Others Pitch In When Farmer Needs Help

Perhaps the biggest positive to come out of USC’s 70-60 victory over California on Saturday was the Trojans’ ability to win without having to rely solely on the scoring punch of Desmon Farmer.

Just ask him.

With Farmer struggling to get looks and finishing with eight points, nearly 13 points below his average in Pacific 10 Conference play, freshman guard Lodrick Stewart led USC with 20 points, including five of six from three-point territory, and junior center Rory O’Neil gave the kind of performance that was expected coming into the season with 16 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks.

“It’s cool, that’s what we need,” said Farmer, who scored a combined 19 points in the Trojans’ split with No. 1-ranked Stanford and Cal. “Everybody contributed. When I’m not having my day, we need guys to step up.

“I just want everyone to play hard.”

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Farmer sees a little bit of himself in the electric Stewart.

“Shooting-wise I do, but Lodrick’s got a different type of game,” Farmer said. “He’s a high flier but he’s not getting the minutes because he’s a freshman.

“But individual-wise, he’s got a lot of things I can’t do.”

Stewart, who was allowed to speak to the media by Coach Henry Bibby for the first time since early January, admitted that he has had a rough time adjusting to being a bench player after being a high school star.

“At first it was hard but I’m a freshman, I’ve got three more years of this,” he said. “I ain’t going nowhere.

“My dad’s keeping me cool. He’s talking to me every night.”

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Stewart’s twin brother, point guard Rodrick, is up to his shooting elbow in a slump. He has not scored from the field since the Trojans’ game at Cal on Jan. 22, going 0 for 18 since and dropping his shooting percentage in Pac-10 play from 44.2% to 32.9%.

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Any pregame tension between Errick Craven and Cal’s Richard Midgley (Craven kicked a downed Midgley in the teams’ last meeting) came to the fore two minutes into the game, when Craven rode a driving Midgley’s back under the basket.

Midgley arose quickly and took a step toward Craven but Craven walked away.

“I jumped [to block his shot], he didn’t shoot and I had to land somewhere,” Craven said. “I did foul him. It was a physical game.”

In the game’s closing minutes, Errick’s twin brother, Derrick, got into a scuffle with Midgley at mid-court and it appeared the two took swings at each other while they fell to the court.

“Huh, what are you talking about?” Derrick Craven said with a smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was going for the ball.”