Due to institutional-imposed sanctions, USC is ineligible for postseason play, starting with next month’s Pac-10 Tournament.

Even with that incentive not available to them, the Trojans have still managed to insinsuate themselves into the middle of the conference race.

Heading into Sunday’s 7 p.m. game with UCLA at Galen Center, USC (14-9, 6-5) is in a five-way tie for second place, one game back of California, with seven to play.

Thanks to their split with the Bay Area schools last week, capped by Saturday’s 54-49 victory over Stanford, the Trojans, along with UCLA (11-12, 6-5), Washington (16-7, 6-5), Arizona State (16-8, 6-5) and Arizona (12-11, 6-5) are a game back of the Golden Bears (15-8, 7-4).

USC will also be in the position of trying to protect its home court Sunday. For UCLA, this is a chance to get some revenge for a 67-46 Trojan victory over the Bruins Jan. 16 in Pauley Pavilion.

The Trojans can thank Nikola Vucevic and Marcus Johnson, among others, for helping them get past Stanford (10-13, 4-7) Saturday.
Vucevic had 18 points and 14 rebounds and the biggest basket of the night on a tip-in with 26.4 seconds left against Cal.

Vucevic has made huge strides from last year to now and will make even more next season in the view of USC coach Kevin O’Neill.

Little used as a freshman, the 6-foot-10 native of Bar, Montenegro is pretty big right now for the Trojans,  as his averages of 11.8 points and a Pac-10 leading 9.8 rebounds per game attest.

Johnson and Dwight Lewis hit two free throws each down the stretch to extend the lead and keep the Cardinal at bay.

“You’re only going to see Nikola get better,” O’Neill said. “He’s a young guy who’s immature. Eighteen and 14 is great for a guy who hardly played and averaged about one point per game (it was actually 2.3) a year ago. The growth you’ll see from him next year will be huge.”

Another important factor is the presence of Johnson, the senior forward from Westchester High School.

It was no coincidence the Trojans struggled defensively when he was not in there. Foul trouble put him on the bench for long stretches and he eventually fouled out, playing just 26 minutes. This enabled Stanford’s Landry Fields, the Pac-10’s leading scorer, to go off.

Fields, who had a game-high 27 points, did most of his damage when Johnson was not on the floor. Johnson’s presence was essential at both ends of the court, though, according to O’Neill.

“Marcus is our best penetrator and our best energy guy,” he said. “When his energy is up, ours is up. When his isn’t, ours isn’t.”

Though he had nine points, six rebounds and three assists, it was at the defensive end that proved the most critical, O’Neill added.

“He did the best job on Fields,” the coach said. “He has a little more size and a little more bulk than Marcus Simmons (who defended the Cardinal star when Johnson was not in here) to match up with Fields. We struggled when Marcus Johnson was on the bench with foul trouble.”

USC battled back from a second-half deficit, tying the score at 44 on a Johnson drive and at 46 on a Vucevic layin off a Johnson feed.

Jeremy Green, who missed his first nine shots, hit a 3-pointer at the 1:50 mark to give Stanford its last lead at 49-48.

Point guard Mike Gerrity added 11 points for USC.

Notes
Balance is the operative word when talking about UCLA.

The Bruins have four starters, led senior guard Michael Roll’s 13.6, scoring in double figures. Malcolm Lee (12.3), Nikola Dragovic (11.5) and Reeves Nelson (11.2) are the others.

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Oregon State junior forward Omari Johnson, a former Dorsey High star, scored a career-high 18 points, 16 in the first half, Saturday to lead the Beavers past Oregon, 62-42.

Johnson is averaging 4.9 points per game.