Elgin Cook: Matches career-high 26 points in win over USC

The Ducks have won 11 straight against USC dating back to 2009.

The skinny: The Bruins (12-7, 3-3 in the Pac-12) are coming off an 82-73 victory on Wednesday night at Oregon State and are looking to accomplish what would be a first in three seasons under Coach Steve Alford: a Pac-12 road sweep. The Over/Under (O/U) for the matchup is set at 158 points.

USC is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games following an ATS loss.

At that point, teams have a good sample size of competition, along with home vs. away games. The Bruins are a force on the boards, grabbing an average of 41.8 rebounds per game.

No conference is more emblematic of this chaotic, upset-riddled college basketball season than the Pac-12. USC has averaged 61.3 points and shot 28.6 percent from 3-point range in its last six at Oregon State and hit just 34 percent overall in last season’s 59-55 loss there. That run included a 16-0 record at McArthur Court in 2001-02, when OR claimed the Pac-10 regular-season title and reached the Elite Eight under coach Ernie Kent.

– Parker, the only senior on UCLA’s roster, stands just three rebounds shy of breaking into the school’s all-time top 25 rebounds list (has 624)… former UCLA standout Tracy Murray now ranks 25th (with 627 rebounds).

Benjamin’s two steals in Oregon’s press helped key the run and, even though he didn’t have a rebound for a second straight game, the sixth man’s defensive presence more than made up for it.

USC plays at Oregon State on Sunday. OR enters the weekend No. 5 in the ESPN RPI, No. 7 according to CBSSport and the NCAA, all of which are the highest among Pac-12 teams.

Oregon, on the other hand, has already lost two conference games and will be looking to make a serious run toward the Big Dance, and it would start with a huge home win over USC on Thursday. USC came in shooting 41.1 percent on 3-pointers but had its poorest showing since the end of nonconference play.

Oregon’s bench. Obviously a large part of this is thanks to Benjamin’s 14 points off the bench, but OR had a fantastic game in this area.

The Ducks had four days off before facing Utah, which had gone six days without a game before playing Oregon. The Trojans finished as the conference’s cellar dwellers for the second consecutive season, but split their two matchups with the Beavers to capture one of their three conference wins.

OR has an average effective field goal percentage of 52.2%. Hamilton has shot a team-leading 58.9 percent from the field in UCLA’s eight road/neutral games.

Brooks made 6 of 9 shots, including a long 3-pointer, to go with three offensive rebounds as OR had an 18-12 edge on points in the paint by the break.

OR is just 3-3 when committing more turnovers than the opponent; 12-1 when those numbers are flipped or even. OR ranks lower at 164th with 36.9 RPG.

When the Trojans next took on their crosstown rival the UCLA Bruins, it was the play of freshman Chimezie Mutu who provided strong play in the post to combat Bruins power forward Tony Parker. OR went into the half winning the rebounding battle 22-19 while losing in the turnover battle 8-4. Through Friday, Jan. 15 games, 10 of the 12 Pac-12 programs had RPI figures between No. 1-75 (including UCLA, at No. 66). “That’s a good basketball team, very athletic and talented”.