Loyd, Farnham to Start

UCLA’s new first team practiced together Monday and Coach Steve Lavin affirmed Tuesday that the Bruins will go with the radical starting lineup tonight against USC.

Prompted by the frustration from the Bruins’ showing in the 18-point loss Saturday at California, Lavin decided to stay with Baron Davis, Earl Watson and JaRon Rush, all regulars. But he also said the three players with the fewest minutes this season would have prominent roles, with Brandon Loyd and Sean Farnham being inserted into the opening lineup and Todd Ramasar becoming sixth man.

Whether Jerome Moiso will play for UCLA remains to be seen. The freshman forward missed the Cal game because of sore arches, and the Bruins are considering whether holding him out tonight will help the lingering injury to heal once and for all.

“He wants to play, but I’m leaning to holding him out one more game,” Lavin said.

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All the talk of drastic lineup changes and nagging injuries didn’t mean much to the Trojans. Assistant coach Silvey Dominguez recalled when USC played UCLA at the Sports Arena earlier this season, Watson was rumored to be injured but the guard played 27 minutes and had a game-high eight assists.

USC Coach Henry Bibby dismissed the notion that UCLA, which lost twice last week, is ripe for an upset.

“You never catch UCLA off guard,” Bibby said. “UCLA is a very good basketball team.”

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If anything, USC coaches and players were eager to assume the role of underdog, portraying themselves as a workingman’s squad facing a lineup of all-stars.

The Trojans have settled into a fairly consistent rotation and are getting better numbers from freshmen Brandon Granville and Sam Clancy. But center Brian Scalabrine contrasted the two teams by saying: “We can’t break you down one-on-one, so we have to execute on offense and defense.”

And Dominguez talked about UCLA’s roster of blue-chip recruits and players, such as Moiso and Dan Gadzuric, recruited from foreign countries.

“We’re going into Pauley Pavilion and we’re going to be playing with a bunch of Americans,” Dominguez said. “They’re going to be playing with a bunch of All-Americans.”

Coming up for UCLA: Sunday versus Syracuse, Feb. 25 versus Washington State.

Coming up for USC: Feb. 25 versus Washington, Feb. 27 versus Washington State.

USC at UCLA, 7:30

Fox Sports West 2

* Site--Pauley Pavilion.

* Radio--KXTA (1150), XTRA (690).

* Records--Trojans 12-10, 4-9; Bruins 17-7, 8-5.

* Update--The drop from No. 9 to No. 16 in the Associated Press rankings after being swept in the Bay Area isn’t the Bruins’ lowest standing of the season. They were No. 18 after the Puerto Rico Shootout, though that came after consecutive losses to Maryland and Kentucky, hardly a disgrace.

* Tickets--(310) 825-2946 or TicketMaster (213) 480-3232.