Even with an 0-2 start, it’s no time for USC to panic

It’s two games into the Pacific 10 Conference schedule, not the end of the college basketball world.

But you might think otherwise scanning Internet message boards, where some antsy USC fans are worried about an 0-2 conference start that has dropped the Trojans out of the Associated Press rankings and “off the board” of at least one noted NCAA tournament bracket prognosticator.

The Trojans are too inconsistent, the fans grumble. Star freshman O.J. Mayo takes too many shots, others complain. The thin front court can’t keep up with the likes of Stanford’s 7-foot Lopez twins. The gripes go on and on.

Mike Montgomery doesn’t see what all the fuss is about. The former Stanford coach watched USC’s 52-46 loss to the Cardinal on Saturday at Maples Pavilion while calling the game for Fox Sports Net. He acknowledges that the Trojans’ depth and inexperience are concerns but says he “absolutely” envisions USC as an NCAA tournament team.

“They’ve just got to understand that this was two games they could have won, but most people in the league aren’t going to come up here [to the Bay Area] and get sweeps,” Montgomery said. “They’ve got two home games coming up and they’ve got to take care of business at home.”

Montgomery suggested that USC (9-5 overall), which plays host to No. 4 Washington State (13-0, 1-0) tonight at the Galen Center, could find success by relying on its typically stellar defense in games in which the offense isn’t clicking. He also said Trojans Coach Tim Floyd and his staff must provide leadership for a team that starts two freshmen and three sophomores.

“Tim kept his poise and kept his cool [against Stanford] and understood that,” Montgomery said. “At the end of the game he could have snuck one out had a play or two been made.”

Floyd noted that the Trojans were in better position to beat the Cardinal than last year’s veteran team, which was walloped, 65-50, even with the services of senior Lodrick Stewart and juniors Nick Young and Gabe Pruitt.

The current Trojans feature no upperclassmen in their starting lineup and only two juniors, Keith Wilkinson and RouSean Cromwell, coming off the bench. The inexperience has resulted in some inconsistency, with USC playing poorly on defense while surrendering 92 points to California and then struggling to find a rhythm on offense two nights later in the loss to Stanford.

Wilkinson said the Trojans have reached the point of the season where inexperience can no longer be used as an excuse.

“We’ve gone through this whole year, we’re halfway through it now and into Pac-10 play, so I feel like we can’t really blame our youth anymore because we’ve played together and we’ve had big games like Kansas, Memphis and Oklahoma,” he said. “We’ve just got to get it rolling right now. We’ve got to get that first Pac-10 win and just keep going from there.”

A deeper bench would help. USC has only one impact reserve, in freshman guard Angelo Johnson, and little quality frontcourt depth, though Floyd vowed Tuesday to play Wilkinson and Cromwell more this week against the Washington schools. The Trojans’ reserves have been outscored, 40-8, in Pac-10 play.

Part of the problem has been injuries and the defection of sophomore Kyle Austin, who transferred to UC Riverside. Redshirt freshman Kasey Cunningham was lost for a second consecutive season because of a torn knee ligament and freshmen Marcus Simmons (sprained ankle) and Mamadou Diarra (hernia surgery) are only starting to round into playing form.

USC also might need to find another perimeter threat to help stretch defenses. Mayo has taken half of his team’s three-point attempts in Pac-10 play and is shooting only 25% from beyond the arc in those games. Daniel Hackett is shooting a team-high 48.4% from three-point range this season but has taken roughly one-third as many shots as Mayo.

Also worrisome are chemistry issues that surfaced during a team meeting Sunday in which players talked about being unselfish. USC ranks ninth in the Pac-10 in assists and last in assist-to-turnover ratio.

“There’s not any panic,” Mayo said. “We’ve just got to accept the challenge and challenge ourselves to stay focused on weaknesses throughout the season to get better.”

The last Pac-10 team to start 0-2 in conference play and make the NCAA tournament was Stanford in 2004-05. The Cardinal actually lost its first three conference games that season before rattling off a six-game winning streak and finishing 11-7 in the Pac-10.

Still, Montgomery said the Trojans have 16 games to let their talent “win some games for them as they go through it and get the experience they need.

“The good news is that now if you lose a game in this league, it’s not going to be catastrophic because the reputation of the people you’re playing is so good. It doesn’t hurt you as much. The key thing is just to understand that, stay solid, win the games you should win, win at home and get a road breakthrough.”

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TONIGHT

vs. Washington State, 8, FSN West

Site -- Galen Center.

Radio -- 710.

Records -- Washington State 13-0, 1-0; USC 9-5, 0-2.

Update -- Washington State’s defense is limiting opponents to 49.8 points a game, best in the nation. The Cougars are also shooting 50.1% and averaging only 10.9 turnovers.

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