The USC Trojans and the Stanford Cardinal meet Saturday in college basketball action from Maples Pavilion. USC is sitting at 9-14 overall this year. The Trojans lost to California in their last outing on Wednesday. As for Stanford, they’re .500 through 22 games after a loss to UCLA in their latest matchup. Let’s get into our USC vs. Stanford prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
USC Trojans
The Trojans posted an 8-7 run in their first 15 games this year featuring losses to UC Irvine, Oklahoma, Gonzaga, LBSU, Auburn, Oregon and Oregon State. USC is 1-7 in their last eight outings with losses to Washington State, Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA, Oregon and California.
Matched up against California on Wednesday, the Trojans were down 42-31 going into the second half. USC came back to force overtime but were outscored 16-10 in the extra period for an 83-77 defeat. Isaiah Collier was tops on the team with 20 points and three rebounds off the bench.
Stanford Cardinal
Over on the Stanford side, they were 8-7 at the 15-game mark as well with losses to Santa Clara, Arkansas, Michigan, Northern Iowa, San Diego State, Arizona State and USC. The Cardinal are 2-4 in the last six with losses to Washington State, California, Arizona and UCLA.
In their Wednesday outing versus UCLA, the Cardinal trailed by two points going into the second half. Stanford didn’t get any closer on a 47-41 run from there and lost 82-74. Maxime Raynaud was the team’s leading scorer with 20 points and 10 rebounds in 30 minutes of action.
ANDREW’S FREE USC VS STANFORD PREDICTION
I’ll lean toward Stanford here. Probably not touching this one, though. The Cardinal gave up 15 turnovers (leading to 20 UCLA points) in their latest loss but otherwise didn’t play too badly—outside of a rough 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) from 3-point range. The good news is that Stanford has scored 71 or more points in nine straight games.
The last time these teams met up back on January 6, USC secured a home victory 93-79. Both teams shot very well (above 47.7 percent) but Stanford once again had turnover troubles with 18 for 25 Trojans points. The Cardinal have to get their sloppy play under control; if they can do that I think they’ve got a solid shot at a revenge cover here.