Arizona Wildcats basketball fans are showing up to support their cats at the beginning of the season, the Trojan fans aren’t as much, but they should.
As conference play approaches and the Arizona Wildcats basketball team will eventually take on the Trojans in Los Angeles on January 9th, and then again at home on Valentines day. The 10-1 Wildcats are working on their 45 home game winning streak. Upwards of 13,000 Wildcats fans fill McKale no matter which team comes to play their Cats.
In contrast, the Galen Center was pretty empty, even in the lower bowl, as they faced the Cal Poly Mustangs on Thursday night even though the Trojans have made a few newsreels of late. Galen Center is the arena with the second-lowest average in the Pac-12 conference.
Attending in person and sitting on the floor, this was an excellent opportunity to scope out the USC team and offer our readers an early review and glimpse into what the Wildcats will face when they play the Trojans down the road. Here we go…
This is USC Coach Andy Enfield’s third season, and he seems his recruiting efforts this season have produced at least two freshmen who are starting to make a difference. The fans should be showing up, and the students should be showing up. The student section was dwarfed by the 20 or so member band.
Arizona fans may have already counted on their team being able to easily beat Southern California this season because their Cats won convincingly by 30 points (87-57) in the one contest against USC last season. It may not be as easy as they think.
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USC basketball has started making a few Pac-12 headlines this season.
Southern California, now 9-2, is on a roll by winning four straight games. Their latest victory was over the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO) Mustangs on Thursday night at the Galen Center, winning 108-82. USC made the first shot and remained in the lead the entire game. The Mustangs kept the game close through the first half but lost steam at the end of the game. This was the first 100-point plus game the Trojans have won in the three years in Coach Enfield’s tenure.
What was impressive was that the Mustangs were able to play with enough energy on defense to cause the Trojans turned the ball over 13 times. Trojans passed the ball, but they didn’t seem to be as active on offense as Sean Millers Wildcats. Lack of a convincing defense which conceded 82 points, the Trojan allowed the Mustangs offense to have a fighting chance through a period and a third. The Mustangs were as close as seven points to tying the Trojans at the half, 49-42.
In the second half, the Trojans picked up the pace on offense while the Mustangs star David Nwaba (15 points, four rebounds and three steals) sat on the bench in foul trouble and the Trojans capitalized. With three minutes into the second half, Galen Center became Lob City and the Trojans pulled away up by 15 points and continued to widen the gap for the rest of the game. To top off the night, USC’s Malik Marquetti shot a 3-pointer at the buzzer to push the score past 100 points.
USC 27, Cal Poly 15. @Chimezie_Metu strikes back-to-back! His four points put the Trojans up by 12. (LIVEP12N) https://t.co/yoS069NRZ6
— USC Men's Basketball (@USC_Hoops) December 18, 2015
USC has a cool tradition after the game: the entire team walks onto the court in a line and gives high fives to all the fans who have floor seats.
There are three players on the USC team who the Cats will need to study before they face them in January. There are also a few chinks in the Trojans armor that Miller’s team should be able to capitalize on if they aren’t ironed out in time.
Katin Reinhardt is a scoring machine
Junior Trojan guard Katin Reinhard, 6’6 215 pounds, played for 30 minutes against the Mustangs Thursday night, about five minutes more than normal. This was just his second start of the season; it was quickly obvious why he recently earned a starting spot on the roster. On Thursday night, he scored 29 points, 21 of which were made up of his seven made 3-pointers. That’s almost one point per minute.
Mar 19, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Texas Southern Tigers guard Madarious Gibbs (3) shoots the basketball against Arizona Wildcats guard Gabe York (1) during the second half in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Making his first five shots, Reinhardt scored 29 points, 21 of which were made up of his seven made 3-pointers. He only missed four shots from the floor (9-12) and two shots from beyond the arc (7-9).
Allonzo Trier and Gabe York are going to have their hands full with this one.
Chimezie Metu is great under the basket on offense and defense.
Freshman forward Chimezie Metu, 6’11 215 pounds, draws the crowds attention with his activity and energy on the court. He is one of the only Trojans, who was active on defense around the basket throughout most of the game. It was painfully clear that he understood what others were slow to realize, boxing out gets your team more rebounds.
Metu scored a season-high 16 points against the Mustangs. Oh, and his teammates loved to lob the ball to him, and he rewarded them with slam dunks.
Let’s hope Kaleb Tarczewski is playing by the time the Cats take on the Trojans. It’s Zeus’s presence that will help the Wildcats with USC’s three bigs; Boatwright, Metu, and 6’11 235-pound forward Nikola Jovanovic.
Bennie Boatwright, a 6’10 freshman forward, is making headlines
Bennie Boatwright honestly is fun to watch. Boatwright wasn’t a huge factor in the win last night for his team, but still contributed ten points and six rebounds. His headlines came from a game in late November when he played against then ranked Wichita State and scored 17 points (including five 3-pointers) and recorded five rebounds, three steals, and a block in 27 minutes.
Boatwright’s averages to-date:
| Season | G | MP | FG | FG% | 2P | 2P% | 3P | 3P% | FT | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 11 | 23.7 | 4.0 | .444 | 1.8 | .526 | 2.2 | .393 | 2.2 | .774 | 5.5 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 12.4 |
| Career | 11 | 23.7 | 4.0 | .444 | 1.8 | .526 | 2.2 | .393 | 2.2 | .774 | 5.5 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 12.4 |
Provided by Sports-Reference.com/CBB: View Original Table
Generated 12/18/2015.
Arizona Wildcats
Fun fact: The now famed Monmouth Hawks with their incredibly dramatic bench beat the UCLA Bruins in their first game, 84-81. Then USC beat Monmouth in the Hawks next game, 101-90. UCLA has also beaten Kentucky by ten points, 87-77. One could conclude that the Monmouth Hawks could beat the Kentucky Wildcats applying simple philosophical logic.
USC’s record of 9-2 lands them in the top four Pac-12 teams on records. The Wildcats are at the top of the Pac-12 with a 10-1 record. The Trojans shot 56.3% from the field and made 52.2% of their 3-pointers. Also, the Trojans made 22 assists, so they were sharing the ball.
What you didn’t see was a ton of movement on offense, sometimes only one player ran around, and everyone else just stood there, it could have been a play, but it looked funny. The Trojans need to step up their defense; they should have been able to hold the Mustangs to less than 82 points.
Next: Arizona Wildcats Basketball: Wildcats Steamroll over the Lumberjacks
The Wildcats can beat the Trojans if they keep improving in each game they play and up their defense like they did against NAU. Getting Zeus and Elliott Pitts back will help the Cats even more.
That said, this is college basketball, and anything can happen. The Cats games against the Trojans will certainly be more competitive games to watch in 2016.
Beardown Wildcats!