They Receive a Big Assist From Bruins

USC’s road to the Pacific 10 Conference men’s basketball tournament title game was shortened Sunday courtesy of its cross-town rival.

UCLA’s victory over Oregon at Pauley Pavilion clinched sixth place in the conference for the Trojans, giving them a bye in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament. If the tournament started today, USC would play California in a quarterfinal at Staples Center.

The Trojans, who have regular-season games remaining Thursday at Stanford and Saturday at Cal, could conceivably finish as high as fourth in the conference standings, though it’s a longshot.

USC Coach Tim Floyd was pleased to learn Monday that his team would need to win only three games, and not four, to win the Pac-10 tournament championship.

“I think it reduces the degree of difficulty,” said Floyd, whose team probably needs to win the tournament to receive an NCAA tournament berth. “It’s still hard, [but] it gives you a better shot.”

The Trojans could play any of the five teams in front of them in the standings in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament, depending on this week’s results.

Sophomore guard Gabe Pruitt rejected the notion that USC would prefer to avoid a quarterfinal matchup with Washington, the only conference team to defeat the Trojans twice.

“I don’t feel like there’s any team we don’t want to play,” Pruitt said. “I feel like we can play with anybody.”

Said junior guard Lodrick Stewart: “It’s not really about any team. It’s about us, how we come out and play. I’m just scared of us beating ourselves out there, just not playing team ball. We have to come out fired up.”

*

The Trojans did not hold a formal practice Monday after a lengthy film session that focused on the breakdowns that plagued them late in their 89-84 victory over Oregon State on Saturday.

Pruitt, recovering from a broken bone in his left knee, acknowledged being “kind of” disappointed that he wasn’t able to test his knee at full speed, but he conducted several drills on his own and with freshman forward RouSean Cromwell.

Wearing a protective brace over his knee that he called “a little irritating,” Pruitt dribbled the length of the court, rebounded shots and pulled up for jumpers.

“I was kind of looking forward to [practice], but I got a chance to get a workout in, so that’s pretty good,” Pruitt said. “I’ll come back [today] and get back to practice.”

Pruitt said he would not wear the brace Thursday when USC plays Stanford at Maples Pavilion.