Southern California @ Texas Christian preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 7, 2018 ) Texas Christian 96, Southern California 61

USC and TCU are a combined 13-3 heading into Friday night's game but both are still searching for a signature non-conference victory. The winner of their contest on Friday in Fort Worth's new Dickies Arena will finally have one to add to their potential NCAA Tournament resumes.

TCU's most impressive win so far has come over defending Big West champion UC Irvine (59-58) while USC's top victories have been at Nevada (76-66) and over defending Ivy League co-champion Harvard (77-62) in the Orlando Invitational. The Horned Frogs still have home games with Xavier and George Mason remaining while the Trojans have a neutral court contest with LSU at Staples Center left to garner quality non-conference wins before heading into Big 12 and Pac-12 play, respectively. TCU, despite seeing a 13-point lead disappear midway through the second half, comes in off an 81-69 victory over Illinois State on Tuesday, while USC will play its first game since winning the third-place game over the Crimson on Sunday in Orlando, Fla. This will be the inaugural college basketball game played at 12,782-seat Dickies Arena, which is a three-mile drive from the TCU campus and will host the American Athletic Conference men's tournament in 2020-2022 as well as first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games in 2022.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT USC (7-2): The Trojans bounced back from a 101-79 loss to Marquette in the semifinals to cruise past Harvard, leading by as many as 25 points in the second half and holding the Crimson to just 1-for-17 shooting over the first 11:53 after halftime. Freshman forward Onyeka Okongwu led the way with 27 points on 12-of-14 shooting and also grabbed 14 rebounds to make the five-man all-tournament team, while senior guard Quinton Adlesh - a grad transfer from Columbia - sank 4-of-6 3-pointers and finished with 12 points. The 6-9 Okongwu leads the Trojans in both scoring (17.9) and rebounding (9.0) while first team all-Pac-12 forward Nick Rakocevic (12.9, 8.1) is second in both categories with senior guard Jonah Mathews (10.9) also averaging in double figures.

ABOUT TCU (6-1): Senior guard Desmond Bane, a preseason all-Big 12 pick, had 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting to go with nine rebounds, five assists and two steals to lead the Horned Frogs in their win over Illinois State. It was his fourth 20-point game of the season and he became the first TCU player since Alex Robinson on Nov. 20, 2018, to lead the team in points, rebounds and assists in a game. Bane leads the team in scoring (18.7), while guard RJ Nembhard (12.8) and 6-11 sophomore center Kevin Samuel (11.4) also are averaging in double figures with Samuel also grabbing a team-leading 8.4 rebounds.

TIP-INS

1. TCU leads the all-time series with USC 2-1, including a 96-61 victory last season in the Naismith Hall of Fame Classic at Staples Center.

2. Okongwu ranks fifth among all NCAA freshman in scoring (17.9) while his 26 total blocks are tops for all freshmen nationally.

3. The Horned Frogs are 40-5 since 2016-17 under Jamie Dixon in games played in November and December.

PREDICTION: TCU 80, USC 74