Southern California @ California preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 8, 2017 ) California 74, Southern California 73

After allowing Washington to shoot 67.3 percent in a home loss in their Pac-12 opener, USC showed it could play some aggressive, tough defense when it bounced back Sunday to defeat Washington State 89-71. But the Trojans, who begin their Bay Area road trip at California on Thursday, will be without suspended star forward Chimezie Metu for the first half after he got a little too physical and was ejected for a flagrant 2 foul against the Cougars.

The athletic 6-11 Metu, who leads the Trojans in scoring (17.8), rebounding (7.6) and blocked shots (1.5) and is considered a potential NBA lottery pick, was ejected late in the first half against Washington State after he ran by guard Carter Skaggs, who was shooting a 3-pointer in front of the Trojans' bench, and punched him in the groin. No foul was called on the play but Skaggs, who buckled over after the shot, alerted officials who then watched the incident on replay and ejected Metu. USC coach Andy Enfield said Metu will sit out the first half against the Bears, surrender his captaincy and sent a letter of apology to Skaggs, Washington State coach Ernie Kent and the Cougar team. "A lack of judgement for a split second led to an action that I immediately regretted and had no business committing in the first place," Metu's letter read. "I understand there is no place in the game of basketball for such an unsportsmanlike action."

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network

ABOUT USC (10-5, 1-1 Pac-12): Outside of Metu's silly ejection, the Trojans actually had reason to smile after the win over the Cougars, holding Washington State to just 39.7 percent shooting while having six players score in double figures for the first time since a March 9, 2016 game against UCLA. "Very athletic, physical basketball," Kent said. "At times they looked every bit as a team, your Final Four team, picked to be in the top 3 in the nation. ... They played even more physical after they lost Metu and took us out of our offense." Three other Trojans beside Metu are averaging in double figures: 6-10 junior forward Bennie Boatwright (16.8 points), senior point guard Jordan McLaughlin (12.9) and senior shooting guard Elijah Stewart (12.5).

ABOUT CALIFORNIA (7-7, 1-0): Since sputtering out of the gate with a 3-6 start that included head-scratching losses to UC Riverside (74-66), Central Arkansas (96-69) and Division II Chaminade (96-72), the Bears have played some pretty good basketball of late, winning four of five games including impressive wins at Mountain West heavyweight San Diego State (63-62) and at Stanford (77-74) last Saturday in their Pac-12 opener. The Bears stormed back from a 17-point second-half deficit to defeat the Cardinal as 6-7 freshman forward Justice Sueing, who ranks fourth on the team in scoring (12.0), scored eight points of his 18 points in the final three minutes. Junior guard Don Coleman leads the team in scoring (20.1) with freshman guard Darius McNeill (13.4) and 6-11 senior forward Marcus Lee (12.6), a transfer from Kentucky, also averaging in double digits.

TIP-INS

1. McLaughlin, who had a double-double of 10 points and 11 assists against Washington State, ranks third in the nation in assists (120), fourth in assists per game (8.0) and 25th in steals (32).

2. Coleman has scored in double figures in all but one game this season and has six 20-point games and three 30-point games.

3. USC sophomore G Derryck Thornton, a highly touted transfer from Duke who missed nine games with a shoulder injury, returned against Washington State and had two points and three turnovers in nine minutes of action.

PREDICTION: USC 88, Cal 84