Spanich Returns From Suspension

Senior guard Adam Spanich flew to San Francisco on Friday morning to rejoin the Trojans after serving a one-game suspension for violating an unspecified team policy.

Earlier this week, when asked about Spanich’s return to the starting lineup, Coach Henry Bibby hesitated before answering, “It’s something I might look at changing going into the next game or two.”

Sure enough, USC played without its three-point specialist Thursday night, losing to California when guard Elias Ayuso missed a long jump shot at the buzzer.

“We didn’t miss [Spanich],” Bibby said, though he added, “He gives you another threat on the floor.”

Spanich is expected to play against Stanford today.

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The Trojans visit Maples Pavilion at a curious juncture in the season.

Stanford has lost twice in recent weeks and people were using words like “vulnerable” and “mortal” regarding the conference-leading team, which only figured to anger Cardinal players such as Mark Madsen and Arthur Lee. Bibby was glad UCLA had to play them first.

“You’d like to think that softens the blow for us,” he said.

Stanford defeated the Bruins on Thursday night.

“I don’t know why everyone’s on a Stanford bashing thing right now,” California Coach Ben Braun said. “I think they’re still an awfully good basketball team.”

Coming up: Wednesday at UCLA, Feb. 25 against Washington.

at Stanford, 3

Fox Sports West

* Site--Maples Pavilion.

* Radio--XTRA (690).

* Records--Trojans 11-10, 3-9; Cardinal 20-4, 10-1.

* Update--Stanford has yet to lose a Pac-10 game at home this season. The Cardinal ranks first in the conference in every defensive category and is outscoring opponents by an average of more than 10 points.