It’s Now or Never for the Seniors

Their playing time has dwindled. Their impact has diminished. Their spirits, at times, have been deflated.

But if USC’s seniors want to be remembered for more than a season in which the Trojans have logged nearly as many coaches as victories, now is the time for them to pull together.

Seven games stand between last-place USC and a possible berth in the eight-team Pacific 10 Conference tournament, and the Trojans will need contributions from more than their promising freshmen and sophomores to extend their season beyond the March 5 regular-season finale.

While acknowledging that he had inherited a “fractured” team when he took over from the fired Henry Bibby on Dec. 6, interim Coach Jim Saia said he had reached out to his core of six seniors who play significant minutes in an effort to change “a belief that we can’t win these games.”

“What I try to tell them is, it takes a lot of courage to do what you’re doing,” said Saia, whose Trojans will try to snap a four-game losing streak tonight at the Sports Arena when they play host to No. 12 Arizona. “But you have to keep fighting.”

It is a difficult challenge for a group that is on the brink of its third consecutive losing season and has had several members supplanted in the starting lineup by sophomore Lodrick Stewart and freshmen Gabriel Pruitt and Nick Young.

“Our underclassmen have gotten most of the minutes this year,” said senior shooting guard Errick Craven, who is questionable for tonight’s game because of an ankle injury. “The seniors have been on the back burner. Now it’s time for us to pick it up.... Our backs are against the wall, and all you can do is fight. It’s been a weird year, a wild year. We just have to go out there and play. Win or lose, I’ll be happy with the results. You’ve just got to go out there and play hard.”

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TONIGHT

vs. Arizona, 7:30

Site -- Sports Arena.

TV -- Fox Sports Net 2.

Radio -- KMPC (1540).

Records -- Wildcats 19-4 overall, 9-2 in Pacific 10 Conference; USC 9-13, 2-9.

Update -- USC has beaten Arizona two of the last three times they’ve played at the Sports Arena, including a 99-90 victory last season over the then-No. 7 Wildcats. When the teams last met, Jan. 13 in Tucson, Salim Stoudamire led Arizona to a 77-68 victory by scoring 21 points.