Trojans are hoping to pull some rank

The folks at ESPN.com and other sports websites probably will receive a few extra page views from the 90089 ZIP Code come Monday afternoon.

USC players will be eager to learn if they have cracked the national rankings for the first time since March 2002 after a 58-49 victory over Arizona State on Saturday evening at the Galen Center gave the Trojans their first home sweep of the Arizona schools in five years.

“It would mean the world for us,” said junior swingman Nick Young, who scored a game-high 18 points. “I’ve been watching everybody around us like Arizona and UCLA, and to be up there we would finally get noticed. It would be great for all of us, just a big confidence boost.”

Trojans Coach Tim Floyd, who has a vote in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll, declined to reveal whether he would include USC in his next top 25.

“I don’t divulge my vote,” he said.

The Trojans, who are tied with Washington State for third place in the Pacific 10 Conference standings, have made a case for being ranked by winning six of their last eight games. The Trojans (15-5 overall, 5-2 Pac-10) have defeated four ranked teams and avoided a letdown against the last-place Sun Devils after beating No. 11-ranked Arizona on Thursday.

The last two times the Trojans had defeated Arizona at home -- in 2004 and 2006 -- they had followed with losses to Arizona State two days later.

“The win against Arizona wouldn’t mean anything if we had lost tonight, especially if we were trying to talk about the NCAA tournament and get ranked,” said junior guard Gabe Pruitt, who sprained an ankle late in the game but is expected to be OK. “This was an important win for us.”

The Sun Devils (6-13, 0-8) continually confounded the Trojans with a zone defense that limited USC to 37.5% shooting, but USC pulled away by making eight of 11 free throws in the final 2 minutes 34 seconds.

Arizona State also had trouble putting the ball in the basket, making only 36.5% of its shots, and was unable to dominate USC inside as it did a year ago because of the presence of freshman forward Taj Gibson, who had 11 points and eight rebounds.

“I just took my time and had a lot of patience and looked for the open cracks so I could dish or drive,” Gibson said. “I was just getting good looks.”

Gibson also helped neutralize Arizona State’s big men, Jeff Pendergraph and Serge Angounou, who had combined for 26 points last season during the Sun Devils’ 68-65 victory at the Sports Arena. They had half that total Saturday thanks to Pendergraph’s 13 points.

“Our defense is giving us a chance, but offensively, we have been challenged since the beginning of the year to put points on the board,” said Coach Herb Sendek, whose team dropped its ninth consecutive game.

Although the Trojans are off to their best conference start since the 2001-02 season, when they won six of their first seven Pac-10 games, one has to look back only one year to see how quickly things can change.

USC was 15-6 last season before losing seven of its final nine games and not being invited to a postseason tournament.

Although Floyd acknowledged that he would check the rankings Monday as he does every week, he said he would not attach any significance to his team’s inclusion.

“It really won’t mean anything,” he said, “if we don’t finish this thing right and go win some games down the stretch.”

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ben.bolch@latimes.com