Oregon can maintain at least a share of first place in the Pac-12 with a win at last-place Southern California on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
The Ducks, however, go into the game having lost three of their past four. Oregon needs to start stacking wins to keep a hold on a first-round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament in March, as well as make a case for an NCAA Tournament spot.
Oregon (14-6, 6-3 Pac-12) has already defeated the Trojans this season, an 82-74 win Dec. 28 in Eugene, Ore.
USC (8-12, 2-7) is mired in a five-game losing streak.
At that time, USC had potential NBA lottery pick Isaiah Collier in the lineup. Collier has since missed the past four games with a hand injury, and if his 4-to-6 week prognosis for a return remains, he doesn’t seem likely to suit up against the Ducks.
USC’s leading scorer is guard Boogie Ellis, who averages 18.1 points per game.
“Sometimes, we gotta have some more pride at the end of the day,” Ellis told the Orange County Register. “We had a lot of guys on last year’s team who really knew how much it meant to us. I feel like we just gotta establish a culture. We got a lot of young guys now, we got to want it more.”