Charissis Has a Broken Ankle

X-rays taken Tuesday morning showed that Trojan center Kostas Charissis has a broken bone in his left ankle. The 6-foot-11, 250-pound junior, who had started 18 consecutive games, is expected to be sidelined at least four weeks, though USC officials are hoping to have him back in time for the postseason.

“It’s been frustrating,” said Charissis, who injured himself during pregame warmups Saturday when he went up for a rebound and came down on a wayward basketball. He played only the first four minutes of the Trojans’ 94-89 victory over Arizona.

Charissis has battled ankle and Achilles’ heel problems this season.

“It’s not a stress fracture which occurs over time of a repeated [pounding],” USC athletic trainer Thomas Mallete said, calling it a nondisplaced fracture. “It’s an acute injury.

“We’ve got some bone stimulation [working] and the goal is to get him back by the [NCAA] tournament, but it will be a tight squeeze.”

Charissis, who served a three-game suspension at the beginning of the season after it was discovered he had played on a team with professionals in his native Greece, is averaging 2.3 points in 10.4 minutes.

With Charissis out, it would seem natural for the No. 20 Trojans to start 6-foot-11, 220-pound freshman Rory O’Neil at center Thursday at No. 10 Stanford.

But Coach Henry Bibby wasn’t so sure.

“He’s better for us right now coming off the bench, giving us that spark,” Bibby said of O’Neil, who had a career-high 14 points on seven-of-nine shooting with two blocks in 24 minutes of USC’s 90-82 victory over the Cardinal on Jan. 26.

“He’s probably our best offensive player coming off the bench at that size so, more than likely, to rule people out from starting, he would probably be the one guy that I would rule out if I was playing today.”

O’Neil said he’s comfortable either starting or coming off the bench, as did 6-foot-8 freshman Nick Curtis, who started three of USC’s first five games and may start at Stanford.

Paul Gutierrez