GAME NOTES: The USC Trojans shoot for just their second Pac-12 Conference win on Thursday night, as the visit the Oregon Ducks at Matthew Knight Arena.

Entering the day, the Trojans are tied with both California and Arizona State for last place in the conference standings with a record of 1-4. The team is coming off an 83-66 setback to UCLA eight days ago, the second straight loss for the program and the fourth in the last five outings overall.

Like USC, the Ducks are also dealing with a two-game slide at the moment, bowing to Washington on the road last Sunday by a score of 85-77. The team has now dropped three of its last four outings, and is tied with both the Huskies and Colorado in the bottom half of the league standings at 2-3.

As far as the all-time series is concerned, USC leads by a 60-50 margin, taking into account a pair of victories by the Trojans in 2008 that had to be vacated.

USC trailed by just five points at the break versus the Bruins at the Galen Center, but that was before UCLA made good on 62.5 percent from the floor over the final 20 minutes of action. The Trojans were buried when the visitors put together a massive 23-2 run between the two halves.

Nikola Jovanovic led USC with 20 points, followed by Darion Clark with 11 and both Malik Marquetti and Katin Reinhardt with 10 points apiece as the team came up short in the rebounding department, 41-20, and cleared just four boards at the offensive end.

Over the course of five conference bouts, Jovanovic leads the USC offense with 16.2 ppg on the strength of his 59.6 percent shooting from the floor. Julian Jacobs pitches in with 11.6 ppg and is first on the unit with 19 assists in an effort to get the rest of his teammates on track. Unfortunately, the Trojans are being limited to just 66.6 ppg versus the rest of the Pac-12, while the opposition comes up with 76.6 ppg thanks to 40.6 percent accuracy behind the 3-point line.

The Ducks led by as many as 13 points in the first half at Alaska Airlines Arena last weekend, owning a 42-32 advantage at the break. However, the team then allowed Washington to make good on not only 65.5 percent from the floor in the second half, but also 6-of-9 behind the 3-point line, en route to the eight-point loss. Dillon Brooks and Dwayne Benjamin accounted for 16 and 15 points, respectively, for a squad that was outscored 17-6 at the free-throw line.

Joseph Young, who finished with a mere eight points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field versus the Huskies, continues to be one of the top scorers in the conference with 19.0 ppg in league action. Young is actually shooting better out on the perimeter (.471) than he is from the floor overall (.444). Elgin Cook checks in with 14.4 ppg and 5.8 rpg, but for someone who has his hands on the ball as much as Cook does, it should come as a surprise that he has yet to record a single assist in Pac-12 play.

Assuming that Young will not be held down in a second straight outing, expect to see Oregon put together a solid offensive effort once more and this time make it stand up at home versus the Trojans.