Pac-12 Tournament: #23 Colorado v. #24 USC

Who will WIN this matchup?

#23 Colorado Buffaloes (21-7)

#24 USC Trojans (22-6)

Current odds:

Colorado Buffaloes: (-125)

USC Trojans: (+105)

• The line for this game is Colorado by 1.5 points.

Southern California has an NBA lottery pick on its team, possibly the No. 1 overall selection in Evan Mobley, but it took double overtime for the 24th-ranked Trojans to get past Utah in the Pac-12 quarterfinals on Thursday in Los Angeles.

They may be tired for their semifinal match against 23rd-ranked Colorado on Friday night, but the fortunate thing for them is the Buffaloes played deep into the night to survive a late Cal rally.

USC (22-6) needed the extra 10 minutes to get by a Utah team it lost to on Feb. 27. The Trojans rode Mobley, who scored 13 of his 26 points in the overtimes after playing just seven minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. The 7-foot freshman looked fresh in a dominant performance.

“Well, he was well-rested so he had a lot of energy, and then he had to go two extra periods in overtime,” USC coach Andy Enfield said after the Trojans’ 91-85 win. “Evan played an all-around game.”

The Trojans, seeded second in the tournament, have won three straight since losing to the Utes. Two days before that setback, they were blown out in Boulder, Colo., 80-62, when Mobley was held to 13 points.

USC didn’t have an answer for McKinley Wright IV that night. Wright had 15 points and 14 assists to lead the Buffaloes (21-7) to a regular-season sweep of the Trojans.

This is Colorado’s 10th Pac-12 tournament since it joined the conference at the start of the 2011-12 season. The Buffaloes made a surprising run to win the tournament that year, but their No. 3 seed this year marks their highest slot ever in the Pac-12 event.

Colorado needed a strong second half to get by the Bears on Thursday night despite holding Cal’s leading scorer, Matt Bradley, scoreless until midway through the second half. Bradley fouled out with 10 points, but the Bears nearly pulled off the upset before falling 61-58.

“March is all about surviving and advancing,” Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle said postgame. “I think coach (Jim) Valvano is the one that came up with that, if I’m correct. We survived tonight, and we’re advancing. We didn’t play our best basketball. Cal had a lot to do with that. They’re so physical and they got hot (late) in the second half.”

The Buffaloes have won five in a row after a couple of disappointing losses to Cal and Oregon.

Colorado is certain to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016, and winning its second conference tournament would boost its seed. That goal nearly came to a stunning end when the Bears rallied from nine down with just over a minute left to almost tie it with a last-second 3-pointer.

Having survived the upset bid, the Buffaloes turn their attention to the Trojans, who showed some resiliency themselves in surviving Utah. Mobley will try to improve on his performance in Boulder on Feb. 25, and he looked ready to do just that after pulling down nine rebounds and blocking five shots against the Utes.

“The second half, I just tried to come in and attack,” he said.