Trojans Get the Message(s) in 85-56 Romp Over Hawaii

There were plenty of messages sent during USC’s basketball game against Hawaii on Wednesday.

The loudest one came on the scoreboard, an 85-56 victory over the Rainbows before 2,092 at the Sports Arena. Trojan guard Jeff Trepagnier led all scorers with 20 points. Brian Scalabrine added 19 points and Sam Clancy had 16 points and 11 rebounds, his third consecutive double-double.

Other messages were more subtle, but spoke volumes.

Start with 6-foot-11 freshman and Greek import Kostas Charissis making his first college start, in place of David Bluthenthal who was neither hurt nor being disciplined by Coach Henry Bibby.

Afterward Bibby said he wanted the team to have a different look.

“It’s a nonconference game and we’re trying to see where people fit, give people some confidence and motivate people,” Bibby said. “I told David he would come off the bench and get more minutes.”

Bluthenthal, who did not enter the contest until 14:49 mark, had an inkling Bibby was up to something when he had him practice with the second team Tuesday. But the move did not hit home until he was on the bench at tipoff.

“I wanted to come off the the bench and provide a spark on the floor,” said the 6-7 sophomore forward, who did play three minutes longer than Charissis (26-23), and scored nine points. When asked about Bibby’s decision, he replied, “I’ve got to get over it.”

Brandon Granville, who had nine points and three assists despite constant foul trouble, thought Bibby was giving Bluthenthal a mental push about his play, which has been inconsistent.

“Coach just wants him to play better,” Granville said. “We know we need Dave to play well.”

Bibby sent a more direct message to Trepagnier. After the 6-4 guard took an ill-advised three-pointer in the first half, Bibby quickly removed him from the game, sitting him between assistant coaches for a lecture.

“We were trying to work the ball inside more at that point,” Bibby said. “Sometimes your players don’t always know a good shot from a bad shot. It was not a good one at the time. I took David out of the game in the second half for the same reason.”

Trepagnier, who was upset at being removed, acknowledged his mistake in the locker room.

“Coach felt it was too quick a shot, and it probably was. But it’s not a problem,” he said.

Hawaii (5-2), which had not played a road game this season before Wednesday, did not score a basket until 13:38, and was pretty much out of the game from that point forward.

USC (4-4) opened a 9-1 lead to start the game. By the end of the half, Nate Hair’s steal and driving layup with 11 seconds to play capped a 12-4 run and gave the Trojans a 42-22 cushion at halftime. It’s the third time this season USC has held a team to 22 points in the first half.

“They manhandled us,” Hawaii Coach Riley Wallace said. “They took us out of everything we wanted to do. They didn’t let us have any flow on offense.”

USC played an aggressive man-to-man defense and was able to render Rainbow leading scorer Marquette Alexander ineffective. The 6-9 senior center had only four points at the half, winding up with 16 but was never a factor.

On offense the Trojans pushed the ball at every opportunity, even if it meant the occasional bad pass or shot. But they had more good shots than bad. USC’s shot 46.3% (31 of 67) from the floor, the highest it has been in several games.

The only lull for USC was a 5:10 scoreless stretch in the middle of the second half. But Hawaii could only reduce the deficit from 57-36 to 57-42.

All that did was leave more time to read all those messages going back and forth.