Trojans Have Shot at Share of Title

With two regular-season games remaining, No. 19 USC is in a three-way tie for second place in the Pacific 10 Conference and in prime position to win a share of its first league title since 1985, when the Trojans shared the crown with Washington.

All the Trojans (19-7, 11-5 in Pac-10) have to do is sweep first-place Oregon (20-7, 12-4) and eighth-place Oregon State (12-15, 4-12) Thursday and Saturday at the Sports Arena and USC is assured of at least splitting the regular-season championship.

“We’ve had a great year and we’ve played good basketball,” Coach Henry Bibby said. “We’ve had probably three to four games where we didn’t come to play all year and that’s pretty good. We’ve done probably as much as I thought we would do coming into the season.

“In my mind, we’ve surpassed a lot of what I expected and, like I’ve said all along, I’m greedy. I want to get it all. We’re this close and I think we have a chance to get it all.”

*

Reserves Gennaro Busterna and Jerry Dupree, who were kicked out of practice Monday for poor work ethic, were allowed to practice Tuesday and will suit up for the Oregon game, Bibby said.

*

A proposed game next season between USC and Duke at Madison Square Garden in New York has fallen through after the Blue Devils declined to take part.

According to USC officials, the game would have been part of a doubleheader, similar to the one the Trojans played this year against Pepperdine after Gonzaga beat Fresno State in the Fab 4 at the Forum.

USC’s schedule is tentative, but the Trojans’ marquee nonconference game is against Missouri in the Wooden Classic at the Arrowhead Pond on Dec. 7.