Surprised Vucevic gives Trojans quite a start

Nikola Vucevic was in for the surprise of his young USC basketball career.

“Coach came to me 10 minutes before the game and said I was starting,” said Vucevic, a freshman from Montenegro. “I was really surprised.”

The 6-foot-10 Vucevic didn’t waste the opportunity in a 46-44 victory over Washington State.

Starting because forward Leonard Washington is still bothered by an ankle injury, Vucevic finished with eight points, five rebounds and one steal in 30 minutes.

“We got great minutes out of Vuc,” Coach Tim Floyd said. “He did a great job defensively and got us some second-chance opportunities. All players need that opportunity at some point. He was very poised out there.”

Vucevic had only 10 points in eight previous games, but he got this one started right by taking a pass from Taj Gibson and finishing with a dunk for USC’s first points.

“I didn’t even see the ball go in,” Vucevic said. “I turned around and saw all the guys on the bench jumping up and down. That got me fired up.”

Lewis still out

The Trojans won without leading scorer Dwight Lewis, who missed his second consecutive game because of a sprained left ankle.

He practiced Friday for the first time since being injured Monday, but the pain became too great.

“It got worse when I tried to cut,” a dejected Lewis said before the Washington State game. “If you can’t cut, you can’t play.”

No crying foul

Two nights after losing to Washington and seeing the Huskies shoot 40 free throws to their 17, the Trojans made 19 of 31 free throws.

“We understood we had an opportunity to get to the double bonus fairly early, and we wanted to take advantage of that,” Floyd said.

“That’s why every shot we took in the last two minutes was at the rim.”

History lesson

Before Saturday’s victory, the last time the Trojans won when scoring 46 points or fewer came in 1969 when they defeated UCLA, 46-44.

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chris.foster@latimes.com