USC Tries to Right Itself Against the Cardinal Tonight

The Pacific 10 basketball season is winding down, and so is USC. The Trojans, who have lost five straight conference games and are a half-game out of last place, are a bit of an enigma.

They’re usually competitive and seldom get blown out, but they’re not playing quite well enough to win.

USC, 3-9 in the league and 9-13 overall, will resume trying to salvage what is left of the season when it plays Stanford (6-6 and 12-12) tonight at the Sports Arena, followed by home games with UCLA Saturday and California Monday night.

“We’ve hit a plateau, and everyone else has improved,” Coach Stan Morrison said. “We’re not going on all five cylinders at the same time. All of our players don’t have to have a great night for us to win, but we tend to get out of sync. We don’t play with the maturity we need to.”

It has been said that next season is USC’s, considering that Morrison has four freshmen who are playing regularly.

“I’m offended when I hear that,” he said. “Who is to say that the other teams won’t improve.”

He pointed out that Stanford has only two seniors among its 10 regulars; Arizona will lose only one starter, California and UCLA will have all of their starters back, and Washington and Oregon State will retain their big men, Chris Welp and Jose Ortiz.

Stanford has been a most troublesome team for USC. The Cardinal was the only Pac-10 team that swept the Trojans last year, depriving them of the outright conference championship.

Once again, Stanford is winning--and losing--when least expected. Coach Tom Davis doesn’t have a starting five, but a starting 10, players hustling on and off the floor to cause havoc with full-court pressure defense.

“Stanford has virtually out-hustled everyone it has played,” Morrison said. “It’s a team that has the ability to distort a game and put pressure on you offensively and defensively nonstop.” Stanford so disrupted USC last year while winning at Palo Alto, 86-65 in the Trojans’ only conference road loss that Morrison ordered his team back on the floor for postgame practice.

Trojan Notes USC forward Derrick Dowell won’t start tonight. He was late to a Monday morning practice, and if a player doesn’t have a valid excuse, it is the policy of Coach Stan Morrison not to include him in the starting lineup. He is expected to play, though. Dowell, who has been bothered by the flu, has been slumping lately. After scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds against UCLA Jan. 29, he has averaged only 9.3 points and 4.3 rebounds in the last four games. However, he played only 21 minutes after he was ejected from the Washington game early in the second half and just 19 minutes against Arizona when he got into foul trouble. . . . In a year of outstanding Pac-10 freshmen, Stanford has two of the best in 6-4 guard Todd Lichti, who is averaging 16.4 points, and center Howard Wright, who is averaging 9.5 points and 6.1 rebounds. Wright is the son of Ernie Wright, a former all-pro offensive tackle with the San Diego Chargers and Cincinnati Bengals. . . . Greg Butler, a 6-11 sophomore, also contributes. He is averaging 8.7 points a game. And reserve guard Novian Whitsett is averaging 12.5 points. . . . Stanford, unlike other schools, lists two five-man teams in its press releases.