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USC Hoops: Trojans land at No.19 in NCAA Power 36 Rankings

USC will look to win its seventh straight game on Tuesday and catapult even higher in next weeks list.

Austin Grad

USC basketball has been scorching hot over the last couple of weeks.

Andy Enfield's Trojans are on a six-game win streak and approaching the midway point of the season. With a record of 11-2 alongside one of the most dominant big men in the game in Evan Mobley, the Trojans are starting to get noticed by the media.

NCAA correspondent Andy Katz’s Power 36 Rankings, placed USC at No. 19. The Trojans also received high praise from one of college basketball’s most respected writers.

In his rankings, Katz believes that the Trojans are one of the most dangerous teams in the Pac-12. 

“The Trojans continue to improve and are poised to make a run toward a Pac-12 title,” he wrote. The highest ranked Pac-12 team on Katz’s list was crosstown rival UCLA at No.12.

USC hasn’t quite cracked the AP Top 25 Poll yet, but received 74 votes this week which puts them at 30th overall in the polls. The Trojans are currently 2nd in the Pac-12 conference at 5-1, behind the UCLA Bruins (7-1).

Southern California has played two less conference games due to postponements from COVID-19 protocols.

Andy Enfield’s team has used suffocating defense and dominant rebounding so far this season to get off to a strong start out of the gate. As a team, USC has the second most blocks in the country, swatting away 77 shots for an average of 5.9 blocks per game. The Trojans are 10th in the nation in rebounding as well, averaging 41.5 per game.

On offense, the Trojans have used balanced-scoring and their length to dominate the paint. Enfield’s team has four players averaging more than 10 points per contest while shooting the ball at a high percentage [47.5%] from the floor. 

The team still has room for improvement from the free-throw line and three-point range, which is one area of growth Enfield has repeatedly discussed in post-game press conferences.

The Trojans will look to keep their momentum going and try to increase their win streak to seven games when they face Oregon State on Tuesday evening. With a win, USC could start back-to-back seasons with 12 victories in the team’s first 14 games.

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Austin Grad
AUSTIN GRAD

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