The Trojans (1-1) conclude their brief East Coast trip with a game against the South Carolina Gamecocks (2-0) on Saturday at 4:30p PDT at The Colonial Center in Columbia.

The matchup
The two USCs met last year in the Trojans’ season opener (and the inaugural basketball game at the Galen Center), when the Gamecocks bested the Trojans 80-74 in overtime. The Gamecocks also won the only other previous matchup between the schools, a game in 1977 that also went into overtime.

South Carolina returns only two starters from last season’s 14-16 squad (and the players who did the most damage in the Trojan game are among the departed), but have coasted to easy victories over South Carolina State and The Citadel in the past week. The high-scoring Gamecocks are led by 5′9″ sophomore guard Devan Downey, a transfer from Cincinnati who leads the team with 17.5 points and 9 assists per game. Another transfer, 6′0″ junior guard Zam Fredrick (from Georgia Tech) adds another 13 points a game.

The Trojans, who are coming off of their first victory of the season, will have a distinct size advantage at every position, but whether they can take advantage of the mismatches is another story. The return of guard Daniel Hackett in Thursday’s game at The Citadel certainly seemed to bolster the lineup, and freshman forward Davon Jefferson could be the latest Trojan to make his season debut on Saturday. But the Trojans will have to play better defense than they showed in the opener against Mercer, and will especially need to find somebody to contain Downey. OJ Mayo is averaging 24 points and 7 rebounds in his first two games as a Trojan.

TV/radio
Thursday’s game will not be televised, but it can be seen live online via the school’s Trojan TV All-Access service for a $4.99 fee. The game will also be broadcast live on 710 AM.

USC Looks To Bounce Back From Opening Loss With Games In South Carolina (Official USC site)