Hot-and-Cold Trip for Granville

Brandon Granville visited both ends of the shooting spectrum on USC’s trip to Washington and Washington State.

After scoring a career-high 27 points with four three-pointers against the Huskies on Thursday, the USC senior point guard fell back to earth with four points on one-of-10 shooting against the Cougars on Saturday.

Oddly, Granville said his shooting stroke felt off against Washington, when he made nine of 15 shots, and felt good at Washington State.

“I don’t know,” he said with a chuckle. “The shots were going in and out. But it’s good that we got the win. When I struggle and we still win, that’s good for the future.”

Freshman guard Errick Craven more than made up for Granville’s shooting struggles out of the backcourt against the Cougars with a career-best 29 points.

“That’s the good thing about our team,” senior power forward Sam Clancy said. “Someone’s off and someone picks it up.”

After experimenting and starting seven lineups in the first eight games, USC Coach Henry Bibby has used the same starting five--Granville and Craven as guards, Clancy and senior David Bluthenthal as forwards and junior Kostas Charissis at center--for the past four games.

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Washington State will regain the services of its best player, senior shooting guard Mike Bush, in time for the USC rematch Friday. Bush is a wide receiver on the Cougar football team and is in El Paso for Monday’s Sun Bowl against Purdue.

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Bluthenthal had a career-high six assists against the Cougars to lead USC in that department. ... Clancy’s 18 points Saturday left him in a tie with Purvis Miller for 11th on USC’s all-time scoring list with 1,247 points. Stais Boseman is No. 10 with 1,248 points.

UP NEXT

Friday vs. Washington State (4-6, 0-2), the Forum, 7:30 p.m.--A quirk in the Trojans’ schedule has them playing the Cougars in back-to-back games. With the U.S. Olympic figure skating trials occupying the Sports Arena for practice, this will be the first of three consecutive home games at Inglewood for the Trojans (10-2, 2-0 in Pacific 10).