LOS ANGELES -- Azoulas Tubelis scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and No. 8 Arizona ended USC's 14-game home win streak with an 87-81 victory Thursday night.

It was the Wildcats' first game since they were upset by rival Arizona State on an improbable half-court shot at the buzzer, 89-88. Arizona has not lost back-to-back games in the two seasons Tommy Lloyd has been its coach.

Arizona took control midway through the first half. After Reese Dixon-Waters hit from behind the arc to tie the game at 12-12 with 13:29 to play in the first half, Tubelis and Pelle Larsson sandwiched layups around Courtney Ramey's second 3-pointer to open a 19-12 advantage. By the time Kerr Kriisa hit from behind the arc with 16 seconds left, the Wildcats held a 43-31 advantage.

USC's Kobe Johnson picked up his third foul early and went to the bench for the final nine minutes of the half after scoring just two points. Dixon-Waters and Boogie Ellis scored 25 of USC's 31 first-half points.

Arizona's inside game with Tubelis and Oumar Ballo gave the Trojans trouble all night and the pair finished with 35 points and 15 rebounds, plus each had three assists, a steal and a blocked shot.

The Wildcats (25-5, 14-5 Pac-12) extended their lead to as many as 15 points midway through the second half, but Ellis poured in 16 points over the final nine minutes to get the Trojans within five points in the final minute.

Ellis scored 35 points to lead the Trojans (21-9, 13-6), hitting 11 of 20 shots from the field, including 6 of 11 from 3-point range. Dixon-Waters scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds and Johnson had 12 second-half points to finish with 14.

Ramey hit 3 of 7 from long range and scored 16 points for Arizona. Kriisa converted 3 of 6 from distance to add 11 points while Kylan Boswell had 14 points off the bench.

SEEDS

The victory assures Arizona the No. 2 seed into next week's Pac-12 Conference Tournament in Las Vegas, USC will be the No. 3 seed.

RECORD START

The win was Lloyd's 58th in his two seasons as Arizona's coach, tying him with former North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge for the most wins by a college coach in his first two seasons.

UP NEXT

Arizona plays its regular-season finale at No. 4 UCLA on Saturday.

USC plays host to Arizona State on Saturday.

 

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 Postgame Notes (via Pac-12 Network research dept.)

- 25 wins through 30 games for 2nd straight season
    o 1st time since 2013/14 & 2014/15 having at least 25 wins through their 1st 30 games in consecutive seasons

- 5th straight win vs USC, 2nd time in the Pac-12 era having a 5 game win streak against USC
    o Won 5 straight from 2016 to 2016

- 3rd straight win at the Galen Center, longest win streak ever in that building (opened in 2006)
    o 1st time winning 3 straight road games at USC since winning 4 straight at USC from 1993 to 1996

- 89.0 PPG at the Galen Center under Tommy Lloyd (91 at USC on 3/1/2022)

- Tommy Lloyd 58th win as Arizona's head coach 
    o Now tied with North Carolina's Bill Guthridge for most wins through a coach's 1st 2 seasons in D1 history

- Azuolas Tubelis 25 PT, 11/17 FG, 10 Reb
    o 12th double-double this season,1st since 2/9/23 at Cal
    o 6th game of at least 25 PT & 10 Reb.
    o 1st Wildcat since DeAndre Ayton in 2017-18 with at least 5 games of 25 & 10 in the same season (Ayton had 9 that year)
    o 4th career double double vs USC, 2nd this season.
    o Scored at least 15 in 5 of 6 career games vs USC

- Courtney Ramey 16 PT, 6/11 FG, 3/7 3PT
    o 9th straight game with multiple made 3PT. 2nd time this season he's made multiple 3s in 9 straight games
    o Made multiple 3PT in each of his 1st 10 games

- Kylan Boswell 14 PT, 4/5 FG, 2/3 3PT, 2 Ast
    o 3rd career game in double figures