USC Sees Too Much Redd at Ohio State

Frustrated by its cold shooting and sloppy ballhandling, and missing one of its top post players, USC was seeing red Saturday against Ohio State.

The Trojans also saw far too much of Buckeye freshman Michael Redd.

The 6-foot-5 guard glided and slashed his way to 30 points and led Ohio State to a 79-73 victory over USC before 8,853 at St. John’s Arena.

“He scored from inside and scored from outside,” USC forward Gary Williams said. “There is no doubt that he is going to be a great player . . . he’s already a great player.”

USC suffered from great frustration.

The Trojans (4-3)--playing without sophomore Jarvis Turner, who has a broken bone in his hand--were slapped with two technical fouls, committed 23 turnovers and never found their range from beyond the three-point line.

Ohio State guard Jon Sanderson, who scored 15 points, made five free throws in the last two minutes to hold off a late Trojan surge.

USC’s Greg Lakey played well and scored a season-high nine points, but USC still lacked a real inside scoring threat against the Buckeyes (6-3).

Williams was held to two points, 11 below his season average.

He also may have been suffering from shock when Coach Henry Bibby sent him into the game at point guard early in the second half.

“It’s the first time in my life I ever played the point,” said Williams, who committed two of his three turnovers while playing the position.

Bibby said he made the unusual substitution because he was trying to send a message to his team.

“I was trying to tell them we needed someone to start playing,” said Bibby, who was charged with a technical foul for arguing with a referee. “I was trying to find someone who would step up.”

The Trojans turned to their three-point shooting, but made only eight of 22 attempts in the second half and 13 of 33 in the game.

Still, they did enough to stay close.

After the Buckeyes went on an 11-0 run to go ahead, 68-57, with 4:34 left, Adam Spanich came off the bench to ignite USC’s late surge.

Spanich made two three-point shots that keyed an 8-0 run. He made the first after taking a pass from guard Gary Johnson about 25 feet from basket.

“I went into the game just before that so I just wanted to catch and shoot,” said Spanich, who barely looked at the basket before shooting. “With us down by 11, that’s what Bibby wants me to do.”

Spanich finished with 21 points.

Johnson, who scored 16 points, made up for a slow start by hitting two three-point shots to help the Trojans close to 70-68 with 1:14 remaining.

But the shots quit falling for USC after that.

Sanderson’s free throws clinched the victory that was made possible by Redd, the Big Ten Conference’s leading scorer.

Redd said USC’s trapping defense was the most aggressive he has faced. He had no problem, however, when the Trojans went to a zone.

“We knew if we stopped turning the ball over, stayed patient, we would get our shots,” he said.