Will they give Devils their due?

Having secured its first victory over Arizona at the McKale Center since 1985, USC no longer feels the need to stand in the way of history on this trip.

A triumph tonight by the No. 22 Trojans over Arizona State at Wells Fargo Arena would keep the Sun Devils on track to become the first team to go winless in Pacific 10 Conference play since the conference expanded before the 1978-79 season.

Arizona State is 0-14 in the Pac-10 and is riding a school-record 15-game losing streak.

The Sun Devils have not tasted success since a 71-66 victory over North Carolina A&T; on Dec. 21, but they have come agonizingly close in recent weeks, losing their last five games by an average of four points. Included in that stretch were a one-point loss to Washington State, a four-point loss to Oregon and a six-point loss to UCLA.

“They’re going to get that one game; we just don’t want it to be against us,” USC junior swingman Nick Young said.

Trojans Coach Tim Floyd says he has been so worried about the Sun Devils that they have been a talking point since Monday, three days before USC played nationally ranked Arizona at a place where the Trojans had dropped 21 consecutive games.

“We have talked about Arizona State all week long to our team -- which we never do -- just because we know it’s going to be very hard,” Floyd said. “As coaches, we understand that sometimes players don’t see beyond records even after we give them the message, but everyone else seems to be aware that this is a team that has not quit and has guarded as well as anybody in our league and arguably has the best shot selection of anybody in our league.”

The Trojans (19-7 overall, 9-4 Pac-10) will have a different kind of incentive than their counterparts tonight -- a victory would give USC its first 20-win season since 2001-02, which was also the last time the Trojans advanced to the NCAA tournament. A victory would also give USC 10 conference wins, guaranteeing a winning record in Pac-10 play.

“It should be good enough to make the tournament,” junior guard Gabe Pruitt said of reaching the 20-victory plateau, “but just in case, to be on the safe side, we’ve got to get a couple of more wins. There’s a lot more games and the Pac-10 tournament that we can get.”

The Trojans could pretty much assure themselves of reaching the NCAA tournament by winning three of their final five conference games; no Pac-10 team with a 12-6 conference record has been denied an NCAA bid since 1984.

“I know what I’ve read about the strength of our league, and if that’s the case we’re holding our own in this league and you’d hope that would help you,” Floyd said. “But we’re going to treat it like we need to continue to win basketball games.”

*

TONIGHT

at Arizona State, 5 PST, FSN West

Site -- Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe, Ariz.

Radio -- 1110.

Records -- USC 19-7 overall, 9-4 Pac-10; Arizona State 6-19, 0-14.

Update -- Senior guard Lodrick Stewart has made 50.9% (27 for 53) of his three-point attempts in the Trojans’ last 11 games. Arizona State ranks ninth in the Pac-10 in defending the three-pointer, allowing opponents to make 34.7% of their attempts from beyond the arc.

ben.bolch@latimes.com