They’ve Been Bent but Not Broken by Injuries

Tim Floyd will probably go on to coach USC basketball teams with more talent, but he’ll be hard-pressed to find a group as resilient as the current Trojans.

Expected to go into free fall after losing three consecutive games and second-leading scorer Gabe Pruitt to injury, the Trojans responded Sunday by upsetting then-No. 15 UCLA, 71-68.

USC won the final game at the Sports Arena between the cross-town rivals with a superb effort by all seven Trojans who played. USC shot 63.6% in the second half and outrebounded the Bruins, 13-11, in the final 20 minutes after getting outrebounded by 12 in the first half.

“When you have [injured forward] RouSean Cromwell and Gabe Pruitt out, other players have to step up, and I think everybody stepped up,” junior guard Lodrick Stewart said after the game. “Even if they didn’t score, they came out and gave us rebounds and were bringing us great defense, everything.”

It was not the first time USC pulled through this season when faced with adversity. The Trojans rebounded from an 0-2 start with a nine-game winning streak sparked, they said, by a players-only meeting. They regrouped after losing Cromwell to win two of their first three Pacific 10 Conference games. And they bounced back after a 21-point loss to UCLA by winning three consecutive games.

But their recovery Sunday was easily their most impressive.

“I thought they physically manhandled us the last time we played them in Pauley [Pavilion],” Floyd said of the Bruins, “and I thought our guys responded and played with some degree of physicality. ... We’re just thrilled to get this win coming off three straight losses.”

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Perhaps most emblematic of the Trojans’ toughness Sunday was the play of senior Dwayne Shackleford, a reserve guard who provided an offensive spark in the second half when Ryan Francis was in foul trouble.

Shackleford scored all 12 of his points in the final 12:02. He made four driving layups, drawing fouls on three to set up potential three-point plays.

“When you come into the game like that, you want to create energy and help the team out as much as you can,” said Shackleford, who has averaged 11.7 points during Pruitt’s three-game absence.

Shackleford also had three assists, two steals and a rebound in 21 minutes. He made all four of his shots and four of five free throws. His pass to center Abdoulaye N’diaye underneath the basket for a dunk with 1:50 left gave the Trojans a 62-51 lead.

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Nearly two months after he stepped on a ball in pregame warmups and broke his right foot, Cromwell is scheduled to participate in half-court contact drills today for the first time. The 6-foot-10 freshman would require further clearance from trainer Mark Pocinich and Floyd to play Thursday against Oregon. “It’s kind of a short window until Thursday, but we haven’t ruled anything out,” Pocinich said Monday. ... Pruitt was examined over the weekend by team physician C. Thomas Vangsness and is expected to sit out at least another week before resuming practice. Pruitt, who broke a bone in his left knee Feb. 6, will be re-examined Saturday.