March Madness: Previewing Friday’s Round of 64 Matchups
Southern California (11) vs. Southern Methodist (6)
Southern California is coming off of a thrilling win in their play-in game against Providence on Wednesday night. Our metrics really like Southern Methodist, though, and we give them nearly a 20% chance to advance to the Elite Eight, which would potentially include a win over Duke.
Below are three players to keep an eye on from each team.
| Player | Team | PPG | RPG | eFG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semi Ojeleye | SMU | 18.8 | 6.7 | 0.580 |
| Sterling Brown | SMU | 13.3 | 6.5 | 0.540 |
| Shake Milton | SMU | 13.1 | 4.1 | 0.558 |
| Bennie Boatwright | USC | 14.6 | 4.3 | 0.518 |
| Chimezie Metu | USC | 14.5 | 7.8 | 0.549 |
| Jordan McLaughlin | USC | 13.1 | 3.4 | 0.530 |
Here is a quick breakdown of the team stats comparison.
| Team | nERD | O Rtg | eFG% | Reb% | TOV% | D Rtg | Opp. eFG% | Opp. TOV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #6 SMU | 15.78 | 116.7 | 0.547 | 56.9 | 14.5 | 93.7 | 0.461 | 16.3 |
| #11 USC | 9.0 | 110.7 | 0.519 | 50.3 | 13.8 | 102.9 | 0.497 | 15.6 |
