Three Guards Power USC Past Tennessee-Martin

USC basketball Coach George Raveling must have been taught how to schedule by his friend John Thompson, who loads up Georgetown’s nonconference schedule with patsies.

Raveling scheduled Tennessee-Martin, a former Division II school that is a probationary Division I school, as the Trojans’ season-opening opponent and, predictably, USC beat the Pacers, 102-81, Friday night before 2,859 at the Sports Arena.

USC guard Harold Miner scored 32 points in 30 minutes, including 21 in the first half, to lead the Trojans, who led by as many as 28 points before Raveling cleared his bench.

But Miner, who made 10 of 18 shots, including three three-pointers and all nine of his free throws, appeared bored at times.

“I told Harold two weeks ago that I felt the biggest challenge for him this season was to deal with the mental part of being bored, particularly in practice,” Raveling said.

“In my opinion I think he can go out any night, I don’t care who we play, and get 30 points. But I think he’s got to elevate his game in other areas. He’s going to have to find ways to challenge himself every day out.”

But Tennessee-Martin didn’t provide much of a challenge for Miner and the Trojans.

Raveling will get a more realistic assessment of his team when the Trojans play at Nebraska on Monday night.

“It’s going to be a hell of a lot tougher Monday night, I can tell you that,” Raveling said.

With USC using a three-guard offense for the second consecutive season, guard Duane Cooper had 16 points and Phil Glenn added 14 as the starting backcourt scored 62 of the Trojans 102 points.

Cooper made all six of his shots, including three three-pointers, and made one of three free throws. He also had six assists.

“I thought Duane probably played the best of anybody on the team for us,” Raveling said. “He played good defense and he took the open shot and he was aggressive in his thinking offensively.”

However, the Trojans lacked an inside game as forward Mark Boyd had seven points and three rebounds and center Yamen Sanders had no points and two rebounds.

Freshman forward Lorenzo Orr, who sat out last season after failing to qualify for admission, had 11 points and 11 rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench.

“The thing I was most disappointed in was our inside game,” Raveling said. “Other than Orr, I think our inside game was very poor at both ends of the court. Everybody else was working on a siesta.

“I think Orr will be a major contributor for us by the time we get to the conference. You can see that he has unique skills.”

Raveling feared that the Trojans might be a one-man team after Miner averaged 41 points in USC’s two exhibitions.

However, his fears were unfounded, at least during the first half.

The Trojans were a two-man team as Miner scored 21 points and Cooper added 11 in the first half as USC took a 49-36 lead.

Trojan Notes

USC has won four consecutive season-openers and is 59-27 in such games. . . . It was the ninth time that Harold Miner has scored 30 or more points in a game, matching a school record for most 30-point games set by center John Block from 1964-66.