Trojans Look to Make Move in the Standings

USC may have already clinched a first-round bye in the Pacific 10 Conference tournament, but the Trojans have plenty of incentive to win their final two regular-season games.

A pair of victories could move them as high as fourth place in the final conference standings, setting up a more favorable matchup in their Pac-10 quarterfinal next week.

“We’re trying to move up as far as possible,” said sophomore guard Gabe Pruitt, who will be back in the starting lineup tonight when the Trojans play Stanford at Maples Pavilion. “We just want to get these two wins on the road and go into the Pac-10 [tournament] on a good run.”

Coach Tim Floyd, who had a full complement of players in practice this week for the first time in two months, said his team wanted to secure an upper-division finish.

“I don’t think you’re ever playing for sixth place,” he said. “When I found out we were No. 6, we didn’t have a huddle and start cheering, ‘We’re No. 6!’ ”

The Trojans fell from a tie for fourth to sixth while Pruitt recovered from a broken bone in his left knee, losing three of five games. USC will have both Pruitt and freshman forward RouSean Cromwell available tonight for the first time since defeating North Carolina on Dec. 21.

“We’re going to try to integrate those guys back into our system,” Floyd said. “We may go through an adjustment period, but we’re going to try to see how well this group can compete.”

Pruitt, averaging 17.0 points and 4.2 rebounds, said he was capable of playing 30-plus minutes tonight.

“With Gabe out there, it just opens up everybody’s game,” sophomore swingman Nick Young said. “It’s going to take a big load off me and some of the other guys.”

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A gleaming new building is not the only change USC fans should expect next season when the Galen Center opens. A more vocal student section could be in the works as well.

Floyd said he would meet with students in the coming months to “paint a vision for what we want the student section to be. I want to see that blanket of students across several rows and them having organized chants and building their own traditions about what they envision should happen after a key stop or when the other team has the ball in a tight game.”

TONIGHT

at Stanford, 7

Site-- Maples Pavilion, Palo Alto.

Radio -- 1540.

Records -- USC 17-10 overall, 8-8 Pac-10; Stanford 14-11, 10-6.

Update -- The Trojans have won all three conference games in which they’ve outrebounded their opponents, including an 82-71 victory over Stanford on Dec. 31.