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Thursday, March 7
Salt Lake City, Utah
8:00 PM
University of Utah
vs
USC
Runnin' Utes Set For Final Home Stand, Host USC on Thursday
3/4/2019 2:09 PM | Men's Basketball
Utes to play first of final two home games this week.
| GAME 29: Utah (15-13, 9-7) vs. USC (15-14, 8-8) |
| WHERE: Salt Lake City, Utah (Jon M. Huntsman Center) |
| WHEN: Thursday, March 7, 2019 |
| TIP-OFF: 8 p.m. MT |
| TELEVISION: FS1 / Fox Sports GO (Kevin Burkhardt and Casey Jacobsen) |
| RADIO: ESPN700 / Utah Radio Sports Network (Bill Riley and Jimmy Soto) |
FAST BREAKS
• Utah wraps up the regular season this week, hosting both USC (Thursday, March 7) and UCLA (Saturday, March 9) at Huntsman Center.
• Utah is coming off a 71-63 defeat to Colorado in Boulder this past Saturday, while UCLA defeated USC, 93-88, in overtime last Thursday at Pauley Pavilion.
• The Utes enter the week currently in a tie for third-place in the Pac-12 standings, coming in at 9-7 in league play. Utah is tied with both Oregon State and UCLA.
• If the Pac-12 Tournament began this week, the Utes would secure the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye. OSU would earn the No. 3 seed due to multiple team tie-breakers, but Utah would earn the No. 4 seed over UCLA by virtue of its win over the Bruins back on Feb. 9.
• Utah will celebrate Senior Day this Saturday, March 9, prior to its game against UCLA. The men's basketball team, along with the Utah Athletics department, will honor seniors Sedrick Barefield, Parker Van Dyke and Novak Topalovic, along with Beau Rydalch, who is set to graduate this Spring.
THE GAME
Utah (15-13, 9-7 Pac-12) will open its final home stand of the regular season hosting the USC Trojans (15-14, 8-8 Pac-12) this Thursday, March 7. Tip-off between the Utes and Trojans is set for 8 p.m. MT at the Huntsman Center.
COVERING THE RUNNIN' UTES
Thursday's contest will air on the Utah Athletics Radio Network (ESPN 700 AM) with Bill Riley and Jimmy Soto announcing. The game will be televised on Fox Sports 1 (FS1), with Kevin Burkhardt calling play-by-play and Casey Jacobsen serving as the color analyst.
SCOUTING USC
The Trojans are coming off a 93-88 overtime loss to UCLA this past Thursday at Pauley Pavilion. USC has dropped two straight and five of its past seven games. USC's has dropped its past five games by just and average of 4.8 points per game, with its most lopsided defeat coming to the hands of the Utes, 77-70, back on Feb. 6, in Los Angeles. In USC's two previous victories, the Trojans have won by an average margin of 20.0 points.
USC is just 2-7 on the road overall and 2-5 in Pac-12 road games. USC's two road wins came at California (89-66) and at Washington State (93-84). If you include neutral site contests, the Trojans are just 3-9 overall in games played away from the Galen Center.
The Trojans rank as the third-highest scoring offense in the Pac-12, averaging 76.7 points per game, while their .458 field goal percentage ranks just seventh among teams in the league. USC does however lead the Pac-12 in three-point shooting, knocking down .382 percent of its attempts on the year. The Trojans also rank as the league's best with 16.8 assists per game.
USC's Bennie Boatwright leads the way with 18.5 points per game, which also ranks third in the conference. Boatwright is second in the Pac-12 with 78 three-pointers made and a 2.9 three's made per game average. Nick Rakocevic has tallied a team-best and ranks third in the league with 9.3 rebounds per game. Derryck Thornton, has dished out a team-high 131 assists and ranks fourth in the league with 4.7 assists per game.
UTAH vs. USC SERIES HISTORY
Utah snapped a two-game skid against the Trojans with a 77-70 win at the Galen Center back on Feb. 6, earlier this season. With the win, Utah moved to 23-19 all-time against the Trojans, which includes an 8-9 effort when playing USC on the road. Utah is 12-6 all-time, and has won three of the previous four meetings, when facing the Trojans in Salt Lake City. USC took last season's meeting at the Huntsman Center, 74-58.
LAST TIME THE UTES AND TROJANS MET
Utah picked up a road win at USC back on Feb. 6, at the Galen Center. Both Gach scored a team-high 15 points and Jayce Johnson registered his third double-double of the season with 13 points and 13 rebounds to help lead Utah to the 77-70 road victory.
Gach, who made his first start in 10 games, scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half. He would go onto make 4-of-10 shooting from the field overall and a 5-of-6 effort from the free throw line. Johnson scored 13 points and tied a season-high with his 13 boards, and Sedrick Barefield scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half. Donnie Tillman would finish the game with 12 points giving Utah four players in double figures for the seventh time this season.
LAST TIME OUT
Utah shot a season-low .192 (5-26) from beyond the three-point line and came away with a road loss to Colorado this past Saturday, falling to the Buffs, 71-63, at CU Events Center. The five three-pointers matched a season-low for a Utah team that averages 9.6 three's overall and 10.1 three's in Pac-12 only games. Utah would go more than five minutes without a bucket late in the first half and that proved to be too costly, as CU never relinquished its nine-point halftime lead.
Utah trailed by as many as 13 points with a little more than five minutes to play and despite a late push, would only get back to within six around the one-minute mark, but the shots were just not falling for the Utes. Sedrick Barefield led the team with 19 points and Jayce Johnson matched a season-high with 13 boards, but CU's Tyler Bey notched a double-double with 17 points and 10 boards. While Utah did manage to knockdown a season-best .909 (10-11) effort from the charity stripe, the Buffs would go onto shoot 12 more free throws in the game overall, converting on 16 of its 23 attempts.
UP NEXT
Utah will host UCLA for its final home game of the regular season when the Bruins head to town this Saturday, March 9. It will be Senior Day and the Runnin' Utes will honor four players: Sedrick Barefield, Parker Van Dyke, Novack Topalovic and Beau Rydalch.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's BasketballCrimson Corner with Bill Riley - Eric Weddle
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