Teammates Brush Off Stewart’s Comments

In the wake of Thursday night’s 30-point loss to No. 13 Washington, USC sophomore guard Lodrick Stewart blasted his teammates, saying the Trojans had quit.

Friday, with USC preparing to face the run-and-gun Huskies’ alter-ego, slow-it-down Washington State, his teammates shrugged off Stewart’s criticisms.

“You know how Lod is,” senior forward Jeff McMillan said of the mercurial Stewart. “I haven’t quit. We’ve just got to keep going forward, keep working hard.

“I don’t know if others are [quitting], we’re just not all there at times.”

Freshman point guard Gabe Pruitt said no one took Stewart’s remarks personally.

“People understand that people get frustrated and say things,” Pruitt said. “You’ve got to go with it. I think that’s what we need, a guy to step up and lead the team. We’ve been through a long season already. We can either tank it and call the season off or continue playing and do our best.”

USC has been outscored by 51 points in its last three halves and Washington State has already defeated the Trojans once, 69-52, at the Sports Arena on Jan. 8.

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Senior guard Errick Craven, who sat out the Washington game because of a bruised bone in his right ankle, is not sure if he’ll ever play for the Trojans again.

“I do want to play,” he said, “but I ain’t trying to mess up my ankle over these few games because all I can do is irritate it. I want to play somewhere [professionally] next year.”

Craven acknowledged Friday that he had twice considered transferring, after his sophomore and junior years.

“I talked with my mom and she said I should stick with it, that ‘SC is a good school,” he said.

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USC TODAY

at Washington State, 2 p.m.

Site -- Friel Court; Pullman, Wash.

Radio -- KMPC (1540).

Records -- Cougars 9-10 overall, 4-6 in Pacific 10 Conference; USC 9-12, 2-8.

Update -- The Cougars, who have three consecutive wins over the Trojans, last won four in a row against USC in the 1976 and 1977 seasons.