Morrison Hoping to Keep USC One Step Ahead

USC leads the Pacific 10 basketball race midway through the season and, although the Trojans are not assured of keeping their lofty status--four teams are only a game behind them--Coach Stan Morrison is obviously doing something right.

But Morrison said Wednesday that he is not coaching any differently than he did last year when USC was 11-20 overall and eighth in the conference with a 6-12 mark.

“It’s hard to judge yourself, but I think my best coaching job was the year before we went to the NCAA tournament (1981) when we had a 14-13 record,” he said. “I think I got us through some tough situations that we probably couldn’t have gotten through. I’m not coaching any differently now. Perhaps the players are hearing better. Winning will do that.

“We’re winning because we have more maturity, better players and we’re playing with some momentum. We’ve started the same lineup every game this season.”

The Trojans, 13-5 overall and 7-2 in the Pac-10, will try to stay ahead of the pack when they play Washington tonight at Seattle. The Huskies are tied for second with UCLA, Arizona and Oregon State, all with 6-3 records.

Surprisingly, USC is unbeaten in four games on the road this season. The Trojans have defeated the Arizona and Oregon schools on their home courts and will try for a sweep in Washington. They will play Washington State (2-7) Saturday afternoon at Pullman, Wash.

Morrison pointed out that he had seven freshmen on his roster last season, that players such as Glenn Smith, Cedric Bailey and Clayton Olivier were ill or injured from time to time and that Derrick Dowell, then a freshman, had to live with tragedy when his father died.

“It’s not me,” Morrison said. “The kids are doing it. We’re winning because of the players. And we still have enormous room for improvement. Our defense is miles away from where it should be.

“But the most important thing is that the players continue to improve. They don’t think everything is locked in and will stay the way it is. If they think that, they’ll regress. There is no big secret. You still have to do the fundamental things without thinking about it.”

But Morrison did have a secret that was was pried out of him Wednesday. He’s superstitious, and so he has switched hotels in cities where the Trojans have had difficulty winning. “I got the idea from Tark (Jerry Tarkanian, Nevada Las Vegas coach),” he said. “It seemed to make sense.”

USC stayed in a hotel at Tucson where a freeway was so close that it seemed to be running through the rooms. The Trojans abandoned a hotel at Corvallis, Ore., where they had been a losing team for 10 straight years. Predictably, Morrison has found new quarters for his team at Seattle.

Even so, the Trojans will need more than a different hotel to beat the Huskies. Washington easily beat USC last month, 66-50. That game was at Cal State Dominguez Hills, USC’s alternate home court this season.

“We played a poor second half against Washington,” Morrison said. “We demonstrated unusual offensive impatience. We tried to shoot from inside an umbrella. We forced shots that were rejected. Their shot blocking and overall size was impressive.”

Morrison said that Washington has the best front line in the conference in 7-foot Christian Welp, 6-9 Detlef Schrempf and 6-9 Paul Fortier. Schrempf has been playing on a sprained right ankle since the USC game, but he was devastating against the Trojans. He scored 20 points, making 7 of 8 shots, and had seven assists.

Washington beat USC last season at Seattle, 79-47. But, as Morrison said, he coaches a better team now, one that is thriving on the road.

Trojan Notes Tonight’s game will be broadcast by KNX radio starting at 7:35. . . . Washington shot a school-record 73.3% in beating USC this season. USC shot only 35.3% but had six more rebounds than the Huskies. . . . Washington Coach Marv Harshman doesn’t have a real point guard, but Clay Damon has become more of an outside threat since the first meeting with the Trojans. . . . Harshman says that a team could still win or share the Pac-10 championship with four or five losses. Stan Morrison tends to agree. . . . USC center Clayton Olivier is bothered by a sore left foot, some complications from a operation last year, but is expected to start against the Huskies. . . . Morrison said that films showed that forward Derrick Dowell deflected guard Dean Derrah’s pass to Oregon State teammate Steve Woodside in the closing seconds Monday night. Woodside was unable to handle the pass, the ball went out of bounds and USC ran the clock down until guard Larry Friend threw in his Hail Mary shot in the final second to beat the Beavers, 60-58. . . . Dowell has scored 86 points and pulled down 61 rebounds in the last five games. USC leads the Pac-10 in rebounding, averaging 36.5 a game. . . . USC has not had sole possession of first place in the conference since January, 1979. The Trojans last won the conference championship in 1960-61.