No. 15 Arizona, USC battle for Pac-12 crown

LAS VEGAS -- The Pac-12 Conference stayed true to form with No. 15 Arizona set to face Southern California in the championship of the conference tournament on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

Arizona (26-7), picked to finish first in the conference, goes against USC (23-10), the team that was picked to finish second. It's also how the two teams ended up in the regular season.

"It's really a special feeling," said UA junior Allonzo Trier, speaking of being in the finals for the second consecutive season. "That's a great accomplishment being able to do that in back-to-back years. We understand we will have a tough challenge."

Arizona won the conference tournament last season.

It won't be easy to do it a second time. USC is playing some of its best basketball of the season, having won six of its last seven games.

"This is when you should be playing your best basketball," said USC guard Jordan McLaughlin. "We're starting to do that."

With it, the Trojans have seemingly played themselves into the NCAA Tournament after this late-season run, particularly after disposing Oregon with relative ease on Friday night, 74-54.

"Bubble (or) no bubble, we're just trying to win the championship," said Chimezie Metu, who had 10 points and nine rebounds on Friday. "We can't worry about that."

The Trojans know it won't be easy beating the regular-season champions. In their one-and-only meeting last month, Arizona dominated the Trojans in what was a fast-paced game. Arizona won 81-67 in Tucson. McLaughlin said USC didn't play its best basketball back then and he didn't help because he was in foul trouble.

"We just have to play team basketball like we did tonight and the night before," McLaughlin said. "We have to lock in on defense."

It is defense, McLaughlin said, that will be the key. USC coach Andy Enfield told the team it is undefeated when they hold teams below 70 points.

"We're playing as hard (on) defense as we can," he said. "Defense leads to offense."

Arizona likes to play fast -- just as the Trojans do -- so points could come at a premium. Limiting UA to under 70 will likely be tough.

"For sure, but we want to play fast (too)," he said. "Our motto is: play fast, smart and unselfish. As long as we score points we should be good but we want to focus on defense."

Much of that will be attempting to stop Arizona's Deandre Ayton, who had 32 points and 14 rebounds against UCLA on Friday.

"He's probably the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft," Enfield said. "He's a tremendous talent. I really respect him as a player. We're going to have our hands full."

Arizona realizes the same with USC arguably the second-most talented team in the conference. Stopping Metu and Mclaughlin are key. The two combined for 34 points in the first meeting this season.

"We have to do what we do," Arizona's Parker Jackson-Cartwright said. "This is the biggest stage and we don't need to make the stage any bigger than it already is. Our process and preparation is the same. We have to be ready to go."