It’s All Business, Not Pleasure
Brian Scalabrine’s return to his native state tonight when the Trojans open Pacific 10 Conference play against Washington State will not be quite the homecoming it was last season.
For one thing, the junior forward from Enumclaw, Wash., visited friends and family during the Christmas holiday. But even if he hadn’t, Scalabrine said he has learned Pac-10 trips are not vacations.
“It will be easier this time because it’s not my first time going home,” Scalabrine said. “Last [season] was the first time, and you make choices of who . . . you see. After the game I had 50 people wanting to talk to me. Now it’s easier to say no because I’m not going to see family. They can see me in April, June and August.
“This is a lot different. Last year I was very excited about going home. This time I’m excited about being on the road; I’d have the same rush if we were going to Oregon or Arizona or Stanford. This is a basketball trip for me.”
That doesn’t mean Scalabrine won’t have some fan support. His parents have tickets for tonight’s game in Spokane. For the Trojans’ game against Washington in Seattle, Scalabrine said his folks “got 50 tickets.”
Scalabrine enters the game as USC’s second-leading scorer and is tied for seventh among Pac-10 players at 15.3 points.
TONIGHT
at Washington State, 7
* Site--Spokane Arena, Spokane, Wash.
* Radio--XTRA (690).
* Records--Trojans 7-5, Cougars 5-4.
* Record vs. Cougars (1998-99)--1-1.
* Update--The Trojans, who have won four of five, will try for the second time to win three in a row. USC also wants a strong road showing; last season it was 3-6 away from the Sports Arena in conference play. The Cougars are 7-4 at Spokane Arena, which opened in 1995.