WSU Basketball: Trojans look to defend... homecourt

Los Angeles, CA – Washington State (13-5, 3-3) men’s basketball will travel south to Los Angeles this week for a pair of Pac-10 road games. First up for the Cougs will be the USC Trojans (11-6, 3-2) 7:30pm PST, Thursday evening at Galen Center.

First-year Coach Kevin O’Neill is no stranger to the Pac-10. The style of play he prefers has become the standard of the conference.

Coach O’Neill is a defense-first guy.

Though the Trojans have won 9 of their last 11 games, just one of those final scoreboards showed USC putting more than 70 points up on the board.

The men of Troy are playing smothering defense this season which is translating into wins.

A look at what USC has done in conference play is impressive. They have held Arizona, ASU, Stanford, UCLA and high-powered Cal to just 50, 37, 54, 67 and 46 points respectively. Their two losses came at the hands of Stanford and Cal on the road and could have easily been logged in the win column with just a break or two.

Coach O’Neill is doing a brilliant job leading USC, especially taking into consideration the school voluntarily imposed sanctions on themselves which include no postseason play.

As much as the sanctions may have hurt his ability to motivate the team, O’Neill has benefitted from the play of senior transfer Mike Gerrity at point guard who wasn’t eligible at the beginning of the season. Gerrity has been a steadying force in the backcourt who plays with confidence and under control.

The only hint of pressure on the Trojans Thursday night will be defending their home court. Simply a matter of pride, something USC has in abundance.

USC will start a lineup similar to WSU in that neither team plays a conventional center. Comparing front lines, the Trojans may have an edge with size and experience. Coach O’Neill will start 6’10” sophomore Nikola Vucevic, 6’9” junior Alex Stephenson and 6’6” senior Marcus Johnson at forwards with Gerrity and senior Dwight Lewis at guard. Other than Stephenson, the starters will be on the court most of the game unless they get into foul trouble.

WSU Coach Ken Bone suggested there might be a change in his starting lineup, but even if that’s the case he probably won’t change player's time on the court.

There are a couple of keys to Washington State earning a victory over USC.

First, it will be important for the Cougs to handle the ball well. The Trojans will pressure the ball constantly trying to create turnovers. Since USC will try to keep the pace of the game slow and deliberate, every possession will be valuable. Sound familiar? It should. WSU played that style under both Coach Dick and Tony Bennett with success.

The other key for WSU will be the play of Klay Thompson and Reggie Moore. Both are very capable scorers driving to the basket to create opportunities for either themselves or a teammate. They can put pressure on the Trojans by either getting layups or picking up fouls on USC defenders. The most effective group for Coach O’Neill is his starting five. If the Cougs can cause Trojan starters to watch from the bench they will be in a great position to pick up a conference win on the road.

The game Thursday night will not be televised. As usual, you can listen in beginning at 7pm on the Cougar Basketball Radio Network with Bud Nameck calling the game. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30pm PST.

Follow USC basketball as covered by Neal Leitereg on Examiner.com

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