LOS ANGELES – Besides the obvious of snapping a six-game losing streak, USC’s men’s basketball team may have done something equally as beneficial Saturday night.
Their 82-54 rout of Oregon State gave them a chance to feel better about themselves for a change. The frustration, the bad body language, the tension that comes with what could still be a season-defining slump? All gone, at least for one night, replaced by the opportunity to take some deep breaths and actually enjoy a Saturday evening for the first time in a while.
“Basketball is supposed to be a competitive sport, (and) have some fun doing it,” USC coach Andy Enfield said. “And if you lose too much, you don’t have much fun.”
It hasn’t been fun for a while, with injuries – 45 man games lost to injury or illness through Saturday – leading to scrambled lineups, players coming back and trying to re-integrate themselves into the mix, and frustration that in turn led to sagging spirits and bad body language.
It absolutely was not fun Thursday night against Oregon: The Trojans lost 78-69 and Enfield questioned his players’ toughness afterward, “behind closed doors, out in the street and everything else,” he said.
A particular irritant: USC’s big men, 6-11 Arrinten Page, 6-11 Joshua Morgan and 7-1 Vincent Iwuchukwu, had three, five and four rebounds apiece. DJ Rodman, at 6-6, led all comers that night with seven.
“Bigs got to rebound, OK?” Enfield said Saturday night. ” You can’t have a good rebounding team (without) your bigs. The bigs got to start it off. Your guards, it’d be nice if your guards rebound too. But you know Drew Peterson led us in rebounding last year, 7½ a game. And Drew’s not on our team right now. So big guys need to rebound the ball.”
The bigs weren’t much better rebounders Saturday night. But Rodman, for whom hunting the ball off the glass is a family trait, rose to the occasion – pun intended – with 14. USC outrebounded Oregon State…
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