GAME NOTES: After playing into overtime in each of the last two outings, the Stanford Cardinal hope to take care of business in regulation this time around as they clash with the USC Trojans in Pac-12 Conference action on Sunday night.

Stanford, which has gone to overtime in three of the last five games overall, is in the midst of a three-game road trip that has them taking on the other three Pac-12 programs before returning home to challenge the defending national champion UConn Huskies next weekend. On Thursday night, the Cardinal was pushed to double-overtime versus UCLA and ended up with an 86-81 defeat, the first in three league bouts.

As for the Trojans, they finally produced their first conference win of the campaign, after losing to Utah and Colorado on the road during the first week of the new calendar year. On Wednesday, USC battled in-state rival California and survived with a 71-57 decision.

USC leads the all-time series by just a single game according to Stanford sources, 123-122. The most recent meeting drew the Cardinal one game closer to knotting up the series, as the squad produced an 80-59 victory at home last season.

In a game that featured nine ties and 11 lead changes, the Cardinal came up short versus UCLA, even as the visitors made good on 15-of-31 from 3-point range in the meeting. Chasson Randle, who knocked down 7-of-13 out on the perimeter, finished with a game-high 32 points, followed by Anthony Brown with 21 on 5-of-11 shooting beyond the arc. Off the bench it was Rosco Allen with 14 points and seven rebounds as he accounted for the other three made triples for Stanford.

Randle is producing a team-high 19.8 ppg, having made good on 35 3-pointers and 89.6 percent of his attempts at the free-throw line. Brown checks in with another 14.6 ppg and is first on the squad in assists with 40, not to mention matching Stefan Nastic (13.9 ppg) for the team lead in total rebounds with 96. He and Nastic are tied with Reid Travis in average rebounds per game with just under seven per outing, helping to provide the Cardinal with a rebounding advantage of 4.4 per contest. Unfortunately, Travis is out indefinitely due to a stress fracture in his left leg.

Nikola Jovanovic scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds on Wednesday night to help push the Trojans to their first conference win of the season at the Galen Center. Accounting for 17 points, Julian Jacobs scored 10 of those in the second half as the team continued to try and find compensation for the loss of Jordan McLaughlin who is out with a dislocated shoulder. Katin Reinhardt produced 16 points, hitting 2-of-6 shots from three-point range while his teammates came up empty on their nine collective attempts out on the perimeter.

Without McLaughlin the Trojans are missing their top scorer who was putting up 12.7 ppg, not to mention the one who directs the offense with 64 assists over the course of 13 contests. Jovanovic is now the active leading scorer with 12.6 ppg, shooting an impressive 52.0 percent from the field overall and a disappointing 60.4 percent at the free-throw line. While Jovanovic does get his hands on the ball quite often with his 8.1 rpg, the fact that he has just five assists against 28 turnovers implies he doesn't always know what to do with it.

Without one of their key performers the Trojans are certainly at a disadvantage to some degree. However, being at home and hosting a program that is coming off overtime yet again could potentially work in USC's favor, although not likely.