Jordan McLaughlin scored 19 points, fellow guard Elijah Stewart added 18 and USC defeated New Mexico 90-82 Saturday night at Galen Center for its first 3-0 start since 2000-01.
Bennie Boatwright added 15 points and Julian Jacobs had 14 for the Trojans, who won their first two games by double-digits.
Samford transfer Tim Williams led the Lobos (3-1) with 25 points and 15 rebounds.
New Mexico trailed by 20 points when it rallied with a 30-15 run to close to 81-76 with under two minutes remaining. The Trojans went 8 of 12 from the line down the stretch while the Lobos got consecutive 3-pointers from Elijah Brown and Anthony Mathis that left them trailing 87-82.