USC basketball: Arizona State pregame

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Greetings and salutations!

Coming to you from the Wells Fargo Arena on the campus of Arizona State, where the Sun Devils (20-9 overall, 10-6 in Pacific 10 Conference play) and USC (16-12, 8-8) will play basketball tonight, with the highest-scoring team at the final buzzer claiming victory.

The punch line there (which is sans rimshot, so I understand if you aren’t on the floor laughing at that gem) is that ‘high scoring’ is the absolute last thing anyone expects from tonight’s matchup. When these squads played in January, the final tally was 47-37, USC. At halftime of that points bonanza, when I gulped down a cup of coffee to help stay awake, the Trojans led, 23-16. Good grief...

To be fair, both these teams are defense-minded. Out of 334 teams, USC ranks third nationally in scoring defense (56.1) and plays man-to-man. Arizona State ranks seventh nationally in that category (58.7) and plays a matchup zone defense. Offensively, Arizona State ranks 192nd nationally (67.6) and USC ranks 328th nationally (59). Long story short, I’m keeping tally on my fingers tonight, and the first team to 40 wins.

But I digress...
Here are some facts and stats to get you ready before tipoff at 5:30 p.m. Pacific time (televised on Prime Ticket, radio on 830):

USC player to watch: Marcus Johnson
Johnson has played beyond awful in USC’s last three games, all of which have been losses. He shot eight for 31 (19 total points) in those games and recorded 12 turnovers. With tonight and Saturday being USC’s final games this season, and likely the final games ever for Johnson, a senior (assuming the pros don’t come calling), I’d expect his play to improve, starting tonight.

Arizona State player to watch: Ty Abbott

Abbott is a decent candidate for the Pac-10’s most improved player award. After averaging 7.7 points last season, he’s up to 12.3 this year, but it’s his play of late that has snagged eyeballs. In his last 14 games, he’s averaged 16.6 points, and this comes after he averaged eight points in the first 14 games this season. Why is he the key tonight? When he scores in double digits, ASU is 37-10.

Key to the game: Offense

If you skimmed the top part of this post, go back and read it. If you already read it, then you know: Neither one of these teams will struggle defensively, but both will on the offensive end. Tonight will be about building a lead and then leaning on the other team until it crumbles.

And last but not least, USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett has joined Twitter. Call me suspicious, but I’d bet two things: one, that his joining Twitter is a well-planned public relations move to improve his image, and two, that he’s not the one posting the Tweets. Many celebs and important people have ghost-tweeters -- for USC guard Percy Miller, there are four people posting on his account -- and I just can’t picture Garrett at a keyboard, excitedly pounding out 140-character messages.

Which isn’t to say there won’t be useful info posted on his account. There’s bound to be interesting stuff on any account on any given day, such as my find today: Film critic Roger Ebert’s 2010 Oscar picks.

-- Baxter Holmes in Tempe, Ariz.