Last season, when TCU and USC hooked up in Los Angeles, the Horned Frogs embarrassed the Trojans, 96-61. The rosters are vastly different this season, though, as four of the six players who had at least 10 points in that game for TCU are gone, and USC has brought in some talented freshmen.

The Trojans are led into Friday night’s game in Fort Worth, Texas, by a pair of big men, Onyeka Okongwu and Nick Rakocevic, who are combining to average 30 points and 17.1 rebounds per game. All this production down low also has led to a tremendous effort on defense inside the arc as USC ranks 12th among all Division I teams in opponents’ 2-point shooting percentage.

They are made more effective by pass-first freshman point guard Ethan Anderson. While Anderson has been averaging just five points per game, he’s been doing a great job of make USC’s possessions efficient with 4.9 assists to just 2.1 turnovers per game.

TCU has also been solid in the interior, with its defense ranking 17th in the country in opponent’s shooting percentage inside the arc, but has killed itself with poor free-throw shooting. TCU ranks 333rd in the country in free-throw shooting percentage, and a bad performance at the line led to its lone SU loss of the season against Clemson.

These teams have lots of similarities, and it can be very dicey to bet on a team that does not hit free throws in tight games.

The play: USC, +4¹/₂.