Huskies Improve in a Big Hurry

Facing off against Washington tonight at the Sports Arena, USC is taking on one of the fastest-rising teams in the Pacific 10 Conference. Tied with UCLA for third place, the Huskies have improved their record in each of the four seasons since hiring Bob Bender as coach.

The 1996 Pac-10 coach of the year, Bender led Washington last season to its first winning record (17-11) since 1987.

This season, Bender has built the team around a pair of foreign-born big men in 7-foot center Todd MacCulloch and 7-1 forward Patrick Femerling.

MacCulloch, from Winnipeg, Canada, shot 67.6% last season and led the nation in field-goal percentage. This season, MacCulloch is shooting 65.8%, and Femerling, who is from Dusseldorf, Germany, and guard Donald Watts are also shooting better than 50%.

TONIGHT vs. Washington.

* 7

Site--Sports Arena.

Radio--KIEV (870).

Records--Trojans 6-11, 2-5; Huskies, 12-4, 5-2.

Update--The Huskies would have upset fifth-ranked Stanford last week if not for a last-second three-point shot by Cardinal guard Kris Weems. The 74-72 loss to Stanford also ended a three-game winning streak. USC has lost three games in a row and 10 of its last 12. Senior Gary Williams, stricken with a colon infection Friday, practiced for a short time Tuesday but probably won’t play tonight.