Scalabrine Stresses Other Contributions

Brian Scalabrine insists he is fine, but he didn’t look like himself Saturday against Santa Barbara.

He was called for three traveling violations while making a fake and driving to the basket. He was scoreless in the first half, missing all three shots he attempted while making four turnovers.

Scalabrine finally scored with 8:30 left in the second half. He wound up with seven points, making three of six shots. He also collected 10 rebounds and blocked two shots but had only one assist and made seven turnovers.

Afterward, Scalabrine said he was not hurt, nor was he distracted by the referee’s whistles.

“Just because I don’t take a lot of shots doesn’t mean I didn’t contribute,” Scalabrine said.

Perhaps. But his low point total--as well as his low shot total--was one reason the Gauchos took the 12th-ranked Trojans down to the final seconds.

Still the Trojans can’t hang their close call solely on Scalabrine’s quiet night.

Brandon Granville had 17 points in the first half, one in the second half. Sam Clancy spent much of the first half in foul trouble and had only three points. He awoke with 16 in the second half.

The uneven performances bring up Coach Henry Bibby’s assertion that his team needs three or four players to have good nights at the same time--something that has not happened in the Trojans’ 6-0 start.

“What can I say,” said Clancy. “We haven’t always played smart. We’ve played tentative at times with the lead. We’re still not where we need to be as a team. I thought [the Santa Barbara] game was a step back. We’ve got to keep working at getting better.”