Freshman center Diarra sidelined by hernia

Another day, another injury for the USC men’s basketball team. And this one hurts the most.

Freshman center Mamadou Diarra was preliminarily diagnosed Tuesday with a hernia that could require surgery and sideline the 7-footer four to five weeks.

A decision on surgery will be made after doctors examine Diarra on Thursday, according to trainer Bobby Walls. Diarra, who had five points and five rebounds in the Cardinal and Gold scrimmage on Sunday, initially appeared to suffer a groin injury in practice Monday.

“He’s like all these freshmen,” said Coach Tim Floyd, referring to the wave of injuries that also has sidelined Marcus Simmons (sprained ankle) and Davon Jefferson (sprained knee) for long stretches.

“All these guys need to be out here, and it’s just a real shame that they can’t. It’s tough enough on freshmen as it is without having a chance to practice. They can’t just go out and play.”

Depending on the length of Diarra’s recovery, he could be redshirted this season.

“We’ll have to look at it down the road and see where he is and see where our team is and try to determine if he’s going to be able to help us at all this year or not,” Floyd said.

Diarra was not the only Trojan to miss practice Tuesday. Sophomore guard Daniel Hackett is still recovering from a broken jaw that will sideline him until late next month, and Simmons and sophomore forward Taj Gibson (sprained ankle) were held out to let their respective injuries heal.

Floyd said he might rest Simmons and Gibson through USC’s closed scrimmage against Cal State Fullerton on Saturday morning at the Galen Center to help speed their recovery. The season opener is Nov. 10 against Mercer.

Freshman guard O.J. Mayo scored 34 points. Sophomore guard Dwight Lewis made seven of 12 shots.

But the most impressive statistic in Sunday’s intrasquad scrimmage might have been zero. That was the number of turnovers committed by freshman guard Angelo Johnson in his debut running the point for the Trojans.

“No turnovers? I didn’t know that,” said Johnson, who had five assists in 37 minutes. “That was pretty good.”

Last year, the Trojans ended their preseason scrimmage with a flurry of turnovers, a precursor to a sloppy stretch in which they averaged 19.8 turnovers during their first 12 games. Johnson said he was confident that things would be different this season.

“That’s the big thing this year,” said Johnson, who will share ballhandling duties with Mayo, Hackett and possibly walk-on Ryan Wetherell. “We don’t want to have any turnovers.”

Redshirt freshman forward Kasey Cunningham spent a considerable amount of time with strength and conditioning manager Rudy Hackett working on his free throws after practice. Cunningham missed all three attempts during the scrimmage Sunday and noted that he needed to develop a consistent release. . . . Junior forward RouSean Cromwell returned to practice after sitting out the previous two days because he was nauseous.

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ben.bolch@latimes.com