Cal Looks for First Road Win When It Faces No. 15 USC on Saturday
CAL (9-11, 2-7) at No. 15 USC (17-4, 7-3)
WHERE: Galen Center, Los Angeles
WHEN: Saturday, 4 p.m.
TV: Pac-12 Network -- J.B Long (play-by-play), Eddie House (analyst)
RADIO: 810-AM
CAL-USC HISTORY: Cal leads 136-129, but USC has won the past seven meetings, including this season’s 77-63 victory at Cal on January 6.
CAL STORYLINES: The Bears have lost six straight games, including Thursday’s 81-57 loss to No. 7 UCLA . . . Saturday’s game against USC will be Cal’s third straight game against a top-15 team, and Cal lost the first two to No. 3 Arizona and No. 7 UCLA by a combined margin of 59 points . . . Cal is still looking for its first victory away from home. The Bears are 0-5 in games played on their opponent’s home court and 0-2 in neutral-site games this season. They are 3-44 in their last 47 road games . . . Cal forward Grant Anticevich is in the midst of a scoring slump and was left out of the starting lineup for the first time this season in Thursday’s game. He went scoreless for the first time this season in that game, going 0-for-5 from the field in 19 minutes of court time. He is averaging 4.4 points on 25% shooting over the past five games . . . Freshman Sam Alajiki made his second start on Thursday and had a team-high 11 points and made 3-of-5 three-point shots. The rest of the team was 3-for-16 from long range . . . Jordan Shepherd leads Cal in scoring at 14.4 points per game.
USC STORYLINES: The Trojans are coming off a 64-61 loss to Stanford on Thursday night. Isaiah Mobley had a chance to tie the game with two free throws with 14 seconds left, and he made the first but missed the second. Stanford’s Brandon Angel then made two free throws and Mobley missed a final three-point shot . . . USC was 13-0 and ranked No. 5 after beating Cal back on January 6, but the Trojans are 4-3 since then, with two of the losses coming at home. And they have yet to play either UCLA or Arizona, and have yet to play any ranked team this season . . . USC’s strength is its defense. It ranks first in the Pac-12 in scoring defense, yielding 63.05 points per game, and ranks first in the conference and third in the nation in field-goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to make 36.89% of their shots . . . Isaiah Mobley is sixth in the Pac-12 in scoring (14.4 points per game) and is first in rebounding (8.65), just ahead of Cal’s Andre Kelly (8.60). . . USC’s Drew Peterson leads the Pac-12 in three-point shooting percentage at 47.4%, and he is 10-for-11 from long range over the past three games. . . . As a team USC is second in the Pac-12 in three-point percentage at 36.2% . . . The Trojans are a strong rebounding team, averaging 8.55 more rebounds per game than their opponents.
CAL GAME NOTES: Click here
USC GAME NOTES: Click here
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Cover photo of USC’s Isaiah Mobley is by Gary A. Vasquez, USA Today
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