No. 7 Stanford Keeps Game Well Out of USC’s Reach, 99-62

USC might want to change its colors to fuchsia and gold, anything but Cardinal.

Seventh-ranked Stanford, led by junior Tim Young, a 7-foot-1 center, outmuscled the smaller Trojans, 99-62, Thursday night before 7,391 at Maples Pavilion.

Any time the Cardinal got the ball in to Young or 6-9 forward Pete Van Elswyk (14 points) and Mark Seaton (10), the Trojans, who have no player taller than 6-8, were easily exploited.

“They were just too big,” freshman forward Shannon Swillis said. “They were strong and pushed us around. When we tried to block them out and keep them away from the basket, they just muscled us out of the way.”

The Trojans started on the wrong foot when starting guard Gary Johnson was pulled from the starting lineup for arriving late to meet the team bus. Backup guards, Kevin Augustine and Elias Ayuso also were late and were held out of the game for several minutes along with Johnson.

“I don’t care who it is, discipline means a lot to me,” USC Coach Henry Bibby said.

Stanford (15-0, 4-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference) outrebounded USC, 52-28, and made 34 of its 73 shots from the field. (46.6%). USC made 40.4% from the field (23 of 57).

The mismatch went further than USC’s lack of size. When the Trojans (6-9, 2-3) tried to double-team Stanford’s big men, the Cardinal guards were left wide open and they made USC pay dearly.

Stanford shot 48.4% from the three-point line, making a school-record 15 in 31 attempts. Guard Arthur Lee made five of his nine three-pointers, four in the first half, and the junior from North Hollywood finished tied with Kris Weeks with a team-high 15 points.

“They were concentrating on the big guys, playing off me, and I said I might as well shoot it,” Lee said. “You definitely have to defend inside but when you do we’re going to fire.”

In recent games, the Trojans, were beginning to develop their inside game. Forwards Jarvis Turner and Anthony White had returned from injuries that kept them out for most of the early part of the season.

Turner, who scored a team-high 15 points and grabbed three rebounds against Stanford, played on the perimeter on offense, well away from the middle.

It was as if USC, whose scoring output was a season-low, had conceded Stanford territory under the basket.

USC turned the ball over 16 times and dished out only five assists, a season low. Meanwhile, Stanford, which set a school record by winning its 19th straight home game, had 22 assists.

USC trailed at halftime by 18 points, and by as many as 42 toward game’s end.

“They are as good a team as we’ve played this season,” said Bibby, talking about the three top-10 teams (No. 10 New Mexico, No. 2 Kansas and No. 8 Arizona). “Against those teams we were in the game, but we were never in the game tonight.”