JEFF ALLEN GAME PREVIEW: USC vs. PROVIDENCE
The No.8 vs. No.9 games are the closes seeds, generally have the stickies lines and are usually ultra-competitive.
Tonight’s USC vs. Providence matchup figures to be all that and more as these two bubble beaters meet in Raleigh.
The (21-12, 9-9) Trojans stumbled down the stretch to go 3-7 over their L10 while the (23-10, 10-8) Friars are basically
a two-man outfit. Strangely enough, barring any unforeseen changes, there will be no seniors starting or likely playing
for either team. The line opened at Providence -2 with the total 149 1/2. Despite brisk two way action, the number has
not moved as of this writing.
The USC program has made major strides since bringing in Andy Enfield . If you remember, it was Enfield that led Florida
Gulf Coast on it’s Sweet 16 run a couple of year’s ago. The Trojans are a balanced scoring outfit with five players averaging
double-digits and six averaging 9.8 ppg. or more. Jordan McLaughlin (13.4, 4.7, 3.7) is an excellent all purpose guard that
drills better than 42% of his threes. Nikola Janovic (12.0, 7.7) is a 6’11” Euro that can step back and shoot and will also do
the heavy work on the glass.
Providence is an two man show that features Ben Bentil and Kris Dunn. Bentil (21.1, 7.8) is a 6’9″ 235 pounder out of
Delaware who has really emerged in his sophomore year. Dunn (16.0, 5.5, 6.4) had all the pub going in and has not
disappointed with a rock solid year. Not much else to note here other than this team has a tested tournament
HC in Ed Cooley. The Friars have made the Big Dance in each of the last two years but lost in this round both years. The
Friars signature win came against Arizona back in November.
Providence has seemed to get most of the steam for this game but keep in mind that the over the last six years, the Pac 12
is 23-6 straight up in this round. Enfield has taken teams on runs before and he has much the deeper team of the two. Big
East teams are just 9-9 in this round over the L3 years and the dog 31-21 in the L52 8-9 meetings. Tough to pick between
the two with a slight lean towards USC. This is a game well worth watching just to showcase Bentil and Dunn who will both
be playing at the next level.