SoCalHoops College News

USC Crushes San Diego State. Really.
Just Crushes Them--(Nov. 18, 1998)

Long live the freshmen. The freshmen are dead.

That's what they say in England when the monarch dies and a new one assumes the throne, right? Well, tonight, both teams proved that this will be the year of the freshmen.  And that it won't be the year of the freshmen.  It all just depends on who's ox is being gored.

USC's freshmen were phenomenal.  If we were Steve Lavin, we'd be doing some real thinking about how to approach this well coached and very athletic team when they meet in January.  For now, we'll just say that this Trojan team was a completely different team than the one we saw on Saturday.

And as for the Aztecs, we searched and searched the Aztec Basketball media guide for their team records; we found the records for most points in a season, most points by a player, most free throws, most this or that, longest win streak, best ever whatever.  Lots of records.

But we just couldn't find the one we were looking for:

Worst loss ever.

Actually this was not the worst ever.   But this young team with 8 freshmen and one JC transfer did manage to tie with the worst loss ever, when San Diego State lost by 47 points to Stanford two years ago.

Well, they did it again tonight as USC defeated the Aztecs in the Trojans' home-opener.

101-54.

USC is either going to be very scary to some other Pac-10 teams, or San Diego is just not that good.  And actually, we think it's the former.  And the Aztecs have a lot more talent than they are showing.   Something is definitely wrong, and we're not sure quite what it is, but injuries, youth and questionable subbing didn't help.

Bibby started Granville, Ayuso, Trepagnier, Turner and Calabrine, while SDSU started Wilson, Watts, Epps, Okotie and Correa.  After 8 minutes played, the score was 22-3.  Clearly nothing was working, right from the start, for San Diego.

USC's defense, their half-court trap and zone was just smothering, forcing 15 turnovers in the first half.  "That's what we work on in practice; that half-court trap and full-court press are both really going to be specialties for us this year,"  assistant coach Silvey Dominguez told us after the game. "I'm not real pleased with our three-point shooting (.267, only 4 for 15) but I'm very pleased with the way we attacked and played defense.  And our free-throw shooting (13-14 in the first half, and 16-21 in the second) was just great.  We're going to get some things done this season," Dominguez said, smiling.

These sentiments were echoed by coach Henry Bibby,  who said after that game that he was extremely pleased with the way the team played.   "After last year, I'll take a win any way I can get it," coach Bibby joked.  "I was very pleased with how athletic and smart we played. We really didn't get a chance to do too much with our half-court offense, but then we didn't have to run it too much because of our transition and running game."

"I've told the players that practice is over, and how much playing time they get in the future will depend on what they do in game situations," Bibby said.  "Practice is now over and this is to get ready for the Pac-10. It's game time."

Bibby was asked whether he was surprised at how well his new players did: "I'm very happy about the way Sam Clancy played, Jeff Trepagnier, Brandon Granvile, Scalabrine, and Quincy Wilder did some things. Our veterans need to step up and do some things. Guys like Ayuso and Lakey need to show their experiend. We had a couple of let downs, but I think we can compete with anyone this year. Maybe we won't have another blowout like tonight again this season, but we'll do well."

If you thought UCLA had a balanced offense, you haven't seen balance until you come out to look at the Trojans, and tonight their shooting was very impressive, their defense just awesome.  Six players who shot more than 50% from the field; seven players in double figures (12, 14, 10, 11, 10, 10, and 11).  Twenty team assists; Eight blocked shots; Twenty-two steals.

They had only one bad stat: 22 turnovers.  But this was a very balanced attach and the turnovers were very evenly spread out too.

Here's what we saw from the guys who played:

Jeff Trepagnier:   Shot 5-9 from the field, had two blocked shots, and three steals in 17 minutes.  He opened the second half   with a huge one-handed dunk on which he was fouled; looking very athletic, quick and strong.  Big time player tonight.

Jarvis Turner:  4-6 from the field, 1 for 2 from the line, 9 total points in 20 minutes. Great defense,  and some nice dunks off of Granville's assists. Even though the coaching staff thought he could have stepped up more, we thought he looked pretty impressive.  But that's why the coaches get the big bucks.

Brian Scalabrine:  We take it all back. Really.   On Saturday, we had to wonder whether if we looked in the dictionary under the word "stiff" we might find a picture of the guy they call "Big Red."    Ouch.  On Saturday he looked slow and unathletic, a bit robotic.   But then we learned that the Trojans had run a three hour practice before the Saturday exhibition contest, and that Brian was just exhausted.  Well, ok, that's an explanation for the difference in what we saw tonight.  Scalabrine could be giving Gadzuric nightmares.  He was mobile, agile, aggressive, almost Jelani McCoy-ish in the emotion with which he blocked shots, and he had two really impressive flying back-door slam-dunk alley-oops which he pounded through the hoop with authority.   His junior college experience really showed and this is a guy who will get the job done.  After the game, we sat with him while he wolfed down a pizza,  and he said "I just love basketball.  I don't care who we play this season. It doesn't matter.  I just love to play basketball."     Scalabrine shot 4-8 from the field,  was perfect (6-6) from the line, and had 9 rebounds (5 offensive, 4 defensive), and he had 3 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals in only 18 minutes. Wow.  He did lead in turnovers (4), but what the heck.   He's entitled.

Brandon Granville:  This is the point guard of the future, and the future is now. Shot 4-8 from the field, 2-4 from three point range, never went to the line, had 5 assists, three turnovers and 6 steals in 21 minutes.  He runs the offense better than anyone, and he and coach Bibby just seem to communicate, they click, sort of a silent, unspoken Vulcan-mind-meld.  "Brandon is very heady, he makes the right decisions, gets the ball to the open man, and just runs the offense so well," coach Bibby said after the game.   "I'm really having fun," Brandon told us in the locker room.  "I'm getting such good coaching, and coach Dominguez is great with the defense," he said referring to the half-court trap which was so successful tonight, resulting in 4 turnovers out of the total of 31 which the Trojans forced from San Diego tonight. 

Elias Ayuso:  Also shot 4-8 from the field, 1-5 from three point range, 2-2 from the line, 11 total pints, 1 assist in 18 minutes and 3 steals.   Played well, split time at the point with Brandon, played good defense and helped with great ball rotation in the offense.  Solid. Really stepped up, but needs to work on three point shooting.

Quincy Wilder: He shot 4-6 from the field mostly on close in drop step layins and turn around j's, for 10 total points in 21 minutes.  Runs the floor extremely well, rebounds (4 total) and in general does a lot of things well.   We really like this guy, and he'll be giving JaRon Rush, Ray Young,  and a lot of other 2/3's trouble when the Pac-10 season opens.

Adam Spanich:  This was not his game.  Shot only 1 for 3 from the field, 0-1 from three point range and had only 6 points in 13 minutes. Never really seemed to get into the flow of the game, but did shoot extremely well (4 for 5) from the line. Had one assist and two turnovers.  Not up to par, but we heard he's still not feeling well.

David Bluthental:  Only had 4 points, one dunk from the field and two from the line (2-2) and only played 10 minutes, not nearly enough for someone as talented. He got a blocked shot "I'm really loving it here," David told us in the locker room. "I'm learning so much and the coaches are just great."  David seemed just happy to be there, and the coaches are certain to try to get him more time: "We'd love to play him more than 10 minutes," coach Dominguez said. "The difficulty is finding a good balance, because almost all our guys got just about the same time tonight, and the scoring and the rest of the stats were so balanced. It's a nice problem to have though, when everyone is doing this well."  

Shannon Swillis only played 6 minutes in the first half, and another 7 in the second half, and only scored two points; Kevin Augustine only played 3 minutes in the first half, and didn't play at all in the second (what can you expect for someone who is having doubts about a committment to the team?), and he didn't shoot from the field, hitting two for two from the line.

Greg Lakey played 21 minutes, hit 2-5 from the field and grabbed 8 rebounds and had 2 assists and one steal.  He's still going to have to learn to move without the ball on his own, without being prodded by the coaches, but he's clearly got the athleticism and skills to be a top player.

Sam Clancy: "The Postman"-- That's gotta be his nickname. He was impressive, but hardly got enough time to really show it in the first half, only 6 minutes, but he did make very good use of that time, shooting 2 for three from the field and 100% from the line (2-2), and he managed 5 rebounds (2 offensive, 3 defensive) just an amazing stat in only 6 minutes.  In gthe sedond  half he got more time (14 minutes) and ended up 4-9 overall from the field and 3-4 from the line, with a team high 10 rebounds, one assist, one block and 2 steals.  Very impressive.   With him and Scalabrine and Bluthenthal, this will be a top-flight team, maybe not big enough inside to challenge Stanford, but wait until next year with 7'-3" Luke Minor.

Even Seymour Daffeh (a walkon) got into the act tonight, playing for two minutes, and he didn't have any line score at all (no shots, no steals, no blocks, and no turnovers), but at least he got into the game.

As for San Diego, they couldn't buy a shot.  They had only one player score in double figures, Brady Trenkle (5'-11" Sr. G), who only scored 10 points in 16 minutes. And they were not very pretty points, as he shot 3-5 from the field.  As a team, this was just an abysmal performance.  18 for 61 from the field, .295 for the game; 8 for 22 from three point range, 10-31 from the line.   Outrebounded by the Trojans 49 to 39.  Only 11 assists to 31 turnovers, and only one (that's right, one) blocked shot, and only 9 steals.

And this was not just one player who didn't do well for SDSU. Nope, it was a team effort, joined in by coach Trenkle, who must have thought he was having a bad dream.  Finally,  after watching everyone turning over the ball, three 5-second calls in about four minutes, and a score that was at one point as bad as 22-3 9 minutes into the game, he just couldn't contain himself any longer, and started to thrash about on the sidelines. With 4:42 left to play in the first half and the Trojans up by 19, and the refs couldn't take it either,  and assessed the Aztec's 9th team foul, calling a technical on Trenkle for getting a bit too verbal with them.  

It didn't get much better thereafter as Auyso made both T-shots, and with 2:43 left to play, USC went up by 26 points, 48-22.  They ended the half 54-30, USC up.   And the second half was even more painful, and the shooting was actually worse by SDSU:  8-31 from the field; 3 for 9 from three point land, and 5-16 from the charity stripe.  Individually, it was not a game to write home about:  Myron Epps, one of the brighter spots for the Aztecs, went 2-8 from the field for 4 points in 27 minutes.  And that was a good day.  Vince Okotie went 0-4 from the field, and 0-1 from the arc, he did manage three points all from the line;   Marcelo Corrrea played 10 minutes, and didn't score and never shot; Donte Wilson, who managed to hit two threes, also hit twice from the field and scored 7 points in 23 minutes.  Matt Watts only had 7 points, going 2-11 from the field, one for three from behind the arc, and 2-4 from the line. Watts had 5 turnovers and did manage a distinction: He got the only block of the game for San Diego.

David Abramowitz played injured, with a pulled hamstring, and while the stats said he was only in for 17 minutes, it seemed like an eternity. David told us after the game, "I was really hurting out there. This was just a terrible experience, but we're very young. It was bad and we were out of synch, but it should never have been that bad."  You gotta feel for the guy:  First college game on the road, playing against a Pac-10 team and getting just embarrassed.  David had 3 turnovers, all in the first half, and all in rapid-fire succession on steals by Brandon Granville.

Actually there were a couple of bright spots:  Jeffrey Berokoff played well, but he's got to learn to cool it with the refs when he gets called for a foul, and whether he saw it or not, those faces and grimmaces he made might have drawn a "T" in a more important conference game.

Walter Small (6'-4" Fr. F) from Compton Dominguez was, without a doubt, the most polished and poised player for the Aztecs, and he shot 3-8 from the filed, 1-2 from three point range and 1-3 from the line, with three assists and 2 steals. Walter looked very strong, quick and it was just a shame to see his team struggle so much.

Joe Mann went 2-4 from the field, and generally needs to work on his footwork and getting himself in position. He managed 5 rebounds, but for being the tallest player in the game, at least two inches taller than USC's biggest guy, he didn't really play that well, almost tentative in his moves and a bit awkward at times.

This is a very young and very inexperienced San Diego team.   We're pretty sure that there will be howls and hoots, and screams for the coach's head after this one.  No one thought it could get worse after Saturday's overtime loss. 

Guess what?  It can and it did.

So the good news is that it's only uphill from here for San Diego.  At least for the sake of this talented young freshmen group we hope so.

USC's next game is this Friday night at UNLV at 7:35 p.m.

San Diego will play at Cal State Fullerton Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

See you there.

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