USC basketball: Oregon pregame

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Greetings and salutations!

Coming to you from the Galen Center, where it’s all about countdowns tonight between USC (16-10, 8-6) and Oregon (12-14, 4-10). First, the clock is ticking until Ducks Coach Ernie Kent is fired (he’s got at least five games left, counting tonight and the first-round of the Pac-10 Tournament); and second, until USC’s season is over (including tonight: four games left, period).

Speaking of Kent, he’s made his case a few times this season, either directly or subtly, that he deserves to keep his job. (Here’s his latest plea, if you’re interested.)

This comes despite the Ducks’ 12-14 overall record -- losing 10 of their last 12 games -- and a 4-10 record in Pacific 10 Conference play in what has been one of the Pac-10’s worst years ever.

Now, down years are often blamed on loss of players (UCLA and USC could make that case this season, easily), but Oregon undeniably has some of the league’s best talent in Tajuan Porter, Malcolm Armstead and Michael Dunnigan.

Although he is a former Ducks player, has been at UO for 13 years, is the school’s all-time winningest coach (231 career wins) and led the program to five NCAA Tournaments including two Elite Eight appearances (2002 and 2007), Kent has been on the hot seat in recent years, and this is almost certainly his last.

Expect Gonzaga’s Mark Few to be among the candidates, although he’s always among a list of candidates for any coaching vacancy. (Yet, he’s a native of Creswell, Ore., so he might consider the Oregon opening a tad more closely). The Seattle Times’ Bud Withers compiled a short list of other possibilities for Kent’s job. Read more here .

But I digress...

Here are some facts and stats to hold you over until tipoff at 7:30 p.m. (radio broadcast on 710):

USC player to watch: Leonard Washington

For whatever reason, Washington doesn’t say much to anybody. But he has been noticeably more vocal and aggressive in recent games, and has had more of an impact. In USC’s last seven contests, he’s averaging 7.3 points (making 21 of 38 shots, good for 55% from the floor) and 4.9 rebounds off the bench, including seven steals, four assists and three blocks. Additionally, Washington has proven valuable to USC because he can guard perimeter players as well as bigs inside, which is key tonight because Oregon’s Jeremy Jacob matched his career-high with 19 points when these teams met in Eugene, and most of those came because he was quicker to the ball than Alex Stepheson or Nikola Vucevic.
Oregon player to watch: Jeremy Jacob

It’s easy to pick either Armstead or Porter here, but with USC’s Dwight Lewis and Marcus Johnson defending on the perimeter, neither of those players should be too effective. From there, it’s easy to pick Jacob. He made five of 10 shots against USC last month and went to the free-throw line 11 times, making nine of those. But more importantly, whenever the Trojans were making a run in that game, Jacob scored a key basket to swing momentum. Armstead and Porter are going to look inside tonight, and with Dunnigan likely to be the focus of USC’s defense, that leaves an opening for Jacob. He took advantage last time; he could do it again.

Key to the game: Rebounding

Just for kicks, it would be fun to say Stan Holt, the USC graduate-student manager who drew a costly technical in this matchup last month, is the key tonight. But that’s just silly. Rebounding, however, isn’t silly. It’s actually quite serious. The Trojans have been out-rebounded in two of their last three games, which is unusual for this team considering its size advantage down low with Stepheson and Vucevic (who leads the league in rebounding with 9.7 per). Because the team has tremendous struggles offensively, second-chance points are hard to come by, hence rebounding is essential for the Trojans to win.

--Baxter Holmes