TCU @ USC

Who will WIN this matchup?

TCU Horned Frogs (6-1)

@ USC Trojans (5-3)

Current odds:

TCU Horned Frogs: (-130)

USC Trojans: (+110)

• The line for this game is TCU by 2 points.

• USC missed a chance to boast its NCAA Tournament resume when it dropped a 73-61 decision to No. 6 Nevada at home on Saturday. But the Trojans get another shot at picking up a quality non-conference win when they face TCU on Friday night in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. USC led the Wolf Pack 35-34 at halftime but fell behind by as many as 19 points in the second half thanks to turnovers and 36 percent shooting, including 3-of-16 from 3-point range. “We expect more from our upperclassmen, to understand when the other team has scored four, six, eight, nine points in a row, that at that point, you have to take a great shot,” Trojan coach Andy Enfield said. “We did take a couple of good ones. We just missed them. And then we took a couple contested or rough shots.

• Next up is a TCU squad that returns four starters from a team that finished 9-9 in the ultra-competitive Big 12 Conference, ended a 20-year NCAA Tournament drought and comes in off a 67-59 victory over arch-rival SMU on Wednesday night. “Real happy with our guys,” Horned Frogs coach Jamie Dixon told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “How we did it, just found a way. And just getting better as the year goes on.”

• The win at SMU was the third in a row for the Horned Frogs since a stunning 73-64 home loss to Lipscomb on Nov. 20. Junior guard Jaylen Fisher, who was 5-of-8 from 3-point range, and senior forward JD Miller led the way with 15 points apiece while senior point guard Alex Robinson added nine points, seven assists and two steals. Five players average in double figures led by junior guard Desmond Bane (15.3) and sophomore forward Kouat Noi (14.8) followed by Robinson (12.9), Miller (11.9) and Fisher (10.3).

• The Trojans have missed 6-6 freshman guard Kevin Porter Jr., who has been hampered by a bruised quad suffered in a 99-80 win over Missouri State on Nov. 20 but is expected to play Friday night after missing two games and then playing only four minutes against Nevada. The explosive Porter, who is averaging 11.7 points and 3.3 rebounds and has had several highlight reel dunks, is penciled in as the sixth pick in the 2019 NBA Draft by nbadraft.net. Five Trojans are averaging in double figures led by 6-11 junior forward Nick Rakocevic (15.3) and 6-10 junior forward Bennie Boatwright (15.2).

• Robinson, who has had 12 or more assists in a game three times this season including 14 in a 77-69 win over Fresno State, leads the nation in assists with an average of 9.1 per game.

• Rakocevic leads the Pac-12 Conference and ranks tied for fifth nationally in rebounding with an average of 11.8 per game.

• The series is tied 1-1, with USC winning the last meeting, 83-59 on Dec. 19, 2011 at the Galen Center.