Craven Is Out After Twisting Ankle

Just when things were beginning to smooth out for USC, there’s another bump in the road.

Senior guard Errick Craven will miss tonight’s game against Southern University after turning his right ankle in practice Monday when he came down on it awkwardly. “We need a day to see how bad it is,” interim Coach Jim Saia said. “Not having Errick obviously hurts our depth. We want to get him back quickly in the rotation, but I don’t know how long he will be out.”

The loss of Craven hurts a Trojan team that has gotten more settled and focused with Pacific 10 Conference play beginning later this week.

“We’re starting to have some chemistry,” Saia said, as the team returned to USC from its three-game holiday tournament in Hawaii. “Guys are playing to their roles ... we got a lot of experience under our belts playing three games in three days. Now we have to get our feet and our legs back.”

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The USC football team was packing its gear Monday, getting ready to travel to Miami for the national-championship game against Oklahoma.

And would anyone have been surprised if Gregg Guenther had to fight back the urge to see if his shoulder pads still fit?

But Guenther, who until this fall played tight end, reiterated his football days are over. He’s a basketball player now.

“Sure I’d like to go [to Miami],” Guenther said. “I was following the team during the course of the year and I knew they’d get there. But at the same time, ... I just got back from Hawaii, having a great time with the basketball team.”

In his last five games, coming off the bench, Guenther has averaged 14.2 points and 10.2 rebounds. Guenther is playing well enough that Saia plans to start him tonight at power forward and bring Nick Curtis off the bench.

“He’s been playing so well,” Saia said of Guenther. “He’s always wanted more minutes, so maybe he’s getting his minutes.

“Gregg worked real hard in the summer and real hard on basketball specifically, knowing he wasn’t going to play football. And it’s paying off.”

Guenther said, “Getting the playing time has made the biggest difference. Early in the season, I knew the plays and I knew I was in good shape. But I was just playing 9-10 minutes. Now I’m getting the chance to play 25 minutes a game, and I’m just doing what I can do with the time.”

TONIGHT

vs. Southern, 7:30, FSNW2

Site -- Sports Arena.

Radio -- KMPC (1540), KSPA (1510), XEMM (800).

Records -- USC 6-4, Southern 3-5.

Update -- Craven needs only 21 points to pass three former Trojans -- Jaha Wilson (1,116), Don Carifino (1,127) and Jeff Trepagnier (1,128) -- for 19th place on the school’s all-time scoring list but his sprained ankle means he’ll have to wait in his pursuit. Should the Trojans win, their nonconference record of 7-4 would be their best since going 8-2 three years ago. The Jaguars, of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, have lost to California and Baylor while beating Kentucky State, Stillman and Southeastern. Southern is led by senior power forward Peter Cipriano, who is averaging 14.5 points and 11 rebounds.

Tickets -- (213) 740-4672.

Times staff writer Paul Gutierrez contributed to this report.