Wins at Home Key to Title Run

From UCLA to Arizona to California to Stanford in a matter of five games, there’s no rest for weary USC in Pacific 10 Conference play.

Such is the No. 23 Trojans’ lot as they return to the Sports Arena for the first time since Dec. 16 with a two-game homestand against California Thursday night and No. 17 Stanford Saturday afternoon.

“It’s like I’ve said all along,” Coach Henry Bibby said Tuesday, “every game is so important; the next game that we play is the most important game. You have to put so much energy going against both of those teams.

“And when you can get a victory it’s a great win for you beating any team in the Pac-10. It was a great weekend for us to go to Arizona and split. If I could do that the rest of the year, I’d be happy.”

Bibby believes that if the Trojans (14-3, 6-1 in Pac-10) can win their six remaining home games and get close to a split of their last five road contests, USC could win the regular-season league title.

“I think every team in the Pac-10 is conscious of winning home games and it’s very important that we set the stage at home,” he said.

Sam Clancy’s climb in the Trojan record book continues: With a combined 50 points in games at Arizona and Arizona State last week, the senior power forward passed Gus Williams and Lorenzo Orr for eighth place on the all-time scoring list with 1,347 points.

And with 692 career rebounds, Clancy, who has a league-leading nine double-doubles, is three from passing Orr for No. 10 on the school’s rebounding list.

Clancy had six blocks on the two-game trip to give him 173 for his career, moving him past Stanford’s Tim Young (167), Arizona’s Ed Stokes (167) and Oregon State’s Scott Haskin (172) on the Pac-10’s career list.

Paul Gutierrez