COLLEGE BASKETBALL : NIT : Pepperdine or USC: One More Time

USC’s basketball season will have at least one more night and Pepperdine will be on the road, though the trip will be short.

It also will end a long drought.

The Trojans will play host to Pepperdine in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament at the Sports Arena tonight at 7:30.

Though only a few miles apart, it will be the first time the schools have played against each other in basketball since 1943, when they split two games.

USC is coming off an impressive 90-74 first-round victory at Nevada Las Vegas last week, in which the Trojans handed UNLV only its eighth loss in 10 seasons at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Not many gave USC (17-11) a chance against the Runnin’ Rebels, but the Trojans led from start to finish behind Lorenzo Orr’s 20 points and nine rebounds and Phil Glenn’s 18 points and career-high 11 rebounds.

“(Defeating UNLV) is a big win,” USC Coach George Raveling said. “But it will always have a mental asterisk next to it.”

That’s because the Trojans defeated a Runnin’ Rebels team that played without star forward J.R. Rider, who was declared ineligible one day before the game because of academic problems.

Orr said UNLV simply wasn’t the same team without Rider, the nation’s second-leading scorer with a 29.1-point average. He was the team’s top rebounder.

“The lost of Rider hurt them tremendously in a number of areas,” said Orr, who added three blocked shots and two steals against UNLV. “It hurt their killer instinct and aggressive play.”

USC will need a different game plan against the conservative Waves (22-7), who defeated Santa Barbara, 53-50, in the first round.

Instead of matching up against a high-scoring team such as UNLV, the Trojans will face a team that won the West Coast Conference title with defense.

“Pepperdine is as fundamentally sound defensively as any team we have played this year,” Raveling said. “I’ve been watching this team on tape, and I’m extremely impressed.”

Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury relies on Dana Jones, a 6-foot-6 junior, and Damin Lopez, a 5-8 junior.

Jones averaged 15.6 points and 9.2 rebounds, and Lopez averaged 14 points.

Against Santa Barbara, all five starters for Pepperdine scored in double figures.

Asbury understands the job in front of him and the Waves.

“Coach Raveling has done an excellent job with his club, as evidenced by wins over teams like California, Nebraska and UCLA,” Asbury said.

“Our club seems to thrive on tough challenges, and we play consistently on the road.”

The novelty of Pepperdine playing against USC is not lost on the Waves’ staff.

“Obviously we haven’t played them in a while, and we’re excited to play them, especially since they’re a Pac-10 school and since this is an SC-UCLA town,” assistant Marty Wilson said.