‘Win at All Costs’ Approach Leaves Bibby Crying Foul

USC Coach Henry Bibby was still seething Sunday over the circumstances that led to the brief postgame fight between the Trojans’ Jeff Trepagnier and Arizona State’s Awvee Storey.

Specifically Bibby said someone “framed” USC for the practice basketballs that had obscenities toward Arizona State scuffed on the leather cover.

“To say we did that is an outright lie,” Bibby said. “When [assistant coach Dave] Miller and I went over to the arena that Saturday morning, we saw several balls on the practice rack that were marked up. We tried to clean them off. We don’t do things like that at USC.

“I should have been suspicious when we went to the arena that morning and no one was there. We always have a manager or trainer on hand to help teams get what they need, like water or towels.”

He also was upset about ASU Coach Rob Evans complaining that USC had cut into Arizona State’s practice time.

“We were supposed to have the gym for two hours [that Friday],” Bibby said. “Now all of a sudden it’s an hour. We weren’t told that. We respect other people’s practice time. We started at 1 p.m., then about 2:45 some ASU assistant coach comes up to Brandon [Granville] and said ‘Give me the ball and get out.’ ”

From Bibby’s perspective, someone went out of their way to provide the Sun Devils with extra motivation. The game was extremely physical, as officials called 58 fouls.

But he stopped short of directly accusing Evans or any of his staff of any transgressions.

“That showed me they were out to win at all costs,” Bibby said. “And that’s what they did.

“If we had done something like scuffing the balls, I would have said we did it. But don’t frame us for a crime we didn’t commit.”