New Mexico Makes It Long Night for USC

ALBUQUERQUE — The real beginning of USC basketball Coach Henry Bibby’s tenure came Tuesday night and it started with a whimper.

In his second full season, he is without the four starters who were largely responsible for the Trojans making it to the NCAA tournament last season, and three of those players were recruited by former coach George Raveling.

Against a University of New Mexico squad that has four returning seniors, including potential All-American Kenny Thomas, the Trojans were overmatched and the Lobos rolled over them, 98-76, at Bob King Court before a vocal 16,195.

This season’s team could prove the litmus test for Bibby, whether he can recruit as well as plan strategy.

For the past week, Bibby had said the game was a chance to refine his team for the Pacific-10 Conference season and not an opportunity to knock off the 11th-ranked Lobos. He said he would use a lot of players.

True to his word, only a few minutes into the game, Bibby replaced his entire starting lineup, which included three seniors, with a lineup that featured four freshmen. According to Bibby, the loss had some benefits.

“We wanted to find out some things about this team,” Bibby said. “We wanted to know where we are and what we need to do before the Pac-10 starts. I thought Jarvis Turner and Shannon Swillis played well, and I thought the freshmen played well.”

The Trojans intended to keep the Lobos and Thomas away from the basket. But the 6-foot-8, 255-pound Thomas scored 17 points and made both of his first-half three-point attempts, and sophomore guard Lamont Long made four of five three-pointers en route to 31 points.

The Lobos were 13 of 26 from behind the three-point line.

“I thought the first three-point shot that Thomas hit really fired up the crowd,” New Mexico Coach Dave Bliss said. “I thought we made good decisions on the three-point shots we took tonight.”

Turner led the Trojans with 18 points and junior forward Adam Spanich scored 10. The Trojans shot 47.5% from the field.

USC looked bewildered on defense throughout the first two quarters.

After Thomas sneaked behind the Trojan defense for an easy dunk with two minutes left in the second quarter, several USC players stared blankly at one another.

And on offense, the Trojans turned the ball over 13 times and missed several easy shots.

Freshman forward Greg Lakey, whom Bibby said will be a star in the Pac-10, made a nice move to free himself going toward the basket in the second quarter but missed his dunk.

Nobody is going to judge the Trojans, who don’t have a player taller than 6-8, on the outcome of one game, but this season could answer questions as to how good a recruiter Bibby is. Few question his coaching credentials, but the Trojans’ future depends in part on how well Bibby can attract top high school players.

Raveling, who was at the game working as a TV commentator, said he was impressed with USC’s performance, including the new players.

“They showed me that Henry has a lot to build on,” Raveling said. “I think they were a little intimidated in front of the 16,000 fans and they don’t have a strong presence inside but they have a lot of quickness and players who can do a lot of different things.”

In the first game of the doubleheader, No. 24 Temple defeated Auburn, 68-42, behind 19 points from Lamont Barnes.

College Basketball Notes

There were two upsets in the first round of the season-opening Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at East Rutherford, N.J. North Carolina State held on when Georgia missed three shots in the final 13 seconds, giving the Wolfpack a 47-45 victory over the 19th-ranked Bulldogs and new Coach Ron Jirsa. Then Princeton, which usually saves its giant-killing for the NCAA tournament, defeated No. 22 Texas, 62-56. North Carolina State was tenacious on defense, holding Georgia to 25% shooting (17 of 68). The Bulldogs at one point missed 16 shots in a row. Brian Earl and James Mastaglio each scored 15 points for Princeton.

Charles Jones, the nation’s leading scorer for Long Island University last season at 30.1 points a game, was suspended by the school for the team’s first two games for violating an NCAA rule. Jones, a 6-3 senior guard, played in two summer leagues and violated the rule that permits players to play in only one sanctioned league during the off-season.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.