In Reply to: Re: Painful to say this but USC looking much tougher than earlier posted by FanSince65 on January 15, 2025 at 11:57:10
of points. The question is, can the bruins outscore the leading scoring team in the PAC 10 while keeping them well under their 89 point average. Their defense isn't that good, basically last in the Big 10 allowing an average of 78 PPG.
They do have a couple of 6'11 forwards and also several 6'8 and 6'7 athletes but the Bruins match up pretty well with them as only one of the 6'11 forwards gets major playing time (Freeman--actually has the same role as Bilodeau)who averages 17 a game and near 7 boards. Another 6'8 fwd averages 17 a game with two guards averaging in double figures. They are one of the best three point shooting teams in the Big 10 near 40% as a team.
In all 5 of their losses but one (77 to 69 to Utah State back in November), they scored between 80 and 89 points in high scoring games while giving up between 85 and 116 points to the winning teams (Michigan,#3 Iowa State, Wisconsin, and USC). It was Wisconsin who put the 116 points on them, 116 to 85. That was the game where Wisc broke the Big 10 three point record hitting 21 of 31 threes. Six of the 9 Wisc players who made a three made 2 or more threes.
My expectation is that the score will be something like that of the Utah State game which was 77 to 69. But with the Bruins offense, if they are as cold from the field as recently (particularly from the three), they will have a more difficult time defeating Iowa than they should have.
My recommendation to the Bruins would be to take it to them in the paint where they demonstrated they are weak and foul a lot. Don't know if the Bruins have the penetrators to do that though other than maybe Mack. USC guards and wings pounded them in the paint with individual one on one moves and also made 10 of 15 threes. What's good about USC is they have several players who are very good one on one players and strong at penetration and finishing in the paint. Haven't seen that type of capability from the Bruins yet.