Trojans Are Caught on Rebound, 68-65

It seemed just a matter of time before this tenuous formula for success became a certified blueprint for disaster.

USC had built a three-game winning streak by taking care of the basketball and forcing turnovers. Rebounding? Don’t ask.

In victories over Oregon State and Arizona, the Trojans had been outrebounded by a combined 26.

As he had all season, USC Coach Tim Floyd juggled lineups and tried “every rebounding drill known to mankind,” but nothing seemed to make a difference.

Maybe a loss to the last-place team in the Pacific 10 Conference will shake things up.

USC’s most glaring weakness proved costly Saturday afternoon during a 68-65 defeat to Arizona State in front of a season-high crowd of 6,769 at the Sports Arena.

The Sun Devils won the rebounding battle, 37-21, a big reason they amassed 28 points inside and 19 second-chance points. By comparison, USC had only three second-chance points.

“You keep going to that statistic night in and night out and you’re on the short end as bad as we were [Saturday], it’s eventually going to get you,” Floyd said of his team’s rebounding woes.

Trojan big men Abdoulaye N’diaye, Jeremy Barr and Keith Wilkinson combined for eight rebounds in 49 minutes, two fewer rebounds than Arizona State forward Serge Angounou had in 28 minutes.

Angounou also hurt USC on the offensive end after Trojan sophomore swingman Nick Young picked up his fourth foul with 8 minutes 50 seconds left, scoring five consecutive points after USC had sliced an 11-point halftime deficit to three.

“Once I got that fourth foul, I couldn’t do nothing but just put my hand in his face,” Young said. “I couldn’t be aggressive.”

Angounou finished with 11 points and was one of five Sun Devils in double figures.

Sun Devil guard Bryson Krueger’s three-point basket from the corner gave Arizona State a 60-51 cushion with 4:37 to go. After a dunk by N’diaye closed the gap to seven points, USC missed three-point shots on four consecutive possessions, with the Sun Devils rebounding each miss.

“The big thing is we didn’t give up many second-chance points,” said Arizona State Coach Rob Evans, whose team improved to 8-12 overall and 2-9 in the Pac-10. “We really got on the glass and eliminated any second-chance points.”

A flurry of four three-point baskets in the final 44 seconds made the final score respectable for the Trojans (15-7, 6-5), who remained in a tie with Arizona for fourth place in the conference.

Arizona State, which had trailed by as many as eight points early, closed the first half on a 21-4 run with Young on the bench in foul trouble.

The Trojans relied heavily on three-point shots after falling behind, with sophomore guard Gabe Pruitt taking all 13 of his shots from behind the three-point arc. He made six and finished with a game-high 22 points.

USC scored a healthy allotment of 25 points off 15 Arizona State turnovers but couldn’t overcome its rebounding deficiency or the fact that the Sun Devils made 50% of their shots.

“It seemed like we were making a run at them and we’re still down by 10,” Pruitt said.

Asked about his team’s rebounding shortcomings earlier in the week, Floyd had relayed one of his former boss Don Haskins’ sayings: “Want a rebounder? Recruit a rebounder.”

Recruits Taj Gibson and Kasey Cunningham should help bolster the Trojans’ interior presence in 2006-07, but for now Floyd is open to suggestions.

“We’ve just got to go practice hard and just get the mind-set to come out and play harder,” Young said.