Craven Searching for Answers

The break in USC’s schedule -- a respite that has the Trojans playing only once between Dec. 12 and Jan. 1 -- is not only letting nagging injuries heal. It’s also giving a frustrated Errick Craven time to work on his wounded psyche.

The sophomore shooting guard, who started the season as USC’s leading returning scorer, has been burdened by high expectations and he’s having trouble finishing drives to the basket, a strength last season.

“I’ve just been collecting some thoughts,” said Craven, who also has been bothered by a cyst in his left (shooting) wrist. “Now I’ve just got to go out there and play. It’s all mental.”

“If I can just finish half of my shots that I usually make, then we’re not having this conversation.”

Craven is USC’s second-leading scorer, averaging 11.4 points, down slightly from last year’s 11.8 average, and he is shooting only 33.9% from the field, down from 45% last year. Inexplicably, he’s making 46.2% of his three-point shots, 13.8 percentage points higher than last year’s rate.

Craven discounted the cyst.

“It hasn’t bothered me until now, since high school,” he said. “I guess it’s the cold.”

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Coach Henry Bibby said Wednesday that he had not heard any official word on Jerry Dupree’s academic status and did not know when to expect it or the junior forward’s return. Bibby did say, though, that Dupree would not be welcomed back until, “He gets his life together.”

Dupree’s six-game suspension has ended, but because he dropped a class in the fall semester and fell below full-time student status, and because Dupree needs above a 2.0 grade-point average in the fall to pull himself out of academic probation, he is not allowed to rejoin the team until after grades are posted.