Sports

After an emphatic victory against UCLA Saturday, the men’s basketball team is looking to stay the course with a pair of home games this weekend. The Trojans will first face off against Arizona Thursday before taking on Arizona State Saturday night. The two games will give the team a chance to face off against the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the Pac-12 after a two-game skid of losses on the road in Oregon. The Wildcats are 5-1 in conference play with a lone 59-54 loss to Oregon last Thursday. The team’s high-powered offense has scored 75 or more points in their past three games, under the leadership of sophomore guard Brandon Randolph, who averages 15.4 points per game. Although the team is young — with three underclassmen as its leading scorers — the Wildcats have been building toward dominant wins, capped off by an 11-point victory over the Oregon State Beavers days after the Trojans fell to them. After facing off against Arizona, the team will only have a few … [Read more...] about Basketball will host Arizona Thursday night

After a full week at the Australian Open in Melbourne, the USC men’s and women’s tennis teams took care of business in exhibition matches against players from the Tennis Australia National Team and in their first regular season matches against the University of South Carolina Gamecocks. Both teams faced off against the Tennis Australia National Team on Jan. 20. The men went undefeated in doubles play, while only one singles player endured a loss. Two USC doubles teams consisting of freshman Mor Bulis and junior Riley Smith, and freshman Bradley Frye and redshirt junior Jake DeVine, faced off against the Australian National Team. Bulis and Smith won against an Australian doubles team 6-4. As for singles, the Men of Troy only lost one match, as Harry Bourchier beat Bulis in a game that went right down to the wire. The rest of the singles players consisted of Smith, Frye and DeVine, who all won their matches with ease. The Women of Troy won both doubles matches against … [Read more...] about Tennis opens season strong

When men’s basketball head coach Andy Enfield was asked before the season about senior forward Bennie Boatwright’s NBA prospects, he was adamant in his response: “We don’t even discuss the NBA.” Coming off a knee injury that kept Boatwright off the court for eight months, the captain needed to get his rhythm and timing back, according to Enfield. Talking about the NBA at that juncture, he said, was pointless. It might be time to start that conversation. Eighteen games into the season, Boatwright leads the Trojans in scoring at 17.3 points per game, shooting a career-high 39 percent from the 3-point range. After Boatwright dropped 21 points and five 3s in an emphatic 80-67 win over UCLA on Saturday at the Galen Center, the message was clear: “Bennie Buckets” is back. “I feel totally more comfortable now,” Boatwright said. “It took me a couple of games to get comfortable out there. I’m feeling a lot better.” When … [Read more...] about Bennie’s back, basketball’s better

On a dreary, rainy night in Los Angeles last week, the Lakers found themselves in must-win mode. With LeBron James sidelined, they had dropped seven of their last 10 games. A loss to the lowly Chicago Bulls would have been an utter embarrassment for the so-called “Baby Lakers” and head coach Luke Walton. A loss would have heated Walton’s seat from warm to downright sweltering, as doubts arise surrounding his offense and ability to develop the team’s young stars.   The Lakers didn’t lose that Tuesday night, but they didn’t do much to discredit all the noise. With a retooled, defensive-minded lineup, the team coughed up 17 turnovers and shot a mediocre 8-for-26 from the 3-point range. Point guard Lonzo Ball shouldered a lion’s share of the offensive load, as Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram clinched a collective 1-for-8 from deep. Ball scored 19, while Kuzma and Ingram underwhelmed with 16 apiece. Even when the Lakers led by 18 points with … [Read more...] about T-Time: Walton and Lakers have work to do

GymnasticsAngie Forburger, assistant Sports editor Pac-12 gymnastics competition is underway. No. 2 UCLA (2-0, 1-0 Pac-12) – the highest-ranked team in the conference – scored a season-best 197.775 against No. 19 Arizona State (1-1, 0-1) on Monday. UCLA will next travel to Stanford (0-1, 0-1) in a dual meet Sunday. The Cardinal took home two first-place finishes to open its season but lost to No. 12 California (1-1, 1-0) on Monday. Stanford will next host its first two home meets of the year against UCLA and No. 11 Washington (1-1, 1-0). Coming off their loss to UCLA, Arizona State will host No. 4 Utah (3-0, 1-0) on Saturday before traveling to Berkeley to take on California and No. 16 BYU in a tri-meet. The Utes have yet to lose a meeting this season, defeating Penn State, BYU and No. 19 Oregon State (0-1, 0-1). After facing Arizona State, Utah has two home meets slated for the next two weeks against Arizona (0-2, 0-1) and California. After dropping their season opener … [Read more...] about Around The League: Jan. 23