USC Gets Its Hands on Easy Victory

They were the gang that couldn’t shoot straight, missing layups and clanking jumpers off the rim.

But none of that mattered on a night when the USC basketball team did what it does best: Play defense.

None of that mattered with Brandon Granville poking the ball away from opposing guards and forward Jeff Trepagnier stepping in front of passes to streak downcourt for a dunk.

The only thing that mattered was the Trojans making a school-record 23 steals and the defense generating enough fastbreak layups for a 79-43 victory over Loyola Marymount before a Wednesday night crowd of 3,050 at the Sports Arena.

“When we get our hands on a lot of balls, that creates the easy baskets,” Granville said. “Then everybody’s happy.”

The freshman point guard tied a career high with six steals but that couldn’t match Trepagnier’s school-record eight steals and game-high 18 points.

“That’s what Jeff gives this basketball team,” Coach Henry Bibby said. “He creates a lot of havoc on the floor.”

Havoc is exactly what the Trojans needed to remain unbeaten at 6-0 after a first half in which they shot a paltry 29% from the field and made less than half of their free throws.

USC could be excused for looking past this game to Saturday’s matchup against Kansas, a nationally ranked team that has struggled through the first weeks of the season. The Trojans looked as if their thoughts were halfway over the Rockies en route to Lawrence, Kan.

It wasn’t so much a lack of effort. The defense was effective even from the start.

But the offense could not generate nearly as much steam. Early on, there were three misses for every basket and not only on long shots. The Trojans missed at least half a dozen layups, perhaps intimidated by Loyola Marymount’s 6-11 center, Silvester Kainga, who blocked three shots.

“We were playing too fast,” Trepagnier said. “We lost our focus.”

Steals led to most of USC’s early points: a couple of Elias Ayuso jump shots, a few inside baskets from Brian Scalabrine and the occasional fireworks from Trepagnier, who scored on a lob pass from Granville, made a three-pointer and finished a mid-court steal with a dunk.

“I was just trying to get our team into the game,” he said. “The steals came my way.”

The Lions (3-4), meanwhile, got eight points from Kainga and seven from guard Robert Davis. It was hardly an offensive explosion, but under the circumstances it was enough for a 30-29 lead at the half.

It was another instance of USC starting slowly, keeping underdogs in the game, which it has done several times this season.

“We couldn’t score and we weren’t focused,” Bibby said. “Sometimes you raise your voice, sometimes you don’t. I raised my voice a little at halftime.”

His team got the message: more defense.

The Trojans turned their press up a notch, stifling the Lions, forcing them into 33 turnovers for the game. That led to a 22-4 run and, in a matter of minutes, a comfortable 51-34 lead.

“In the first half we played basketball the way it’s supposed to be played,” Loyola Marymount Coach Charles Bradley said. “Their defense wasn’t any different in the second half. We’re the ones who threw it away.”

Bibby begged to differ: “The defense created easy baskets and that’s what we wanted to do.”

Scalabrine got a few of those uncontested layups on his way to 17 points and nine rebounds. Ayuso chipped in with 11 points. Jarvis Turner overcame a sluggish start to finish with 13 points and seven rebounds.

With Loyola shooting 22% from the floor and 40% from the free-throw line, the only thing left was for Trepagnier to set an individual USC record and for his teammates to follow suit with the team record.

The student section broke out in a “Beat the Jayhawks” chant with several minutes remaining. No one was going to steal this game from the Trojans.

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ROBYN NORWOOD

Could the Maryland Terrapins be college basketball’s best team? Page 7