Trojans Can Unpack at Last

Finally, USC has come back to the Sports Arena.

When the Trojans take the floor Thursday night against California, it will be their first game at the venerable, some say decrepit, facility in close to six weeks.

Senior forward David Bluthenthal likened the barnstorming Trojans to the Harlem Globetrotters.

“We’ve been playing everywhere; we don’t have a home court,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get a chance to practice in there this week.

“It’s been so long that we’re going to have to get re-used to the rims.”

The Trojans last played at the Sports Arena on Dec. 16 against Miami of Ohio.

Since then, they have played at San Diego, at Loyola Marymount, at Washington, at Washington State, at the Forum three times, at Arizona and at Arizona State.

USC was forced out of its home and into Inglewood for three games to open Pacific 10 Conference play as the U.S. Figure Skating Championships used the Sports Arena as a practice locale.

Nevada Las Vegas faces a similar situation every December when the National Finals Rodeo takes over the Thomas & Mack Center for three weeks.

“That’s how it is here,” USC senior Sam Clancy said. “It seems like we’re always on the road, so it doesn’t bother us too much. We played at the Forum and got some wins, so the Sports Arena’s no different, really.”

The Trojans have not stepped foot in the Sports Arena since beating Miami.

“But we drove by it,” Bluthenthal said.

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After getting hammered by Arizona and surviving a scare from Arizona State, USC dropped five places in the Associated Press poll, from No. 18 to No. 23.

And despite being in a first-place tie with Oregon, the Trojans (14-3 overall, 6-1 Pac-10) are the lowest-ranked Pac-10 team for the second consecutive week, behind No. 10 Arizona, No. 13 UCLA, No. 17 Stanford and No. 19 Oregon.

Paul Gutierrez