Trojans Find Success Second Time Around

The USC basketball team took a collective sigh Sunday as it was the Trojans’ turn to beat up an opponent instead of receiving the blows.

The inexperienced Trojans, blasted last week by 11th-ranked New Mexico, took another baby step in their Division I basketball education by defeating Sacramento State, 79-40, at the Memorial Auditorium before 2,300.

Led by junior transfer Adam Spanich’s 18 points, the Trojans used pinpoint outside shooting and superior rebounding to secure the victory.

Though Sunday’s outcome was much better than Tuesday night’s game against the Lobos, USC Coach Henry Bibby was happier with his team’s performance in the 98-76 loss.

“We didn’t have many things go right Sunday,” Bibby said. “We have things we really need to work on. We still need to learn a lot as we get our younger guys experience. It takes a while to make the adjustment at this level.”

Bibby, who lost four seniors from last season’s team that finished tied for second in the Pacific 10 Conference, again started a veteran lineup, including seniors Ken Sims, Gary Johnson and Gary Williams. Bibby said he is trying to piece together a nucleus but that he has yet to find his starting rotation.

“We wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to the seniors,” Bibby said. “They are the cornerstone of what we are doing and they are the ones who have NCAA tournament experience. Hopefully, the younger guys will come around also.”

Bibby replaced the more experienced Trojans, who were sluggish at the start, and went to a mostly rookie lineup that featured Spanich, a former Mr. Basketball in Iowa who transferred in this season, and freshmen Kevin Augustine, Greg Lakey and Shannon Swillis.

The rookies immediately started the Trojans (1-1) on a 13-0 scoring run, with Swillis grabbing four rebounds and Spanich scoring eight points during the streak. USC led, 30-19, at halftime.

“I felt that we played at a quicker tempo and took better shots in this game [as opposed to last week against New Mexico],” Spanich said. “We still don’t know what to do yet in a lot of situations but the biggest difference in this game is that we pushed the ball up better.”

The Trojans improved their play in the second half with Bibby rotating players frequently. USC shot 66.7% in the second half on 20-of-30 shooting from the field and for the game shot 51.6%.

In the second half, veteran players such as sophomore Jarvis Turner and Williams led the Trojans by scoring five and four points respectively during a 15-5 run.

USC also got help from Sacramento State, which couldn’t hit its outside shots and turned the ball over 17 times.

The Hornets (0-1), who went 3-23 last season and 2-14 in the Big Sky Conference, hit 17 of 62 shots (27.4%) from the field and were outrebounded, 49-30. They were led by junior guard Jason Wright, who had 10 points and six rebounds.