USC’s wait for a conference championship in men’s basketball continues.
The Trojans, who finished the regular season Saturday with a dramatic 64-63 victory over UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, needed Oregon State to defeat Oregon on Sunday to claim the Pac-12 title.
But the Ducks defeated the Beavers 80-67 in Corvallis and won the Pac-12 with a 14-4 record, besting the Trojans’ 15-5 mark by percentage points (.778 to .750.) USC shared the Pac-10 title in the 1984-85 season. The Trojans’ last outright championship came in the 1960-61 season.
Oregon (19-5 overall) and USC (21-6) each experienced postponements this season because of COVID-19 protocols and the Ducks ended up playing two fewer conference games.