College Basketball Preview: Washington State Cougars vs USC Trojans
Written By David Hess (Follow me on Twitter @DavidHess311)
When: 10:30 PM ET, Thursday, January 28, 2016
Where: Galen Center in Los Angeles, California
Lines: USC -13
Total: 160
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Cougars Off To Slow Start in Pac-12 Play
The Washington State Cougars went 8-4 in non-conference play this year and while they did crush New Mexico on a neutral court, none of their wins were vs a power five conference. Then Pac-12 play started and they lost to USC by 13 in their opener, before grabbing their lone conference win which was vs UCLA. Since then they have lost their last five games and currently reside at the bottom of the conference standings and they will have to do a lot of work to make it to even one of the lesser post season tournaments this year.
The Cougars’ basketball team is built much like their football team and that is plenty of offense, but no defense. The Cougars are relatively deep as they have nine players that have played at least 17 games this year. The offense is led Josh Hawkinson, who averages 16.4 ppg and Ike Iroegbu, who averages 14.5 ppg. They are the only two players in double digits for this team that ranks 123rd in the nation in scoring, putting up 75.9 ppg, while hitting 48.7% of their shots, which is a very solid 20th in the land. The defensive numbers are not pretty at all as the come in ranked 265th in points allowed, giving up 75.4 ppg and 203rd in defensive FG% at 43.6%. They really need to get that defense fixed.
Trojans Fall Big to Unranked Oregon State
The USC Trojans have had a solid start to their year and they came in to Corvallis ranked 21st in the nation and favored in the game, but the Beavers had other ideas as they won rather easily, 85-70. Gary Payton had a big night for the Beavers, with 22 points and 15 boards and the Trojans just didn’t have an answer for him. The Trojans actually had a four point lead at the half, but were outscored 49-30 in the 2nd half as they totally fell apart after the break. This game was on the heels of falling 89-81 on the road vs Oregon. The Men Of Troy are struggling right now and may be team that we look to fade down the stretch, especially on the road. Lucky for them this one is at home, where they are 11-0 SU and 9-1-1 ATS.
In the loss to the Beavers, the Trojans were led by Elijah Stewart, who had 16 points in the game. Also putting up double figures were Katin Reinhardt (14) and Julian Jacobs (10). The Trojans are not a terribly deep team as they have just seven players that average 7.0 or more ppg, but what they are is balanced as six of those players average in double figures. Now that’s balance. The leader of the group is Jacobs, who averages 12.6 ppg. The Trojans are a strong offensive team as they rank 14th in the nation in scoring, putting up 83.6 ppg, while connecting on 46% of their shots, which is 83rd in the nation. They do struggle at the charity stripe, where they are 260th. On defense they struggle in allowing 73.4 ppg, which is 222nd in the land, but they are a solid 41st in defensive FG%, allowing teams to hit just 40% of their shots.
Free College Basketball Play
[773] Washington State/ USC Over 160
I do expect this one to be played in the 170s at the very least. Both teams play at a very fast pace on offense and defense is a foreign word to the Cougars, while the Trojans have struggled at that end of the floor as well. The Cougars have allowed 88 ppg in their last five games, which the Trojans have allowed 83 ppg over the same stretch. This one will be fun.
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