Trojans keep moving on up

Two months ago, USC players might have felt like the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap, which once arrived at a venue to find the marquee reading, “Puppet Show and Spinal Tap.”

The Trojans played an intrasquad scrimmage in front of a crowd of about 100 and then showed up at practice one day in the North Gym to find that they had been displaced by a pingpong tournament.

Such was the lot of a supposedly lower-tier Pacific 10 Conference team that was missing its top two guards -- it had somehow achieved second billing in its own gym.

But like so many bands, the Trojans have mastered the comeback. They are in a four-way tie with UCLA, Arizona and Washington State atop the conference standings heading into a sold-out Saturday showdown against the fourth-ranked Bruins at the Galen Center.

USC, 13-4 overall and 3-1 in the Pac-10 after its road sweep of the Oregon schools, has defeated three ranked teams -- Wichita State, Washington and Oregon -- that had a combined 32-2 record before losing to the Trojans. USC is also coming off a 45-point dismantling of Oregon State, its most lopsided conference victory in almost nine years.

“That Wichita State game opened our eyes,” junior swingman Nick Young said after practice Tuesday. “We just got a big boost off of that and we thrived off it and kept pushing and motivating ourselves.”

Basketball pundits are starting to take notice. USC received votes in this week’s Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today top 25 polls, and freshman forward Taj Gibson was selected national player of the week by ESPN.com and SportingNews.com after averaging 19 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots against Oregon and Oregon State.

It’s a stirring list of achievements for a team that the media picked to finish sixth in the Pac-10 in the wake of the shooting death of freshman guard Ryan Francis and first-semester academic ineligibility of junior guard Gabe Pruitt.

The prognosticators didn’t seem off base when USC opened the season with an overtime loss to a South Carolina team that had just been routed by UC Irvine. Turnovers would become a constant concern for the Trojans, who had seven newcomers and a freshman point guard learning the position on the job.

But even from the outset, two encouraging trends emerged: USC was among the best defensive teams in the country, and the Trojans possessed an imposing interior presence in Gibson.

The 6-foot-9 forward leads the Pac-10 in field-goal percentage (.657) and ranks third in rebounding average (9.3), a big reason USC has emerged as the best defensive rebounding team in the conference. The Trojans have already outrebounded nine opponents, one more than they did all of last season.

“He’s helped us in all areas,” Coach Tim Floyd said of Gibson.

USC also ranks first in the conference in field-goal percentage defense (.350) and is holding teams to 60.2 points a game. The Trojans have effectively supplemented their stifling man-to-man defense with occasional zones to combat the dribble penetration of quick guards.

“That’s kind of been our thing,” Pruitt said of the focus on defense. “I kind of come out and expect to hold teams down to 31% or 35% because we’ve been doing it for a while now.”

Even the turnovers aren’t the bugaboo they were earlier this season. In its last five games, with Pruitt running the point, USC is averaging only 11.8 turnovers.

The Trojans also have the ultimate late-game weapon in Young, whose step-back fadeaway jumper is seemingly indefensible. His signature shot has helped seal victories over Wichita State, Washington and Oregon, and he is averaging 18.1 points and shooting 65.8% from the field over the last seven games.

“We felt all along that as time passes and they got Gabe back that they were going to become a top-20 team,” Oregon State Coach Jay John said. “They are a dynamic team.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com