Arizona game could be crucial to NCAA hopes

For all its forgettable quirks, the Sports Arena was also known as The Place Where Highly Ranked Arizona Teams Went to Lose.

Whether it was a Bibby family reunion in which the father upstaged the son or a glorified game of H-O-R-S-E for Desmon Farmer, things always seemed to go awry for the Wildcats at the old building.

Among the USC highlights from the last 10 meetings at the Sports Arena, of which the Trojans won six, including a 77-70 triumph last season:

In 1997, the sixth-ranked Wildcats fell, 75-62, in a game pitting then-USC coach Henry Bibby against his son Mike, a freshman at Arizona.

In 1998, Adam Spanich’s off-balance three-point shot at the overtime buzzer lifted the Trojans to a 91-90 victory over the second-ranked Wildcats, ending their nation-long 19-game winning streak.

In 2004, Farmer scored a career-high 40 points to lead the Trojans to a 99-90 victory over seventh-ranked Arizona.

The Trojans, 13-5 overall and 3-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference, hope to keep the string of upsets going Thursday against No. 11 Arizona (13-3, 4-2) in the first meeting between the teams at the Galen Center.

For USC, a victory could make the difference between fighting for an upper-division Pac-10 finish and fighting for its NCAA tournament life.

“Everybody’s fighting to be on top of the Pac-10,” junior swingman Nick Young said. “We’ve just got to get this win and remain as a top team in the Pac-10.”

While a USC victory could move the Trojans as high as a tie for first in the conference, a defeat could drop them as low as seventh. A triumph by the Trojans would also be their fourth over a ranked team this season, the most since they defeated six ranked teams during the 2001-02 season.

“If we can keep continuing to beat ranked teams and keep playing well,” sophomore forward Keith Wilkinson said, “not only does it stamp our place in the Pac-10 but in the [NCAA] tournament, which is the ultimate goal.”

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Hasn’t Daniel Hackett sacrificed enough? The USC freshman already gave up his senior year of high school to join the Trojans early and now he’s being forced to change jersey numbers twice in two games.

Hackett wore No. 11 until USC retired the number Saturday as a tribute to Bill Sharman. Hackett switched to No. 25 for the Trojans’ game against UCLA.

But guess what number was worn by former USC standout Paul Westphal, whose jersey will be retired Thursday? That’s right, No. 25.

“The first number available, I’ll take it,” said Hackett, who can’t go back to the No. 1 he wore in high school because it’s taken by Young.

Said USC Coach Tim Floyd: “The third one’s the charm because that’s all we’re retiring this year.”

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ben.bolch@latimes.com