1978–79 USC Trojans men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1978–79 USC Trojans men's basketball

NCAA tournament, Round of 32
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Record	20–9 (14–4 Pac-10)
Head coach	Bob Boyd
Home arena	L. A. Sports Arena
Seasons ← 1977–78 1979–80 →

1978–79 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 2 UCLA	15	–	3	.833	25	–	5	.833
USC	14	–	4	.778	20	–	9	.690
Oregon State	11	–	7	.611	18	–	10	.643
Washington State	10	–	8	.556	18	–	9	.667
Arizona	10	–	8	.556	16	–	11	.593
Arizona State	7	–	11	.389	12	–	15	.444
Oregon	7	–	11	.389	12	–	15	.444
Stanford	6	–	12	.333	12	–	15	.444
Washington	6	–	12	.333	11	–	16	.407
California	4	–	14	.222	6	–	21	.222

As of April 15, 1979^[1] Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978–79 USC Trojans men's basketball team represented the University of Southern California during the 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by head coach Bob Boyd, they played their home games at the L. A. Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California as members of the Pac-10 Conference. The Trojans were 14–4 in the Pac-10 and finished second in the conference regular season standings behind UCLA. USC received a bid to the NCAA tournament, the school’s fifth appearance all-time.

Roster

1978–79 USC Trojans men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F	44	Cliff Robinson	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	So	Castlemont	Oakland, CA

Head coach

Bob Boyd (USC)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

^[2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 30, 1978*	No. 12	Houston	W 88–80	1–0	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Dec 2, 1978*	No. 12	Utah	W 70–56	2–0	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Dec 6, 1978	No. 11	at Stanford	W 57–55	3–0 (1–0)	Maples Pavilion Stanford, California
Dec 13, 1978*	No. 12	at No. 1 Duke	L 65–79	3–1	Cameron Indoor Stadium Durham, North Carolina
Dec 15, 1978*		vs. Xavier	L 68–75	3–2	Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, Tennessee
Dec 16, 1978*		vs. Niagara	W 75–68	4–2	Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, Tennessee
Dec 21, 1978*		No. 7 Kansas	W 89–83 ^OT	5–2	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Dec 26, 1978		at California	W 59–54	6–2 (2–0)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Dec 29, 1978*		vs. Holy Cross	W 78–60	7–2	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Dec 30, 1978*		at Maryland	L 79–83	7–3	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Pac-10 regular season
Jan 5, 1979		Oregon	W 70–64	8–3 (3–0)	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Jan 6, 1979		Oregon State	W 76–75	9–3 (4–0)	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Jan 13, 1979		No. 6 UCLA	L 86–89	9–4 (4–1)	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Jan 18, 1979		at Arizona State	W 69–65	10–4 (5–1)	ASU Activity Center Tempe, Arizona
Jan 20, 1979*		at Texas	L 68–87	10–5	Frank Erwin Center Austin, Texas
Jan 22, 1979		at Arizona	L 72–74	10–6 (5–2)	McKale Center Tucson, Arizona
Jan 27, 1979		Washington State	W 67–61	11–6 (6–2)	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Jan 30, 1979		Washington	W 69–59	12–6 (7–2)	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Feb 3, 1979		at Oregon	W 87–64	13–6 (8–2)	McArthur Court Eugene, Oregon
Feb 5, 1979		at Oregon State	L 67–70	13–7 (8–3)	Gill Coliseum Corvallis, Oregon
Feb 9, 1979		at No. 4 UCLA	L 94–102	13–8 (8–4)	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California
Feb 15, 1979		Arizona	W 70–67	14–8 (9–4)	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Feb 17, 1979		Arizona State	W 75–59	15–8 (10–4)	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Feb 22, 1979		at Washington State	W 71–69	16–8 (11–4)	Friel Court at Beasley Coliseum Pullman, Washington
Feb 24, 1979		at Washington	W 61–59	17–8 (12–4)	Hec Edmundson Pavilion Seattle, Washington
Mar 1, 1979		Stanford	W 79–68	18–8 (13–4)	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Mar 3, 1979		California	W 86–64	19–8 (14–4)	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
NCAA Tournament
Mar 9, 1979*		vs. Utah State First round	W 86–67	20–8	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California
Mar 11, 1979*		vs. No. 8 DePaul Second round	L 78–89^[3]	20–9	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time.

^[4]^[5]

Rankings

References

^ "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
^ "1978-79 USC Trojans Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
^ "U.C.L.A and DePaul Triumphant in West". The New York Times. March 12, 1979. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
^ "1978-79 USC Trojans Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
^ "2019-20 USC Trojans Men's Basketball Media Guide". USC Athletics. Retrieved February 12, 2023.

v t e USC Trojans men's basketball
Venues	Shrine Auditorium (1926–1949) Pan-Pacific Auditorium (1949–1959) Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (1959–2006) Galen Center (2006–present)
Rivalries	UCLA (Crosstown Cup)
Culture & lore	George Tirebiter "Fight On" Traveler Athletics scandal 2017–18 corruption scandal
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics