Mind Game

As David Bluthenthal goes, so goes USC.

As recently as two weeks ago, the small forward’s senior season was maddeningly frustrating and careening out of control while USC dropped two consecutive games for the first time this season.

Now, the streaky Bluthenthal is the reigning Pacific 10 Conference player of the week after knocking down a career-best seven three-point shots and scoring a career-high 31 points against Arizona to complete a sweep of the conference’s desert schools.

The 20th-ranked Trojans (18-6 overall, 10-4 in the Pac-10) will need another big game from Bluthenthal tonight at No. 10 Stanford (17-6, 10-4) in a game between two of the three teams tied for first place. Especially with starting center Kostas Charissis out with a broken bone in his left ankle and 7-foot Stanford center Curtis Borchardt ready to play after missing the Trojans’ 90-82 win last month because of a hip pointer.

USC’s fortunes have risen and fallen with Bluthenthal this season. In USC’s 10 conference wins, Bluthenthal has averaged 15 points and eight rebounds while shooting 51% from the field. In their four Pac-10 losses, his scoring average dipped to 8.5 points on 33% shooting while his rebounding went up to 8.5 a game.

In losses to Arizona, Oregon and UCLA, Bluthenthal averaged 4.7 points on 21% shooting and 10 rebounds.

“If the kid is in the right frame of mind, he can dominate,” USC Coach Henry Bibby said of Bluthenthal, who averaged 26 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting 61.3% from the field, 58.8% from beyond the three-point arc, against Arizona State and Arizona. “But there’s no player in the Pac-10 that’s dominating every night like he was last week.”

Bluthenthal admitted that the game was no longer fun for him, that he had been worrying too much about his future and impressing NBA scouts.

“Now I know how to get in the right frame of mind--to just have fun with it. It’s kind of like the chicken-and-the-egg thing. It starts with having more fun and then playing well.”

He’s also increased his daily shot total to nearly 750 jump shots, give or take a hundred. And his 49.2% success rate from beyond the three-point arc in conference play is leading the Pac-10.

In trying to get Bluthenthal to break out of his slump, Bibby suggested he get it going in games by being active down low and getting what he terms “easy baskets,” tip-ins, put-backs and layups before attempting jump shots.

“I’ve never doubted him,” said Bibby, who acknowledged that he encountered a similarly rough stretch as a junior at UCLA. “I never told him one time to not shoot the basketball. I know what he’s going through and Coach [John] Wooden never told me not to shoot the basketball. And that’s something that I learned from Coach Wooden is that you’ve got to play, play through that.”

The Trojans will have to play without their starting center, while the Cardinal regains the services of its big man.

Granted, Charissis only averages 2.3 points and 10.4 minutes, but at 6 feet 11 and 250 pounds, the junior was also a big and experienced body that had five fouls to give against Borchardt, who leads the league in rebounding (11.6) and blocked shots (2.92) in conference games.

Instead, USC will use two freshmen, 6-11 Rory O’Neil and 6-8 Nick Curtis.

O’Neil likely will come off the bench, as he did against Stanford at the Sports Arena when he had a career-high 14 points and two blocks in 24 minutes before fouling out. Curtis, meanwhile, started three of USC’s first five games but is averaging three minutes and one point in eight Pac-10 games.

“I’ve never been concerned about size,” Bibby said. “I’m more concerned about quickness. That’s what my game plan is, trying to out-quick people to the basketball.”

It worked last time, with USC utilizing a full-court press to get 16 steals and force 27 Stanford turnovers. And with the lumbering Borchardt in the lineup, doesn’t that make the Cardinal more susceptible to the press?

“Maybe,” Bibby said with a grin. “Sometimes positives can be negatives.”

And negatives can be positives. Just ask Bluthenthal.