Long Beach St. @ Southern California preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 28, 2018 ) Long Beach St. 65, Southern California 75

USC plays its first home game in 23 days Sunday afternoon when it hosts neighborhood rival Long Beach State. The Trojans dropped their last game at the Galen Center to Temple, 70-61, back on Nov. 22.

It will also be USC's first game since a dramatic 80-78 victory over TCU on Dec. 6 in the inaugural college basketball game played at the new Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The Trojans blew a 18-point second-half lead and then won it on All-Pac-12 forward Nick Rakocevic's tip-in of a missed shot by guard Ethan Anderson with 0.2 seconds left on the clock to salvage the win after the Horned Frogs had tied it with eight seconds remaining. It was a much-needed signature non-conference victory for the Trojans who will get a chance to garner another next Saturday when they face LSU in the Hall of Fame Classic down the street at the Staples Center. Long Beach State, which features 11 new players and returns just 15.2 points per game from a squad that finished 15-19 overall and 8-8 in the Big West, will be playing its fourth Pac-12 team on the road this season having already lost at UCLA (69-65), Stanford (86-58) and Arizona (104-67) but does own a 66-65 win over Providence in the Wooden Legacy tournament in Anaheim, Calif.

TV: 6:30 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network

ABOUT LONG BEACH STATE (3-7): Sophomore forward Chance Hunter leads the team in scoring at 14.2 points per game and is second in rebounding at 4.3 boards and has scored 20 or more points in three contests. Point guard Michael Carter III, a transfer from Washington, is second in scoring (13.3) and also leads the team in assists (3.5). Guard Colin Slater (10.4 points) also is averaging in double figures while Joshua Morgan, a 6-10 freshman center, leads the team in rebounding (5.6) while also averaging 9.0 points.

ABOUT USC (8-2): It wasn't an uneventful nine-day break for the Trojans who on Friday received a notice of allegations from the NCAA tied to a federal probe into alleged rules violations that surfaced during two recent criminal cases in the Southern District of New York during which former assistant coach Tony Bland plead guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit bribery. Onyeka Okongwu, a 6-9 freshman forward, leads the team in both scoring (17.4) and rebounding (8.7) and leads all freshmen nationally in total blocks (33). Rakocevic is second in both scoring (12.1) and rebounding (8.4) while senior guard Jonah Mathews (11.8 points) also is averaging in double figures while sinking a team-high 21 3-pointers in 58 attempts (36.2 percent).

TIP-INS

1. USC leads the series with the Beach, 9-6, including a 76-65 road victory last season.

2. Okongwu was a former prep teammate with NBA guard Lonzo Ball at Chino Hills High School and was named Mr. Basketball for California in 2018 and 2019.

3. Long Beach State is tied for 305th in the nation in rebounding margin at minus-3.8 per game.

PREDICTION: USC 86, Long Beach State 65