Raveling’s Optimism Unfounded as USC Falls : Trojans Make 21 Turnovers While Losing to Huskies, 74-68, at Sports Arena

George Raveling, USC’s basketball coach, was confident entering Saturday’s game against Washington.

“If there was ever a game that we played this year that I would have bet big-time money that we’d win, it was today,” Raveling said. “I just felt it in my bones.”

The Trojans, however, played poorly in a 74-68 loss to the Huskies before 2,037 fans at the Sports Arena.

“It was just a total shock to me that we played the way we played,” Raveling said. “I honestly and truly believe that we beat ourselves in this game more than Washington beat us.

“This loss was not as frustrating as it was disappointing. Maybe I was overconfident coming in, but I thought the atmosphere was right for us to win. I never in my life thought we’d play the way we played. I thought it was beyond us.”

USC made careless mistakes. The Trojans had 21 turnovers, including a season-high 15 in the first half.

The Trojans had four turnovers in the first five minutes, and Raveling’s pregame optimism dimmed.

“I don’t know why we turned the ball over,” Raveling said. “A lot of them were just foolish turnovers. A lot of times, the guy with the ball wasn’t even being pressured.”

Andy Russo, Washington’s coach, thought the Huskies’ pressure defense was disruptive.

“The key to our game today was defense,” Russo said. “We were aggressive and we got up on the ball.”

The Huskies had been struggling on offense, but guard Eldridge Recasner shot Washington out of its slump.

Recasner, who scored 21 points, had the best shooting day of his career, making all eight of his shots, including three three-pointers.

Recasner was frustrated because the Huskies, who led by as many as 18 points, had difficulty putting USC away.

“We’re just a better team than they are,” Recasner said. “I don’t think at any point in the game I felt we were going to lose. I was kind of frustrated the whole game because I felt we should have taken them out of the game in the first half.”

Center Mark West scored 16 points, and forward Mike Hayward had 14.

After being benched last weekend in games against Oregon State and Oregon, which ended his string of 51 consecutive starts, Hayward regained his starting spot and played well.

“I’m proud of the way Hayward played after having a tough time last week,” Russo said.

USC, which trailed by 18 points with 10:36 remaining, managed to make a game out of it.

Trailing 59-41, USC outscored Washington, 21-6, in 9:13 to cut the deficit to 65-62 with 1:23 remaining.

“You’ve got to credit our kids,” Raveling said. “They were in a position to win at the end.”

Ronnie Coleman, who scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds, and Anthony Pendleton (14 points) played key roles in USC’s rally.

Coleman had four points in the USC rally, and Pendleton, who had been benched for not playing good defense, scored nine points after coming off the bench.

“Pendleton can really shoot it,” Russo said. “We tried to deny him the ball until he was out of his range, whatever that is.

“USC is an amazing team. When you’ve gone through the type of season they’ve had and you get down by 16 or 17 and still keep coming back, you have to give them a lot of credit. It’s easy to play when things are going good, but not when things are going bad. My hat goes off to them.”

Washington held off the Trojans in the end by hitting 9 of 10 free throws. West made four free throws in the last 30 seconds to secure the victory.

USC is 9-19 overall and 2-14 in the Pacific 10 Conference. Washington is 11-15 and 7-10.

Trojan Notes

USC guard Rich Grande bruised his upper chest in a collision with Washington forward Mike Hayward with 10 minutes left in the second half. Grande will be X-rayed today. A senior, Grande is on the verge of becoming one of the few players in USC history to play on four consecutive last place teams. “It’s frustrating,” Grande said. “It’s not a happy feeling saying you finished last every year you played in the USC program. But I’m really proud to say that I’ve been on the team and to be a part of the tradition here.”

Washington forward Dion Brown, a sophomore who played at Crenshaw High, was replaced in Huskies starting lineup by Anthony Jenkins.