USC Tries to End Stanford’s Dominance

As a frustrating season winds down, USC’s basketball team may very well be frustrated again today.

The Trojans (4-11 in the Pacific 10 and 10-15 overall) will play Stanford (7-7, 13-13) at Maples Pavilion at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast by KNX.

Stanford, an overachieving team, has won four straight games from USC, including a sweep last season when the Trojans shared the league championship with Washington.

More telling, the Cardinal seems to have the knack of beating USC regardless of the trend of the game. USC had an 11-point lead over Stanford in the first half last week at the Sports Arena but eventually lost, 61-59.

The Trojans will be playing without Derrick Dowell, who was suspended Wednesday by Coach Stan Morrison after the junior forward told a USC assistant coach that he didn’t want to start the second half of Monday night’s game against California.

Dowell said that he was in foul trouble and was concerned that he would pick up a quick fourth foul if he was in the lineup at the outset of the second half. Morrison didn’t think Dowell was ready to play at all and kept him on the bench.

Dowell apologized to the team and USC coaches Thursday for what he called a misunderstanding, and there is a possibility that he could be reinstated for the final games of the season at Oregon and Oregon State next week.