Williams’ Role Changed

USC Coach Henry Bibby said senior forward Gary Williams is going to play the small forward position more from now on.

Williams played power forward a lot last season and showed against Loyola Marymount in the Trojan’s 92-88 victory Friday night he can shoot from outside, going nine of 15 from the field and making three of his five three-point shots. “We played Williams a little bit out of position last year,” Bibby said. “We’re going to play him and Adam [Spanich] at that position this year.” . . .

The Trojans had a bad shooting night against LMU. They were averaging 48.5% from the three-point line on 16-of-33 shooting in their first two games but hit only eight of 24 Friday. . . .

Sophomore forward Jarvis Turner said that although the Trojans were badly outsized by the Lion front line, which includes 6-foot-11 forward Peter Cornell and 6-10 center Jay Knollmiller, they are starting to learn to take advantage of their speed. No Trojan player is taller than 6-8.

“It is harder to keep bigger guys like that away from the basket,” Turner said, “but they have to guard us on the other end of the court, and we were able to run away or shoot over their big men.”