Guard Play Can Lift USC Over Providence in NCAA Tournament First Four Game
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
The USC Trojans can beat the Providence College Friars on Wednesday night because of the play of their two guards, Elijah Stewart and Jordan McLaughlin.
For USC, Stewart and McLaughlin combine to average nearly 26 points per game, while McLaughlin ranks 28th in the country with 5.5 assists per game.
"If USC gets great guard play than Providence can’t win. I don't think Providence is athletic enough to stay with them,” said James Steiner, sports producer at KABC in Los Angeles. He added "USC’s guard play is what fuels this team, how Stewart and McLaughlin go is how USC goes."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSteiner added, “I think it will be a pretty even matchup, Providence has won six of their last seven and USC has been playing well. The key to this game and to the NCAA Tournament is going to be guard play.”
Providence will match USC's guards with Kyron Cartwright, who ranks fourth in the country in assists with 6.7 per game and freshman Alpha Diallo, who averages 5.7 points per game.
"If Cartwright and Diallo have their typical games and McLaughlin and Stewart are off then it will be tough for the Trojans," said Steiner.
McLaughlin Dominated PC in 2016
In last year's NCAA Tournament game, McLaughlin was a dominant player for the Trojans.
Going head-to-head against Kris Dunn, McLaughlin posted 15 points, five assists, five rebounds and four steals in the game to lead the Trojans.
Despite McLaughlin's performance, Providence won the game on a last second layup by Rodney Bullock.
“I just remember Providence brought it for 40 minutes. I haven’t seen much of them this year, but I know they play blue collar, gritty basketball,” said USC radio play-by-play man Chris Fisher.
USC Trojans
The Trojans started the season by winning their first 14 games and were 21-4 a week into February before dropping four straight games, three of which were to #5 Oregon, #6 UCLA and #4 Arizona.
USC was eliminated by UCLA in their conference tournament. They finished the year with an overall record of 24-9.
Besides the guards, USC’s leading scorer is big man Bennie Boatright, who has scored 20 points in four straight games. He is also their best three-point shooter, launching between seven and nine three-pointers a game.
“The Trojans are a team that relies on jump shots. They are at their best when shots are going down and they are getting stops on the defensive end. The offense tends to fuel the defense,” said Fisher. “If they are hitting threes, they are tough to defend.”
Related Slideshow: PC’s Top Post-season Teams
With the Providence College Friars back in the NCAA tournament for a second straight year, GoLocal takes a look back at the top post season teams in Friars history.
From the early days of Lenny Wilkens and Joe Mullaney, to Dave Gavitt's Final Four Friars, to Rick Pitino, Rick Barnes and Pete Gillen-led teams, we've included them all.
Here is a look at the top postseason teams in Providence College history.
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