Floyd: San Diego is no pushover

Among USC’s potential opponents in the Anaheim Classic this weekend, Miami of Ohio reached the NCAA tournament last season and Southern Illinois came up four points short of advancing to the Elite Eight.

But those are worries for another day. First up for the Trojans is scrappy San Diego, which scares USC Coach Tim Floyd plenty heading into tonight’s first-round game at the Anaheim Convention Center.

“They are capable of beating us and they are capable of beating anybody in this tournament,” Floyd said of the Toreros, who beat Hawaii on the road before suffering narrow losses to Nevada Las Vegas and San Diego State.

San Diego features two of the top players in the West Coast Conference in junior center Gyno Pomare and junior point guard Brandon Johnson. Pomare is averaging 17.3 points and 9.3 rebounds and Johnson is averaging 15.8 points and 4.0 assists.

The prospect of winning three games in four days became trickier for the Trojans this week when Floyd and freshman forward Marcus Simmons mutually decided to let Simmons rest for two weeks to let his bothersome left ankle heal.

“It’s still tender and I still can’t cut,” said Simmons, who has played only 11 minutes this season after spraining his ankle on the first day of practice. “Coach and I decided I’d sit out some more games and practices so it would be 100% and I’d be ready to go.”

USC’s ranks were further depleted Wednesday when reserve sophomore forward Kyle Austin suffered a back injury in practice that Floyd said would probably prevent him from playing this weekend.

There was better news regarding redshirt freshman forward Kasey Cunningham, who said he would be available to play tonight after suffering a sprained knee during the first half of the Trojans’ victory over South Carolina on Saturday. Cunningham couldn’t play in the second half against the Gamecocks but said he felt fine upon his return to practice.

Cunningham had 10 rebounds and six points while playing 22 minutes in his first career start against the Citadel last week and appeared to supplant junior forwards Keith Wilkinson and RouSean Cromwell in the Trojans’ rotation before his injury.

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TONIGHT

vs. San Diego, 9, ESPN2

Site -- Anaheim Convention Center.

Radio -- 710.

Records -- USC 2-1, San Diego 2-2.

Update -- San Diego committed 25 turnovers against San Diego State’s full-court press during a 69-64 loss Monday, but Floyd declined to say if the Aztecs’ success might prompt him to employ a similar strategy against the Toreros. “If it did, I wouldn’t say it,” he said.

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ben.bolch@latimes.com