Goal Is to Avoid Repeat of History

USC has been down this road before, the Trojans’ evening their record at 9-9 last season and feeling good about themselves following a big victory over UCLA.

But after riding that momentum to a 25-point pounding of Nevada Las Vegas in their next game, the bottom fell out on the Trojans courtesy of seven consecutive losses. Only a surprising run to the Pacific 10 Conference tournament title game numbed the pain of a 13-17 season.

How, then, will USC take a different path and assure that history does not repeat itself, beginning tonight against Washington?

“Basically, we’ve got to stay together and play hard and step up on defense,” senior guard Desmon Farmer said Wednesday. “Buy into what coach [Mike] Johnson, our defensive coordinator, has for us.

“Definitely we learned from last year. We still have goals. We want to be in a good position to be in the tournament.”

Farmer was serious about the Trojans returning to the NCAA tournament, a goal not lost on his teammates.

“It’s do or die,” junior guard Errick Craven said.

“If we come out with some motivation, we can win all nine” remaining games.

Coach Henry Bibby is still trying to find a formula for consistent play from his team, which has yet to win three games in a row. Still, he believes USC can win “seven out of nine.”

“We’ve pushed every button we can push; now it’s up to the kids,” Bibby said. “When they put their hearts into it and they want to play, they’re a pretty good basketball team. Against Arizona, against UCLA, on the road against Fresno [State] ... when they put their minds to it, they’re pretty tough.”

The Trojans looked good enough in gut-check wins over the three schools Bibby mentioned. But they were also sluggish in blowout losses to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Washington State and Arizona State.

Think USC would like do-overs for those games?

“You’ve just got to look at it game to game, look at the positives,” junior forward Nick Curtis said. “We have to try to keep the intensity and aggressiveness.

“Time’s running out. Not only on the season, but on our careers.”

*

TONIGHT

vs. Washington, 7:30

Site -- Sports Arena.

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

Records -- USC 9-9 overall, 4-5 in Pac-10; Washington 9-8, 4-5.

Update -- Washington lost its first five conference games but is on a four-game winning streak fueled by sophomore Nate Robinson, a Rainier Beach (Wash.) High teammate of USC’s Stewart twins, Lodrick and Rodrick. Robinson, a 5-foot-9 point guard, had a career-high 31 points in the Huskies’ 96-83 upset of Arizona last week. With 20 points, Farmer will move from 10th to seventh on the USC scoring list. USC beat Washington, 88-80, on Jan. 8.