Stress Is Less for Stewart This Time

Lodrick Stewart arrived here Friday morning a little less on edge than he had been a year ago, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Ten pounds and one ounce, to be exact.

Stewart’s girlfriend, Sherrill Simmons, was about to give birth in early February 2005 when USC arrived in the Pacific Northwest to play Washington and Washington State. Simmons, a Seattle native, attended the Trojans’ game against Washington to watch Stewart play against her brother Tre, then a senior for the Huskies.

“During the game I was looking at her in the stands,” recalled Stewart, USC’s junior shooting guard. “She would rub her stomach for me, like meaning play harder.”

Stewart had to leave for Pullman the next day unsure whether he would get to see the birth of his first son.

“That was stressing me out,” said Stewart, who scored eight points and committed four turnovers during the Trojans’ 61-53 loss to Washington State. “I know if I had missed the game it would have given people the room to say negative stuff that I don’t need.”

Stewart had better luck off the court. He received permission from interim Coach Jim Saia to return to Seattle the following day and was in the delivery room when Jaylin was born.

“I was going to be so mad if he wasn’t going to be there, but it worked out,” Simmons said.

And if he wasn’t able to make it?

“We probably would have broken up,” Stewart said.

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Having been outrebounded by double-digit margins in four of their last five games, the Trojans focused on rebounding in practice Friday. In one four-on-four drill, teams had to remain on the court until they pulled down three consecutive rebounds.

“There were times when it took people like 30 [possessions] to get three rebounds in a row,” Stewart said. “I think that should help us get the mind-set to go back and rebound. We don’t want to have another practice like that.”

Said Coach Tim Floyd of his team’s rebounding: “We’ve got to shore up that to get better. We’re looking at the same box score every night.”

Floyd said the Trojans might make “a revision or two” in their lineup but declined to provide specifics. Few, if any, USC reserves made a compelling case for more playing time Thursday during the Trojans’ 87-73 loss to Washington besides senior guard Dwayne Shackleford, who scored all of his career-high 15 points in the second half.

Floyd said letting sophomore swingman Nick Young try to take over a game by attempting 20 to 25 shots was not an option.

“He scored 28 [Thursday] night,” Floyd said. “What do you want, him to be Kobe [Bryant] and score 81? He takes shots when he’s open and when he’s available. So anything outside of that would probably not be as good a shot and he wouldn’t shoot as good a percentage.”

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TODAY

at Washington State, 3 p.m., FSN West 2

Site -- Friel Court, Pullman, Wash.

Radio -- 1540.

Records -- USC 15-8 overall, 6-6 Pac-10; Washington State 10-10, 3-8.

Update -- The return of sophomore guard Derrick Low from a broken right foot didn’t help Washington State on Thursday during a humiliating 50-30 loss to UCLA. The listless Cougars scored two points in the first nine minutes, 12 in the first half and finished with their lowest point total at home since losing to Oregon State, 51-30, during the 1946-47 season. Low did not score in eight minutes.