Trojans Will Stick to Plan

North Carolina Wilmington has held opponents to 60.3 points per game, the 11th-best average in the nation.

USC is averaging 77.6 points.

But the Trojans insist they will do nothing out of the ordinary Thursday when they encounter the Seahawk defense in a South Regional game at Sacramento.

“We want to change the game up a little bit,” USC Coach Henry Bibby said after practice Monday. “But we’re not going to change the way we play. We’re going to pick it up and make them play a little faster and go from there.”

The 13th-seeded Seahawks were wondering why they were chosen to fly cross-country in a year when the NCAA was making an effort to keep teams closer to home.

“We’re a little disappointed ... but there’s nothing we can do about that,” said junior guard Brett Blizzard. Among other schools forced to make long trips: California and UCLA to Pittsburgh, and Wake Forest to Sacramento.

*

USC’s bench may be getting longer for the later rounds of the NCAA tournament as X-rays taken Monday of center Kostas Charissis’ broken left ankle showed enough improvement that the junior hopes to begin working out early next week, if the Trojans are still alive and playing in Lexington, Ky.

*

North Carolina Wilmington, heading to only its second NCAA tournament, is making its fourth postseason appearance in the last five years.

The Seahawks, though, are 0-3, having lost, 66-52, to Wake Forest in the 1998 National Invitation Tournament, to Cincinnati in the 2000 NCAAs, 64-47, and last year to Dayton in the NIT, 68-59.