Rebounding, defense spark Trojans to impressive win

	#5 USC #12 Arkansas 77 60   Box Score Recap All Scores
	Gabe Pruitt goes up and under Arkansas center Steven Hill during the Trojans' first-round win. Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
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SPOKANE, Wash. -- USC has not been kind to Arkansas the last few years. The last two years the football team handed the Razorbacks back-to-back humiliations (combined score 120-31). The Trojans' 77-60 win tonight was more of the same, making the Hogs' unlikely trip to the tournament a short one. While Arkansas had a significant height advantage, they didn't take advantage of it. Taking coach Tim Floyd's keys to the game -- defense and rebounding -- to heart, the Trojans held the Razorbacks, 35 percent 3-point shooters, to 15 percent shooting from the arc. Most significantly, they outrebounded them 39-26, a stat that Floyd admitted surprised him.

"This is the best we've played all year, " he says.

It's hard to believe this Trojan team is just two years removed from a miserable 12-17 season that saw Henry Bibby fired. They played inspired ball, and they were so frustrating to the Arkansas contingent that at one point near the end of the game, the UA mascot threw down his "Let's call the Hogs" sign in disgust. The arena was half-empty and so quiet by then that the slap echoed.

PLAYER WHO IMPRESSED ME

USC freshman Taj Gibson. The lanky 6-foot-9 swingman did it all for the Trojans, grabbing eight boards, including four off the offensive glass, blocking shots (3) making steals (2) and getting to the line, where he made all four of his attempts. All together, he scored 18 points -- more than six over his average -- on 70 percent shooting, including a tough shot over the Razorbacks' 7-footer Steven Hill and a dunk he punctuated by swinging on the rim, earning himself a technical. Aside from that unnecessary flourish, Gibson didn't play like a freshman. Then again, he is 21. (It's a long story that includes a repeated year in middle school, two years of home schooling and three different high schools, and he says, "a lot of hard work.") A New Yorker who is a veteran of the city's most competitive playgrounds, Gibson knows all about one-and-done. "We knew we had to step it up tonight," he says. "If we lost this one, it's go home and watch it on TV."

COURTSIDE CONFIDENTIAL

Among the things Floyd has done to give his players a winning attitude is having them watch the football team practice. "We watch them in practice, we watch them in the weight room and see how hard they go," says senior Lodrick Stewart. "It rubbed off on us." ... The Trojans honor late teammate Ryan Francis, their point guard who was shot and killed last May in Baton Rouge, by wearing a black patch on their jerseys with his name and number, 12. Before every game, they huddle up in the locker room and say "Franchise", Francis's nickname. "He is an inspiration to us," says junior Nick Young, who used to room with Francis on the road. "He would be having so much fun if he were here with us."

THE BIG PICTURE

If they can continue to rebound and defend and play as unselfishly as it did tonight, the Trojans have a great chance to knock off a young and not-very-inspired looking Texas team to advance to the Sweet 16. "We're hungry," says Gibson. "That's an attitude we're going to keep as long as we can." Otherwise, as he well knows, it's one more?and-done.