USC Gets Sanford-ized by Washington

Unless USC can find an easier way to score points, it is going to be a long conference season for the Trojans.

USC shot 37.3% from the field and made only three of 15 three-point attempts as Washington--behind Mark Sanford’s career-high 35 points--handed the Trojans a 94-72 loss in the Pacific 10 Conference basketball opener for both teams before 4,758 at the Edmundson Pavilion Thursday night.

Sanford, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, made 13 of 19 shots from the floor, including all three three-point baskets he tried. Sanford also had 11 rebounds, three dunks and two steals in 30 minutes.

“It was really fun out there,” Sanford said. “I wouldn’t say it was easy, but it wasn’t the challenge I thought it would be.”

The Trojans, playing their fifth road game in 12 days, never really threatened the Huskies, who are off to their best start in five years with an 8-2 record. USC, now 7-5, shot a miserable 29.6% in the first half and then dragged through a sloppy second half to lose its 15th consecutive conference game, dating back to last season.

“We came out really flat and never got back into it,” said David Crouse, who started at center in place of Avondre Jones, who was benched for disciplinary reasons. “Something has to be done where we come out from the jump playing aggressive. Until that happens, we’re going to have a tough time in the Pac-10.”

In his second start of the season, Crouse gave the Trojans an inside spark with six early points against Washington’s 7-foot freshman Todd MacCulloch.

But Sanford scored 17 of Washington’s final 34 points of the first half as the Huskies took a 44-29 lead at halftime.

“It just became the Sanford show as he just took over,” said USC Coach Charlie Parker. “When all else failed, they just went to him.”

Washington, which leads the Pac-10 in scoring defense, contested every USC shoot, especially those from the perimeter. USC made only four outside shots the entire game, as the Trojans’ main three-point shooting threats, Brandon Martin, Stais Boseman and Tyson Reuter, totaled only 25 points on seven of 26 floor shots.

“We were a team that, early in the year, was hitting wide open shots,” Parker said. “Now, the offense is getting the shots, but we’re not putting them down.”

Washington, which finished 5-13 in the Pac-10 last season, shot 50% from the floor, including eight of 12 three-point shots. USC outrebounded the Huskies, 45-39, with Jones and Maurice Strong leading with nine each.

USC, which finished fourth in last week’s Rainbow Classic in Hawaii after defeating then-No. 18 Missouri in the first round, will play at Washington State Saturday, where the Trojans have won only once in the last 10 years.

“As a veteran, I know that this is only one game because we have another tough game at Pullman [Wash.] on Saturday,” said Martin, who led USC with 13 points. “We can’t put our heads down now. We have to believe in ourselves now and stay positive.”

No easy task, however, for a team that has not won a conference game since Jan. 14, 1995.