Bibby Defends Reeling Trojans

Although USC is trying to regain its balance this weekend in Oregon, Coach Henry Bibby is not going to pull a Jim Fassel and guarantee postseason play for the Trojans.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that Bibby, who has myopia during the college basketball season, even knows of the New York Giants’ coach.

But as the Trojans try to rebound from a 44-point shellacking by Arizona, the worst home defeat in school history, Bibby will challenge those writing off USC’s chances of making the NCAA tournament.

“We can’t play any worse than we played [Saturday] against Arizona,” Bibby said. “But that game is behind us. A lot of teams have had that type of game where nothing works. Hopefully, you don’t have many of those games. And I don’t think we’ll have any more of those games.

“We’re OK. We’re in good shape. . . . We’ve just got to get our heads back up and go again, get guys contributing again.”

When asked if he has been disappointed with the Trojans’ inability to beat Arizona, Stanford or UCLA--the Pacific 10 Conference’s top three teams--Bibby said no.

“We’re building our program,” he said. “We’re a good team; I’m happy where we are, I’m happy with what we’ve done. I’m happy with the progress the team has made. You would like to beat some of those teams, but you’re not far away from beating some of those teams.

“A couple of turnovers, a couple of baskets here and there, one more player playing well, then you’ve got yourself a victory and everybody’s saying how great we are.”

Bibby could use more help from the bench, especially in a game during which leading scorer Sam Clancy misses every shot. Desmon Farmer had 14 points Saturday but scored many well after the game had been decided.

And after Farmer, who averages 7.6 points, no other Trojan reserve is averaging more than 3.4 points.

Bibby, however, declined to put more pressure on his team.

“We’re OK,” he said. “We have a good, positive group of guys. The big picture is laid out for us somewhere, and we don’t always know what the final picture is. But all we can do is continue to work.”

TONIGHT

at Oregon State, 7:30

Fox Sports Net

* Site--Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Ore.

* Radio--XTRA (690).

* Records--USC 17-7, 7-5; Oregon State 9-16, 3-10.

* Update--Oregon State Coach Ritchie McKay is not too thrilled at having to face USC after the Trojans’ battering by Arizona. “You have to be leery of revenge being on their minds from the Arizona game,” he said. “I know [USC Coach Henry] Bibby has their attention. They will have something to prove. I wish they had beaten Arizona and come here overconfident.” The Trojans have been confident against the Beavers, winning the last four meetings between the schools. Last year at Corvallis, USC set a Pac-10 record by making 20 three-point baskets (in 29 attempts). Although the injury-riddled Beavers have won only two of their six conference home games (and are 6-5 overall in Gill Coliseum), Bibby said Oregon State is a better team than the one USC met and defeated, 73-47, on Jan. 27. The Beavers are on pace to make 221 three-point shots this season, which would break the school record (206) set last season.