Miner’s Injury Is Minor, So He Scores 43 in Loss

LINCOLN, Neb. —  After USC guard Harold Miner bruised his left foot while scoring 22 points in the first half Monday against Nebraska, USC Coach George Raveling planned to hold him out of the second half.

But Miner persuaded Raveling to let him play.

Miner scored a career-high 43 points, two shy of John Block’s school record, but the Trojans lost to the Cornhuskers, 93-84, before 13,620 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Said Raveling: “To tell you the truth, if it had been up to me--and I shouldn’t say if it was up to me because it was up to me--but I let him talk me into playing him in the second half because I had no intention of playing him in the second half, because he’d hurt his big toe.

“I’m still concerned about it. We won’t know until he gets back to school and gets X-rayed. I don’t want to win bad enough to play him at the expense of (risking serious injury), but he kept telling me on the bench that he was fine and could go back in and play. He played that whole second half on a bad (foot). We might wake up Wednesday and find out it’s (broken).”

USC trainer Mike Colello said Miner has a bruised left foot and no X-rays will be taken unless the foot swells.

Miner, who was injured when he made an awkward landing while pivoting in the first half, made 15 of 34 shots, including four of 11 three-pointers, and nine of 10 free throws.

Miner said the injury limited his mobility.

“It was hurting a lot,” Miner said. “But as I played it loosened up and I kind of forgot about it. When you want to win so badly you don’t think about stuff like that. I don’t have any business sitting on the bench, and I told George that I wanted to play.”

While Miner was outstanding, his teammates weren’t as productive.

USC’s other four starters-- guards Duane Cooper and Phil Glenn, forward Mark Boyd and center Yamen Sanders--were hesitant to get involved in the Trojan offense and scored a combined 24 points, 19 fewer than Miner. USC’s other players shot poorly, making only eight of 23 shots as the Trojans shot 38.5% from the floor.

“I think we played too cautious,” Raveling said. “It was one of those things where when the going got tough, the team’s attitude was, ‘Hey Harold, bail us out.’ ”

USC’s offense wasn’t in sync, and the Trojans also played poor defense. The Cornhuskers, who led by as many as 19 points in the second half, shot 50% from the floor and hit nine of 17 three-point shots.

“I’m tremendously disappointed in the amount of points we gave up,” Raveling said. “But the great thing about this is that it’s the second game of the season. As I told the kids, it was a wake-up call from God. We’ll see now if we answer it or not.”

With the score tied at 19-19 with 12:55 remaining in the half, Nebraska (2-0) outscored USC (1-1), 22-8, to take a 41-27 lead. Sophomore forward Bruce Chubick, who had 15 points off the bench, sparked the run by scoring seven points.

Trailing, 69-50, with 13:38 left in the game, the Trojans outscored the Cornhuskers, 30-19, to cut it to eight, but they couldn’t get any closer.

Trojan Notes

Harold Miner’s 43 points were the third-highest total in school history. Center John Block had 45 points against Washington in 1966 and Block scored 44 against Oregon during the same season. . . . Miner broke the Devaney Center scoring mark of 40 points set by former Nebraska center Rich King last season and bettered his personal record of 37 points, which he accomplished twice as a freshman. . . . His 34 field-goal attempts was a USC record. Bill Hewitt held the old mark, taking 28 shots in a 1968 game against UCLA.