Sanders Learns to Control the Frenzy : USC: Senior center was taught a rough game in Detroit and now must work to limit fouling.

Yamen Sanders drops a large goldfish into the fish tank and watches his eight exotic fish devour it.

The fish were a Christmas gift, and Sanders enjoys caring for them at home in Los Angeles. He also relishes watching them feed.

Sanders, the starting center on USC’s basketball team, displays the same type of aggression on the court. A 6-foot-9, 230-pound senior, Sanders is averaging a team-high 8.5 rebounds. He also is scoring 8.4 points per game.

“Yamen is a big-time rebounder, perhaps the best I’ve coached here at USC,” Trojan Coach George Raveling said.

“He makes his presence felt under the basket with intense physical play.”

Sanders, who proudly displays arms that are are scarred with scratches from his battles underneath the boards, says rebounding is not for the meek.

“There have been times in a game where I’ve got hit in the head, but I just keep on going,” Sanders said. “You’ve got to earn your rebounds.”

Sanders, who grew up on the mean streets of Detroit’s west side, has had to tone down his aggressive play since transferring from Central Michigan last season.

“He’s always been a very physical player,” said Charles Parker, the USC assistant coach who recruited Sanders.

“In high school he had some problems with foul trouble, as he still does, but in Detroit the referees let them get away with quite a lot. He’s adapted that style, and sometimes in college it gets him into trouble.

“You have to realize that he grew up in a tough neighborhood where being physical and being aggressive was a part of life. What they like to say in Detroit is, ‘Don’t bring no little girls on the playground courts.’ I think every time Yamen gets in a game, he still has that mentality of ‘I’m not going to be a sissy.’ It’s a matter of survival.

“That’s just the way he was brought up, to be intimidating, aggressive and physical, and not to say a whole lot. If you notice, Yamen doesn’t do a lot of talking.”

Often in foul trouble, Sanders averaged one foul every 5.5 minutes last season and led the team with five disqualifications. He finished six other games with four fouls.

“He’s so strong and physical that a lot of times he doesn’t even realize that he fouls,” Parker said. “It’s almost like when a football player gets hit and people bounce off him and he doesn’t feel anything. The other person feels it, but he doesn’t.”

Sanders has fouled out of three games this season and has had three or more fouls in 15 of the Trojans’ 20 games.

When Sanders has managed to stay out of foul trouble, he has helped the 13th-ranked Trojans, who have won nine consecutive games and play today at Oregon State.

Sanders had a personal-best 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Trojans upset UCLA last month. Sanders made his first five shots as the Trojans opened a 22-point first-half lead. He wound up making seven of 11 shots and six of 10 free throws.

“I know I can go out and do that every night, but sometimes I get in foul trouble,” Sanders said. “That game I played real smart.”

Sanders had 13 points and 13 rebounds as the Trojans upset Ohio State, 79-77, in overtime earlier this season.

Sanders has played well in USC’s last four games, averaging 11.5 points and 9.8 rebounds.

After averaging 13 points and 12 rebounds in helping Detroit’s Cooley High win the 1987 State Class-A championship, Sanders attended Central Michigan, where he played alongside Dan Majerle, now with the Phoenix Suns.

But Sanders grew disenchanted with his role at Central Michigan, where he was type-cast as a rebounder with limited offensive ability.

Rusty after sitting out the 1989-90 season because of his transfer, Sanders started 15 of 26 games for USC last season and averaged 4.9 points and 4.4 rebounds.

“Last year was pretty tough because I had a real bad ankle injury that bothered me throughout the season,” Sanders said.

“I sprained my right ankle in our first exhibition game and it bothered me the whole season.”

Sanders worked hard to improve, playing in the college summer league. He averaged 20 points and was voted the league’s most valuable player, ahead of UCLA’s Don MacLean and Arizona’s Chris Mills and Ed Stokes.

But Sanders had no illusions that he would maintain the same type of offensive production when he returned to USC, which features guard Harold Miner, the leading scorer in the Pac-10.

After scoring one point in USC’s first two games, Sanders had 19 points, 13 rebounds and two assists during a victory over Cal State Sacramento.

That was Sanders’ best game until he led the Trojans to the victory over UCLA.

“It was like a miracle,” Sanders said.