Void Is Felt in the Post

What should have been a tranquil prelude to Pacific 10 Conference play turned into a potentially season-altering ordeal Friday night when USC forward RouSean Cromwell stepped on a basketball in pregame warmups, fracturing his right foot.

The Trojans learned shortly after an otherwise nondescript 68-38 win over North Carolina A&T; at the Sports Arena that their already flimsy frontcourt would be depleted further for four to six weeks while the 6-foot-10 freshman recovered.

“That’s pretty big because we’re kind of limited in big guys,” sophomore guard Gabe Pruitt said Friday night. “[Cromwell] helps us a lot when he’s in the game, but I think we’ll bounce back until he gets back.”

Cromwell had already exhibited the ability to change a game defensively while showing some promise on offense. He scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in USC’s opener against Cal State Northridge and moved into the starting lineup for the Trojans’ third game, against Eastern Washington on Nov. 25.

Cromwell’s 16 blocks were third in the Pac-10, and he averaged 4.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in nearly 20 minutes a game.

Junior center Abdoulaye N’diaye, who has supplanted Cromwell in the starting lineup the last four games, will be USC’s first option inside for the next few weeks, with freshman forwards Jeremy Barr and Keith Wilkinson counted on for bigger contributions.

USC will need more rebounds particularly from the 6-8 Barr, who is averaging only 1.9 rebounds in 14.8 minutes and did not play in the Trojans’ 74-59 victory over 17th-ranked North Carolina on Wednesday.

The Trojans are so thin up front that senior forward Greg Gaudino, a former walk-on, could find himself in the mix as USC (9-2) puts its nine-game winning streak on the line Thursday in its conference opener against California (6-3) at Staples Center.

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For a second consecutive week, the Trojans slogged through the second game of a stretch of two games in three days -- a potentially worrisome trend considering it is the same schedule they will typically encounter in conference play.

The final margin notwithstanding, USC’s 30-point victory over North Carolina A&T; was a big departure from its triumph 48 hours earlier over the Tar Heels.

The Trojans appeared out of sync on offense, hoisting an inordinate number of long-range jump shots, and were outrebounded, 41-40, by an undermanned Aggie squad.

Junior guard Lodrick Stewart acknowledged that the Trojans were drained by the emotional victory over North Carolina.

“I was sore coming to practice [Thursday],” Stewart said. “We didn’t want to practice. Everybody walked down like, ‘Man, another day of practice after this good win,’ but you have to do that if you want to win because in the Pac-10 there’s a game like every other day.”

Coach Tim Floyd said he was satisfied with his team’s effort Friday, which will be required every game during a grinding conference schedule.

“I think it’s difficult on anybody the second night in our league,” Floyd said. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re at home or on the road when you play Thursday-Saturday, which I’ve done before in my career. It doesn’t matter who you are.... You’re going to have nights where you’re not as crisp.”

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The last time USC won 10 consecutive games was when it won the final two games of the 1999-2000 season and the first eight of the 2000-01 season. The last time USC won that many consecutive games in a single season was when it opened the 1970-71 season 16-0.