no energy tonight. You saw, he got in foul trouble. He lost 16 pounds in two days. I'm so proud of Nick because he tried to play in Utah for a couple minutes and he tried to play tonight. Obviously he's not himself. He's skinnier than I am and he's 6-11, but he just gave everything," Enfield said. "He wants to play, he wants to be here for his teammates. Jonah had the same virus Nick did, and you could tell his legs, he had to get his legs under him so he struggled early because he had the same thing. He didn't lose 16 pounds, but Jonah had the same virus Nick did and that was devastating. The last week has been really hard on our program."
Enfield noted how the Trojans couldn't really practice their game plan this week with just 7-8 available players in practice and many of the key cogs unable to go. Okongwu had also been sick earlier this week, but he did not endure what his veteran teammates did.
"I'm like 75 percent right now. That's probably the worst sickness I've ever had, and it's worse to fly back on a plane with it," Mathews said. "So I'm just happy they got me two IVs and now I'm starting to feel back to normal."
Mathews was clutch down the stretch for USC.
But first, the turning point in the game ...
The Trojans were down 21-18 late in the first half when Weaver finished transition layup, darting to the rim, and then followed with a big 3-pointer to put USC back ahead.
Arizona would later have what seemed to be the final possession of the half, but after Nico Mannion missed, Okongwu grabbed the rebound and tossed in a 3-pointer from well beyond midcourt to send the hosts into the break with a 26-21 lead.
"I always work on those shots with our GAs after practice so I just took a chance -- got fouled, no call, it still went in anyways," Okongwu said of his first collegiate 3-pointer.
"As soon as I get in the locker room he said, 'Coach, I need some plays for the 3 ball in the second half,'" Enfield joked.
USC never lost that lead, but it didn't really pull away either until late.
Arizona had cut its deficit to 47-44 with a little less than 4 minutes remaining, but Mathews answered right back with a 3-pointer late in the shot clock, giving the ball up to Anderson and then signaling to have him toss it back to him to set up the look.
Mathews then got to the free throw line for two more points to make it 52-46 with 2:00 to play, Okongwu hit two free throws and Weaver made one to stretch the lead to 55-46 with 1:00 to go and effectively seal the win.
"He was spectacular down the stretch," Enfield said of Mathews. "We had to put the ball in his hands -- he made the 3 against the zone, and then against the man when Ethan struggled we gave the ball to Jonah and he really came through for us."
Said Mathews: "It's do or die. I don't have another year, I don't have any more excuses. It's do or die, so every rebound matters, every loose ball matters, every shot matters. Everything matters at this point."
