Granville Proves to Be Very Durable

The smallest Trojan continues to carry the heaviest Pacific 10 load for USC.

Brandon Granville, all 5-9 of him, is averaging 39.9 minutes in conference play. That includes two overtime games, against Washington and Arizona State.

It’s the most court time logged by a Trojan in the Pac-10 since Wayne Carlander averaged 40 minutes a game in 1984-85. During that season, Carlander played in a four-overtime game and two-overtime game against UCLA, as well as an overtime game against Oregon State.

Next to Granville on USC is Brian Scalabrine, averaging 38.8 minutes in the conference.

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Certainly the other Trojan starters--Granville, Scalabrine, David Bluthenthal and Jeff Trepagnier--expected their workloads would increase after Sam Clancy was sidelined because of a broken foot. And they haven’t been disappointed.

It’s one reason why Coach Henry Bibby, who can be a demanding taskmaster, has not verbally browbeaten the Trojans publicly during their three-game losing streak.

“Stanford outplayed us. But no one else in the Pac-10 has dominated us,” Bibby said. “I’m pleased with the team. We’re undermanned, but it’s been that way all year. The kids have persevered, and have played hard for me. They did not go under when Sam and Jarvis [Turner] went out.

“I’m proud of what they’ve done. These guys have stepped up to the plate for me. I can’t ask too much more. We are a little short-handed without our leading rebounder, scorer and shot-blocker [Clancy]. And we’re still hanging in there.”

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If you have to pick a poison on Arizona’s excellent freshman point guard Jason Gardner, who faces USC on Thursday, you probably want him shooting instead of passing.

In 25 games Gardner has made only 36.4% of his field-goal attempts (80 of 220). The figure rises only slightly from three point range, 36.8% (50 of 136).

As a distributor, Gardner is averaging 4.8 assists a game.

Up Next

at Arizona

Thursday

7:30 p.m.

Fox Sports Net