NCAA Basketball top 25 power rankings: Texas Tech rises, Baylor and Providence fall
By Joey Loose
14. USC (22-4)
Fresh off last year’s run to the Elite Eight, the Trojans are in good shape as the calendar nears the end of February. The Pac-12 is certainly struggling once more but the Trojans have stockpiled enough wins to put them in decent shape for the postseason. Suffice to say, USC hasn’t had the best conference season after winning all thirteen of their non-conference games, but it’s been better in recent weeks.
Fresh off last Saturday’s important win over UCLA, the Trojans were in the winning column again this week, notching a 79-69 home win over an upstart Washington squad. The Trojans got off to a sizeable lead and held on throughout the game, getting 24 points and 9 rebounds from Chevez Goodwin to lead all scorers. Even though he had just 12 points, it was great for USC to get Isaiah Mobley back on the court in the win.
Among those four losses includes a pair of defeats to Stanford, a team that certainly doesn’t look like it will be dancing in March. Overall, the resume is decent and includes that recent UCLA win paired with a ton of nonconference success. The Trojans are a few games back of Arizona for the conference title, but could still get themselves into a great place on Selection Sunday, starting with tough road games next week at Oregon State and Oregon.