USC basketball team looks for a marquee victory

Every season, one college basketball conference is christened the national punching bag.

The Pacific 10 Conference earned that distinction early last season after getting steamrolled in nonconference play and compiling a 3-13 record against ranked teams.

So far, in this season’s stock market of public opinion, the Pac-10 is plummeting again with a 1-9 mark against ranked teams and losses to featherweights such as Tulsa, Murray State, Seattle University and Texas Southern.

USC Coach Kevin O’Neill knows that for the Pac-10 to get more than two teams into the NCAA tournament — the reality last season and the conference’s lowest total since 1988 — it needs marquee nonconference wins.

On Sunday night at the Galen Center, the Trojans (4-4) will have an opportunity for such a win: No. 19 Texas (6-1).

“If we’re fortunate to win, it would be huge for us on many fronts,” O’Neill said.

Among them: helping USC rebound from a hectic start that has alternated between winning two games and losing two games, and building the Trojans’ postseason resume.

Although the Pac-10’s nonconference resume against ranked teams was covered in red ink a season ago, the Trojans managed two of the three wins, beating Nevada Las Vegas and Tennessee, two teams that reached the NCAA tournament.

Those wins eventually went for naught when USC was banned from postseason play in midseason.

But with the Trojans coming off consecutive road losses at Nebraska and Texas Christian, and with likely road losses at Kansas and Tennessee to go, the Texas matchup becomes pivotal.

Junior forward Nikola Vucevic said Sunday’s game will come down to USC’s defense, which has struggled for key stretches in recent losses, both of which the Trojans led.

“We’re not a team that can outscore people,” he said.

The Longhorns are, and they proved as much to USC last season when they trampled the Trojans by 19 in Austin with a team that featured three NBA draft picks in center Dexter Pittman, guard Avery Bradley and forward Damion James.

And even though those three are gone, O’Neill said the Longhorns feature three more likely NBA draft picks in forwards Gary Johnson and Tristan Thompson and former Compton Dominguez star guard Jordan Hamilton, who leads Texas in scoring (21.7 points per game).

“We want to get them back,” said Vucevic, who led the Trojans with 18 points in last season’s loss to Texas.

Revenge aside, messing with Texas would help USC get even — and back on track toward a goal that didn’t exist a season ago: a postseason tournament.

baxter.holmes@latimes.com