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Issue isn’t as simple as USC’s youth

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The theme after USC put up a fight against No. 4-ranked Kansas on Sunday and fell five points short of an upset was how young the Trojans are.

The only thing is, they’re not that young, at least in chronological age, and in the new landscape of college basketball, they need to grow up by March, not Senior Night 2010.

Take note: The lineup of two freshmen and three sophomores Tim Floyd sent out against a Kansas starting five with three seniors was hardly a bunch of teenagers.

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O.J. Mayo is a 20-year-old freshman who played six seasons of high school basketball and might play only one season in college.

Davon Jefferson is a 21-year-old freshman who spent two years getting his academics together after failing to qualify to play at Nevada Las Vegas out of Lynwood High in 2005.

Sophomore Taj Gibson is 22 after a nomadic prep career. Sophomore Dwight Lewis is 20, and sophomore Daniel Hackett -- who in some ways plays with the most maturity of the group -- will be 20 this month.

There’s a compliment buried in here, and it’s that there was no reason, ability-wise, USC couldn’t have beaten Kansas.

The group that looked impressive against Southern Illinois and Oklahoma could have announced itself on the national scene by knocking off Kansas after taking a 10-point lead in the first half.

Instead, they were beaten by their own mistakes and the veteran persistence of Kansas, so they’ll have to wait for a chance to make a dent in the national consciousness.

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Turnovers, ill-advised shots, inconsistent rebounding effort and poor free-throw shooting -- the Trojans shot 55.6% and left eight points on the free-throw line -- let Kansas do what good, experienced teams do. The Jayhawks won, 59-55, and some fans filled a concourse with the eerie echoes of “Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk,” as they left.

No, the Trojans are not young. They are inexperienced at the college game and still jelling as a team.

But they have the ability to make an NCAA tournament run like last season’s if they overcome the mistakes that sometimes dog them.

“I don’t think young or old makes a difference,” Hackett said. “It takes five committed guys to get the ball where it needs to go, do the right thing, stop the other team, and don’t kill ourselves.

“I thought we killed ourselves today. A lot of credit to Kansas. They’re a monster team. They have probably four pros on that team, and they know how to play.

“I think we could have done some better things on the court, like take better care of the ball, slow the pace, not rush. But I guess we’ll learn from this.”

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With Hackett and the very productive freshman Jefferson on the court, the Trojans are a far cry from the team that lost to Mercer in the opener. But there are confounding aspects to the Trojans, such as Taj Gibson’s foul problems and free-throw shooting troubles and, oddly, the shortcomings of Mayo.

His NBA talent is so obvious it is somehow unexpected when he makes a freshman play such as turning the ball over after taking it through too much traffic, getting beaten on defense, or taking a shot after one pass when he isn’t even open.

The trick to that is, Mayo makes some of his bad shots, and he gave a little laugh of recognition about that after scoring 19 points on six-for-21 shooting against Kansas, including three for 11 from three-point range.

“Yeah, sometimes,” Mayo said. “We have a talented team in my opinion, and we can make a variety of shots. But a lot of times you can get a better shot or maybe put your teammate in position to get easier shots. Sometimes you take shots and if they don’t fall, bad shot, and if they do fall, terrific shot.”

Mayo had five turnovers Sunday, about his average.

“I just need to take care of the ball,” he said. “Being a lead guard, I have to give my teammates opportunities to take a good shot they can knock down. Sometimes on the fastbreak, if it’s not 100% there, maybe you don’t need to take it there. I’m just learning. I’m not a perfect player, but I can get better. I will get better as the season goes along, and so will our team.”

It sounds like quibbling to find fault with a player of such talent, but it goes to Floyd’s point that there is such a thing as a “young” team even if the players are mostly in their 20s and gifted with ability.

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“He’s a tremendous talent, but every situation is new to him like every other freshman in the country,” Floyd said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Derrick Rose or Kevin Love. We have played different defenses, different teams with different styles of play every night out. And he’s growing from it.

“I think if he makes four more shots tonight, you’re thinking, boy, he’s just tremendous. I think you can get influenced by shot-making. All of them can grow in that area. Every player can. That’s part of being a young team.”

Check that. Let’s stick with inexperienced.

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robyn.norwood@latimes.com

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