On Saturday the USC Trojans travel to take on the Oklahoma Sooners in a key non-conference game for both teams. Who will get the victory? Here’s a preview.
TV Schedule: Saturday, December 15, 9:00p.m. ET, ESPNU
Arena: Bank of Oklahoma Center, Tulsa, OK
The 5-4 USC Trojans travel to Oklahoma to take on the 8-1 Sooners at the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa on Saturday. The Trojans began the season 5-2 but the best win was an 18-point victory over Missouri State at the Hall of Fame Classic in Missouri. The two losses came at the hands of Vanderbilt and Texas Tech, their other two defeats have come in the last two games, against Nevada and TCU.
Oklahoma’s season has consisted of two four-game winning streaks sandwiched around a 20-point loss to Wisconsin. During the first four-game streak Lon Kruger’s team knocked off Wofford and Florida and in the last four games, they have wins over Notre Dame and Wichita State.
The Trojans score 78 points per game, but they have five players that are currently averaging double-digit points. Andy Enfield’s squad is loaded with experience and veteran leadership as five of the top six scorers on the team are juniors and seniors. Oft-injured senior Bennie Boatwright and junior Nick Rakocevic lead the team with 15 points apiece and Rakocevic’s 11.2 rebounds are 7th best in the nation.
The backcourt is led by a couple of juniors and a senior, Jonah Matthews, and Derryck Thornton, who began his career at Duke have combined for 20.7 points and 6.9 assists, while senior Shaqquan Aaron is knocking down over 10 points per game, shooting 48.6% from the field and 52% from beyond the arc.
The most dynamic player on the team may be 6-6 freshman guard Kevin Porter, Jr. who is averaging 11.7 points, but was averaging 14 per game over the first five games of the season, while shooting 53.8% from the field, if there is room for improvement in the first-year player’s game it’s at the free throw line where he shoots the same 53.8%.
The Sooners are a solid defensive team, allowing just 65 points per game and holding opponents to just 36.3% from the field, which is 7th best in the sport. The Sooners also excel on the glass, grabbing over 42 per game and their 32.56 defensive boards per contest is only behind Georgia by .07 for the nation’s best.
In the post-Trae Young era at Oklahoma, senior guard Christian James has taken the reigns, averaging 19.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists while shooting 53% as the only member of the team to have hoisted over 100 shots this season. The depth behind James is another that is different for the Sooners this year.
Seniors Aaron Calixte, Jamuni McNeace, and Miles Reynolds along with sophomore Brady Manek all average between 9.4 and 9.9 points per game. Besides James, there are eight players that have taken at least 31 shots. On the glass, McNeace and Manek lead the way pulling down over 15 rebounds per game, but rebounding is a full-team effort for the Sooners as all nine players in the rotation average at least two per game.
Key matchup
In this contest, the key matchup for me will be between the big men, the Sooners’ senior center Jamuni McNeace and the Trojans Nick Rakocevic. Both men are either leading their team in scoring or are 2nd, the 6-10 McNeace is averaging 9.9 points, 2nd on the Sooners, and seven rebounds while shooting 58% from the field, and his counterpart, Rakocevic is a 6-11 native of Chicago, nets a team-high 15 points and blocks over two shots per game.
While both teams are guard-oriented, the matchup in the middle between two high-scoring veteran big men will go a long way in deciding who wins this game.
Prediction: USC