Dowell Suspended From USC Team After Halftime Tiff

Derrick Dowell, junior forward on USC’s basketball team, has been suspended indefinitely by Coach Stan Morrison for an incident that occurred at halftime of Monday night’s game with California at the Sports Arena.

Morrison said Wednesday that Dowell told an assistant coach he didn’t want to start the second half. The USC coach not only obliged Dowell but also kept him on the bench for the rest of the game.

Dowell’s suspension, though, has been building for some time. He has frequently been late for practice and has missed some drills entirely. Because of that, he has not started five games this season that he was expected to start.

“Derrick went into the tank as far as I was concerned when he got his third foul in the first half while playing only nine minutes,” Morrison said of Monday night’s problems. “At halftime, he was uncommunicative, not paying attention and feeling sorry for himself. He was out of it.

“I was definitely distracted by itand I know the team was. He told one of my assistant coaches, ‘Tell the coach to start somebody else.’ As I looked down the bench through the course of the second half, there was no way I felt he was ready to play.

“And as I saw how hard our players were playing in an effort to win the game, I didn’t want to do anything that would possibly keep them from realizing that goal, although we didn’t realize it.”

Cal won, 65-63, when guard Kevin Johnson made two free throws after time had expired.

Morrison also said that Dowell had chosen not to come into the room where the coach met with his players after the game.

Dowell wouldn’t return phone calls from The Times, but he told his side of Monday night’s events to Scott Wolf of the Daily Trojan.

“I said I didn’t want to start because of my foul situation. The assistant coach misunderstood me. Maybe, I should have gone to Morrison myself. Or maybe, Morrison said to hell with Derrick Dowell--he doesn’t tell me how, when or where he wants to play.”

Dowell said in an interview last week with The Times that he was frustrated by USC’s losing record (10-15 overall and 4-11 in the Pacific 10) and mildly criticized the freshmen players for not always playing within the team comcept.

USC has three games remaining, all on the road. The Trojans will be at Stanford Saturday, at Oregon March 6 and at Oregon State March 8.

Asked if there is a chance that Dowell would be reinstated before the season ends, Morrison said: “At this juncture it’s remote, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.”

Morrison made his comments at his regular weekly news conference. At the time, Dowell hadn’t learned of his suspension.

Morrison said he had asked Dowell Tuesday to be in the coach’s office Wednesday morning. Dowell did not show up for the meeting. Morrison said he called Dowell twice Wednesday morning and asked him again to come in. Dowell did not appear. Dowell knew of his suspension but still hadn’t formally met with Morrison by early Wednesday evening.

“I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do,” Dowell told the Daily Trojan. “Our main problem is communication. Communication is our worst enemy. I don’t know when I’m going to talk to him (Morrison). There is no way a matter like this can be cleared up right away.”

Dowell is the team’s second-leading scorer and top rebounder, averaging 15.5 points and 7.8 rebounds. He had been in a five-game slump, however, before he pulled down 16 rebounds and scored 10 points in USC’s 79-64 victory over UCLA last Saturday at the Sports Arena.

Monday’s incident was apparently the last straw, though. A source close to the team said that Morrison was diagramming plays on a blackboard at halftime and that Dowell wasn’t paying attention.

When Morrison invited Dowell to diagram a particular play, Dowell reportedly said. “It’s on the board. Everyone can see it.”

Morrison said he can only speculate but that he believes Dowell’s attitude stems from losing more than from anything else.

“I can’t crawl inside of his head,” Morrison said. “But on a team that needed strong player leadership, I don’t think he has given us what he is capable of giving us in this regard.

“The players are angry. My staff is unusually angry and hurt. We wanted to win the damn game. This coach wanted to win that game more than I can ever tell you. And I think our chances were severely jolted.”

There has been speculation that Dowell resents the media attention paid to freshman forward Tom Lewis, who is USC’s leading scorer.

Dowell said in an interview last week, however, that he has no quarrel with Lewis or the other freshmen who play regularly--Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers and Rich Grande.

Lewis said last month that there was turmoil on the team and that some players were given preferential treatment. It is believed he was referring to Dowell. Lewis later recanted his statement after talking with Morrison, saying he understood why players are treated differently.

Dowell said last week that there was more cohesiveness on the team than earlier in the season. “We weren’t bending over backwards to get to know each other before,” he said.

Dowell almost left USC in his freshman year when his father died. But he stayed and seemed reasonably content until this season.

Trojan Notes With Derrick Dowell suspended, Coach Stan Morrison will now go with a starting lineup of Bo Kimble and Tom Lewis at the wing positions, Hank Gathers and Rod Keller at the double post and Larry Friend at point guard. . . . Morrison pointed out that Dowell wasn’t the only player with three fouls at halftime of the Cal game. Keller and Cal’s Leonard Taylor and Chris Washington also had three fouls. . . . Morrison lauded Keller, the hard-working junior center. “Rod is limited but he is always emotionally ready to play,” Morrison said. “He gives us everything he can give us.” Keller ranks third in the conference in blocked shots, averaging 1.6 a game. . . . Morrison also said that Gathers has developed into a solid performer. Gathers has grabbed 75 rebounds and scored 76 points in the last nine games. . . . Lewis and Kimble were named to the All-Pac 10 freshman team, and Morrison said that Gathers was also deserving of that honor. . . . Friend, with 150 assists, needs 27 more to break his school record of 176.