For a college basketball team hovering near the NCAA Tournament bubble, waiting until February or early March to secure a bid is a risky approach. Conference schedules wear teams down, league tournaments are unpredictable, and players are often fatigued by the end of the regular season.
The better path is to build a strong résumé during nonconference play in November and December, avoiding bad losses and collecting Quadrant 1 wins that will catch the eye of the selection committee months later.
The USC men's team stumbled on the first part of that plan, taking a Quadrant 3 loss to Florida Gulf Coast in its season opener. That makes Sunday's home game against No. 19 Auburn at the Galen Center especially important for the Trojans, who are 8-3.
"It's a huge opportunity. A ranked team coming into our house, we gotta be able to take advantage of that," sophomore guard Kobe Johnson said. "We had a bad loss first game of the year against FGCU, which really put us behind. To be able to close out this nonconference schedule with a couple wins, it would put us in a good spot."
Despite Auburn's AP ranking, the game counts as a Quadrant 2 opportunity. The Tigers sit at No. 49 in the NET rankings, and USC is playing at home, factors the selection committee uses to measure strength of schedule.
USC is 0-2 in Quadrant 1 and 2 games, having lost to Tennessee and Wisconsin in the Bahamas. The team is 1-1 in Quadrant 3 games and 7-0 in Quadrant 4. A Quadrant 2 win over Auburn would therefore be a meaningful first step in improving its profile.
Head coach Andy Enfield echoed his player's view. "It's a huge opportunity," he said. "We understand it. To put yourself in a position on a national scale, you have to beat good teams. And Auburn is certainly one of those."
The Trojans also recognize they need to play differently than they did most recently. In Wednesday's 88-78 win over Long Beach State, USC was outrebounded 50-32 and gave up 22 offensive rebounds. Auburn (9-1) ranks 23rd nationally with 13.3 offensive rebounds per game.
"They just outworked us on the rebounding perspective. When it comes to Sunday against Auburn, we gotta change that up," Johnson said, noting that Long Beach State scored 27 second-chance points. He called Auburn "a much better team, much more physical team" and said USC must focus on boxing out and putting a body on opponents.
Sunday's game, USC's second-to-last of the nonconference schedule, tips off at 2:30 p.m. at the Galen Center. It will be televised on ESPN and broadcast on 790 AM.
