USC has pressing issues in upset of Stanford

This wasn’t so much about a game played Saturday at the corner of Jefferson and Figueroa as it was about one to be played 11 or 12 days from now in some faraway place such as Raleigh, N.C., or Birmingham, Ala.

There are no longer seeds of doubt regarding USC and the NCAA tournament, only doubts of seed.

And USC appears to be assembling a case for a good one after a 77-64 victory over seventh-ranked Stanford at the Galen Center put the Trojans in a strikingly similar position to where they were at this time a year ago, when they went on to grab a No. 5 seeding in the East Region.

USC secured a share of third place in the Pacific 10 Conference for the second consecutive season after disrupting Stanford with a full-court press and grabbing 16 more rebounds than a Cardinal team that was ranked third nationally in rebounding margin.

“Nobody has hounded us on the glass like they did today,” said Stanford Coach Trent Johnson, whose team has lost consecutive games for the first time this season. “They were better than us this morning.”

The Trojans, 20-10 overall and 11-7 in the Pac-10, will play Arizona State in a Pac-10 tournament quarterfinal Thursday at noon as the fourth-seeded team because they lost a tiebreaker with Washington State, which swept USC in two meetings.

The Trojans have won 11 of 15 games since starting conference play 0-3 and on Saturday dealt Stanford (24-6, 13-5) its most decisive loss of the season.

USC fans were able to savor the final minutes without worry after the Trojans built a double-digit lead midway through the second half, chanting “One more year!” as freshman guard O.J. Mayo stepped to the free-throw line with 1 minute 44 seconds remaining.

Mayo had 25 points and eight rebounds in what could be his final college home game, saying afterward that he was preparing to sign up for summer school classes while remaining noncommittal about his future.

“I think it’s kind of selfish to worry about what I’m going to do next year,” he said.

USC sophomore forward Taj Gibson logged his fifth double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds, helping the Trojans outrebound a Cardinal team that had grabbed 17 more rebounds than USC when the teams met in January.

The Trojans opened the game with a full-court press, a surprise tactic for a thin team but one that Coach Tim Floyd said he wanted to tinker with before the postseason now that USC probably had assured itself of an NCAA tournament invitation.

“They’re a tall team and they like to play with their rhythm and we were trying to speed the game up a little bit and it worked,” Trojans sophomore guard Daniel Hackett said of Stanford. “I don’t think they really liked that.”

The Trojans zipped to a 22-8 lead, with Gibson scoring seven consecutive points on two dunks, a twisting basket inside and a free throw. Stanford eventually pulled to within four points on one of four three-point baskets by guard Kenny Brown, who finished with 19 points, but the Cardinal never seriously threatened in the second half.

Brook Lopez finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds and Robin Lopez had 16 points and four rebounds for the Cardinal, which shot only 32.3% and was outrebounded, 47-31.

Floyd said the press may have contributed to his team’s rebounding advantage by putting the 7-foot Lopez twins out of position.

“They’re so accustomed at throwing it inside and anticipating when the shot is going up that maybe they came from different times, maybe a little quicker, maybe from a different person and gave us angles to go back and go rebound,” Floyd said. “The Lopezes were not always where they normally are on the blocks.”

Freshman forward Davon Jefferson had 11 points and six rebounds and junior forward Keith Wilkinson had eight rebounds off the bench for USC, which has outrebounded six consecutive opponents after losing the rebounding battle in 11 of its first 12 conference games.

“It’s probably the most encouraging thing about our team right now,” Floyd said, “because we were last in the league in rebounding forever.”

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ben.bolch@latimes.com