Practices Will Be Tough

Play time is over for USC.

Coach Henry Bibby doesn’t feel the 20th-ranked Trojans are working hard enough in practice, even though they won their first two games.

Guards Jeff Trepagnier, Nate Hair and Gennaro Busterna are injured, and Bibby and the coaching staff didn’t want anyone else hurt. But in scaling back the intensity of practice, Bibby fears he has dulled his team’s edges, especially on defense.

“We’re going to be more competitive in our practices,” Bibby said Wednesday. “As coaches we have to make adjustments and changes too; we’re not always right. I haven’t had us competitive in the first two games because I’ve tried to stay away from contact.

“So we’re gonna let the guys start practicing again like we’ve done in the past, working more in game-like conditions. Everybody has to relax themselves and quit thinking about rankings, which don’t mean a thing at this point in time. Just go out and play basketball.”

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Jarvis Turner doesn’t like the slow starts by USC in its first two games.

But Turner, whose nine points and five rebounds against San Diego Tuesday was his best outing since a 10-point, three-rebound game against Arizona two seasons ago, thinks he has a reason.

“We’re missing Jeff right now,” Turner said. “Jeff has that spark, that energy that can immediately put you in the flow of a game.”

Trepagnier, recovering from a stress fracture in the left foot, continues to point to USC’s Wooden Classic game against Utah on Dec. 2 as his return date. Hair, with a knee tendon strain, also wants to be available for that game.

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Even though he was held scoreless for only the second time in his USC career, Brian Scalabrine needs only 45 points for 1,000 in his career.