Arizona Wildcats roll over hapless USC Trojans: By the Numbers

The Southern California Trojans were just no match for the No. 7 Arizona Wildcats on Thursday night.

The visiting Trojans played from behind the entire way, although they did tie game up at 18 with just under 12 minutes left in the first half.

Wildcats point guard T.J. McConnell hit a three to break the tie, and the home team never looked back, pushing the advantage to as high as 33.

Arizona rolled to an 87-57 victory at McKale Center, the program’s third win in a row. Sean Miller’s group improved to 23-3, including 11-2 in Pac-12 play — both conference-best marks.

USC suffered the 10th loss in its last 11 games and fell to 10-16 on the season, including just a 2-12 mark in conference.

Here’s a look at Thursday’s blowout, by the numbers:

0:00

USC did not lead for a single second in the game. Conversely, Arizona held an advantage for 37 minutes and 54 seconds in total, and the game was tied for a sum of just 1 minute and 10 seconds. UA led for the final 31 minutes and 28 seconds of the contest.

4/5

Freshman center Dusan Ristic scored seven points off the bench for Arizona, and he made his lone three-point attempt. The 7-foot Serbian is now an impressive 4-for-5 (80 percent) from behind the arc in his collegiate career.

5

Former UA guard Jason Terry had his No. 31 jersey raised to the rafters at halftime, becoming the fifth player to receive the honor — the others being Mike Bibby, Jason Gardner, Steve Kerr and Sean Elliott.

NEW: Jason Terry's jersey retired in halftime ceremony at McKale: http://t.co/PzhySu3JbB #USCvsAZ pic.twitter.com/h8L1DTJbcu

— Pac-12 Networks (@Pac12Networks) February 20, 2015

The 6-foot-2 guard racked up 1,461 points, 493 assists, 245 steals and 192 three-points over a four-year career from 1995-1999 for the Wildcats. He helped the school to a national championship in 1997, and was a consensus first-team All-American in the 1998-99 season.

6 (part I)

Freshman forward Stanley Johnson had a career-high six assists against the Trojans, all in the first half. The 6-foot-7 phenom had a great all-around game Thursday, contributing 13 points, seven rebounds and three steals, although he did have a game-high six turnovers.

6 (part II)

Six players reached double-figures in scoring for the Wildcats — including all five starters — while only three did so for USC. UA freshman guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright scored a career-high 11 off the bench for Arizona. USC freshman forward Malik Martin came off the pine and led all Trojans with 15 points.

14-0

Arizona improved to a perfect 14-0 at home this season. The Wildcats haven’t lost on their home floor since Feb. 10, 2013, against Cal — more than two years ago.

15

Kaleb Tarczewski was active in the first half, pouring in 13 points. The junior center finished with team highs of 15 points and nine rebounds, also adding a block and an assist. The 7-footer has scored 32 points in his last two games.

48%-32%

UA was red hot in the first half, as the team scored 49 points and shot a torrid 63.3 percent from the field. As the reserves got the brunt of the minutes in the second half, the team’s shooting percentage fell to 47.7 by the end of the game. It was still much better than the anemic 31.6 percent shooting the Trojans posted on the night.

50-34

The Wildcats dominated the boards by a 50-34 margin. In fact, UA had more offensive rebounds (22) than the Trojans had on defense (19).

87

Arizona fell just a few points shy of what would have been its fourth 90-point game of the season. However, the ‘Cats have gone over 85 points in each of the last three games, and they are now 9-0 when reaching that mark this season.