Trojans Hope to Remove Rust

With final exams nearing an end, USC was scheduled to resume a normal practice schedule over the weekend.

“I don’t like taking time off,” Coach Henry Bibby said. “I think you get a little rusty. I think you lose a little focus.”

It was only fitting that, with practices canceled to allow players to study, the Trojans spent what little time they had together focusing on what Bibby called “skull sessions,” a lot of talking and teaching and not much in the way of physical conditioning. All of that was expected to change.

“Saturday and Sunday should be good days for us to get ready for [Monday’s] game,” Bibby said.

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If the Trojans (6-1) win their final two nonconference games--against American at the Sports Arena on Monday and Arkansas State on Dec. 29--they will have their best start since going 8-1 in 1991. That team, led by All-Pacific 10 Conference guard Harold Miner and coached by George Raveling, started 0-4 in conference play but recovered to finish 19-10, losing to Florida State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.