It Goes From Bad to Worse for Trojans

He took a deep breath, measured his choice of words carefully and then Lodrick Stewart let it rip.

“We just, like, give up; I ain’t never been around anybody who’s been like that -- just give up,” he said, but he wasn’t finished.

“Everybody’s giving up,” he added a few seconds later.

“This is embarrassing at home. Everybody’s got to work on their game in the off-season because it shows on the court.”

If it seems like Stewart was undressing his USC teammates, he was. Though it was nothing compared to what No. 13 Washington did to the Trojans in front of a Bank of America Arena crowd of 10,000 Thursday night.

It was just that the Huskies’ 99-69 thrashing of the Trojans was especially galling for Stewart, who grew up in Seattle.

So complete was Washington’s dominance of the Trojans, the Huskies led by 41 points, 94-53, with less than four minutes remaining.

“As long as we go out there and play like we did today, that’s not a Trojan,” said Stewart, who led USC with 13 points. “The definition of a Trojan to me is a warrior. And we didn’t play hard.”

They did for the first seven-plus minutes, though.

Utilizing a game-stalling 1-3-1 zone defense against the run-and-gun Huskies, the Trojans built a 15-10 lead at the 12:55 mark before they lost their shooting stroke, getting only one field goal over the next six-plus minutes.

The Huskies, though, found a seam in the zone with reserve forward Jamaal Williams having his way in the post and then Washington got its transition game going, taking off on a 19-3 run.

USC did not go away, though. At least, not right away. Spurred by freshman point guard Gabe Pruitt, the Trojans outscored the Huskies, 9-2, to climb within four, 31-27, with 4:31 left in the half.

Then the Trojans careened out of control. Washington closed the half with a 16-2 run.

“We were right there but we just turned it over,” interim Coach Jim Saia said. “We’re just not disciplined to stay in what we do.

“We just collapsed sooner than normal.”

Meaning USC, which has made a habit of folding in the last four minutes of games, folded with four minutes remaining in the first half.

USC, which fell to 9-13 overall and 2-8 in Pacific 10 Conference play, could do nothing as Washington (18-3, 8-2) pressed the Trojans into oblivion.

“We knew USC was kind of sloppy on defense at times,” Washington guard Brandon Roy said.

Washington’s 32 assists set a USC opponent record, eclipsing the 30 Arizona had in 1988, and the Huskies’ 60% shooting was an opponents’ season high. Husky senior guard Tre Simmons torched the Trojans for a career-high 29 points and Williams scored 21 points in 16 minutes.

Sloppy on defense? The Trojans were worse when they had the ball, committing 24 turnovers, 14 of which came in the first half and 10 before the game was 14 minutes old.

It was enough to make former USC recruit Robert Swift, who chose the NBA over the Trojans and was a lottery pick of the Seattle SuperSonics, get up and leave with more than five minutes to play.

And enough for Stewart, who was wearing gold socks with the NBA logo on them, to get in one more zinger.

“I feel we’re just as good as [Washington],” he said, “when we play team ball. Then we get a little lead and everybody starts doing their own thing and we fall apart.”

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Senior shooting guard Errick Craven (bone bruise in right ankle) sat out and does not expect to play at Washington State either.