Saia Keeps Trojans on Winning Path

USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett better hurry up and hire a men’s basketball coach. The longer his search goes on, the harder it might become.

While Rick Majerus has come and gone, and the Tim Floyd negotiations have dragged on, Jim Saia, the man who currently has a tenuous hold on the job, keeps making points for himself.

Like Tuesday night in the Sports Arena, where the Trojans scored a season-high in points in cruising to a 91-58 victory over Southern to improve to 7-4. Saia, who was appointed interim coach when Henry Bibby was fired earlier this month, is 5-2, the best start for a USC coach in a quarter century. Stan Morrison began 5-2 in the 1979-80 season.

“Hopefully, we can make a run and he can stay our coach,� said forward Lodrick Stewart, who had a game-high 20 points, his fourth game of 20 points or more this season. “I wish he could stay our coach.�

Saia has tried to remove himself from such sentiments.

“I’m just going to enjoy the moment,� he said.

Tuesday was certainly a moment to savor, the Trojans winning by their biggest margin in two years, since they beat Morris Brown by 39 points in November 2002.

Returning from the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii and given a three-day break along with only one day of practice prior to Tuesday, the Trojans looked as if they were still on vacation at the start, making only one of their first seven shots from the field.

Fortunately for them, Southern was equally inept, also going one for seven. The Jaguars took a 10-7 lead but that quickly dissolved as USC went on a 12-0 run, and went out to outscore Southern, 22-4, to in effect put the game away before halftime.

Along with Stewart, five other Trojans also scored in double figures.

Before they get too excited, however, it would be best to remind the Trojans that their opponent is 3-6, is winless on the road in five games and has lost four consecutive games.

And if all that weren’t bad enough, they were without three players Tuesday night.

With a 10-day span between games and a holiday break, many Southern players chose to travel off campus. Three failed to make it back in time for the team flight to California, presumably because of bad weather.

Center Jerrid Campbell, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound junior who had started four games for the Jaguars and appeared in all eight they’ve played, was stranded in Ohio. He had been penciled in as a starter Tuesday.

Also absent were two reserves, guards Brandon Wardlow and Nathaniel Nicholas, who had appeared in a total of six games between them.

Wardlow was stranded in Kentucky. Nicholas, who had been in New York, made it back to Baton Rouge, La., after his teammates had departed.

“It affected the game a whole lot,� Coach Michael Grant said.

Saia’s biggest concern is trying to keep the Trojans from being affected by the ongoing search for his successor.

“I have to train myself not to think about it,� he said. “I don’t really want to know what’s going on. You keep hearing rumors, but if I listen, I’m at fault because that’s what I tell my team not to do.

“I don’t worry about the future. A year ago, I was out of a job and now I’m the head coach at USC. If you guys [the media] can figure that one out, let me know.�