USC Men’s Basketball: Western Michigan pregame
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Coming to you from Greenwich Village in New York City, where the family is gathering for the holidays this year.
Quick question: Why did I leave 72-and-sunny Los Angeles for frozen-and-cloudy New York?
Answer: Mom’s baking up a storm of desserts.
Anyway, the USC men’s basketball team is in Honolulu this week for the inaugural Diamond Head Classic eight-team tournament, and today the Trojans (5-4) face Western Michigan (4-4). The winner will face the winner of Northeastern/St. Mary’s on Wednesday. The losers will face each other Wednesday too, but earlier in the day. Here are a few pregame nuggets to snack on before tipoff (2 p.m. – televised on ESPNU and radio broadcast on 710 AM):
USC Player to Watch: Junior forward Alex Stepheson
Stepheson is coming off a 19-point, career-high 15-rebound performance against No. 9 Tennessee on Saturday, a game that earned him Pac-10 Men’s Basketball Player of the Week honors. In his first seven games after missing the first two with an injury, the North Carolina transfer is averaging a double-double (13.4 points, 10.6 rebounds) and is second in the Pac-10 in rebounding behind teammate Nikola Vucevic (10.7). USC Coach Kevin O’Neill said Stepheson is far from a finished product, but as well as he has been playing lately, it will be interesting to see how much better he can get.
Western Michigan Player to Watch: Senior guard David Kool.
Kool is leading the Mid-American Conference in scoring (21.5 ppg) and is deadly from the free throw line (94% on 48 of 51 attempts). He likes to shoot from three-point range too, and made eight of 13 attempts against Eastern Illinois. The problem for Kool is that he’ll be the focus of the Trojans’ lockdown defense that has held opponents to 57.8 points per game, its fewest amount through nine games in 50 years. He will need Detroit natives guard/forward Martelle McLemore (12 ppg) and Flenard Whitfield 12.3) to help today.
-- Baxter Holmes