Cross-continent conference foes meet on Wednesday in Indianapolis, where No. 11 seed Rutgers takes on 14th-seeded Southern California in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
After having never previously played in their history, the Scarlet Knights (15-16) and Trojans (15-16) square off for the second time in less than three weeks. Both look to extend trying seasons, hoping to begin an unlikely run of five wins in five days to secure the Big Ten’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Rutgers won its Feb. 23 home matchup with USC, 95-85, part of a 3-2 finish to the Scarlet Knights’ regular season. They closed with a 75-67 overtime win over Minnesota on Sunday to ensure a bid in the Big Ten tourney.
“It’s a new season … and we have a new chance,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. “We try to get our guys to learn from their lessons. Going to a neutral site may be good for us. Our guys have gotten better. We have played some great basketball.”
Pikiell noted that with an 18-team conference, opponents primarily faced each other only once and thus had no opportunities to implement specific adjustments. To that end, a big adjustment USC will need in its second go-around with Rutgers is slowing down Dylan Harper.
Harper, one of the Scarlet Knights two freshman standouts along with Ace Bailey, went for 25 points, nine assists and six steals in the win over the Trojans.
Desmond Claude scored 30 points in that meeting, while freshman Wesley Yates III notched 23, but no other USC scorer reached double figures.
Yates scored 21 points in Saturday’s 90-63 setback in the regular season finale at rival UCLA, the Trojans’ sixth loss in seven games.
“Our starting unit defensively in a lot of the recent games, teams are shooting percentages against us that you don’t even shoot when nobody is guarding you,” head coach Eric Musselman said of USC’s struggles down the stretch.” Look at the 3-point shots in some of our recent games … teams are shooting 70 percent.”
For the season, USC is holding teams to 33.3 percent shooting from beyond the arc — while Rutgers comes into Indianapolis shooting 33.4 percent on the campaign. The Scarlet Knights knocked down 9 of 20 triples against the Trojans last month.
–Field Level Media
