Morrison: Blame It on Players

It is not uncommon for coaches to blame officials when their teams lose important games. It’s the old “We wuz robbed” bleat.

Some critical calls went against USC in the closing minutes of a 60-55 loss to Arizona Saturday at the Sports Arena, a defeat that tightened the Pacific 10 basketball race.

Moreover, Arizona went to the free-throw line 32 times, USC only 12 times. The Wildcats were shooting bonus free throws with almost 13 minutes left in the game. The Trojans didn’t shoot a bonus free throw in the second half.

Even so, USC Coach Stan Morrison said Monday that Arizona definitely deserved to win, and that officiating had not cost his team the game.

What losing cost USC was an opportunity to take firm command of the Pac-10 race with five games remaining. By winning, the Trojans would have had a 2 1/2-game lead. As it is, USC, 16-6 overall and 10-3 in the Pac-10, is tied with Arizona (10-3) for first place.

“It doesn’t matter what films reveal in respect to officiating,” Morrison said. “That wasn’t a problem. We were our own problem. We had guys get distracted by the officials, the opponent and all kinds of things.”

Morrison scheduled a noon practice Monday and said he planned to keep his players on the floor as long as necessary to get his message across.

“I didn’t like our effort defensively and our listless play in the first half was totally inexcusable,” Morrison said. “Arizona, though, played dynamic, persistent defense almost to the point of being impenetrable.

“On offense, Arizona demonstrated the maturity you’d expect with four seniors in the starting lineup. We didn’t defend with the tenacity and anticipation that characterized the way we played Thursday night (in a 76-60 win over Arizona State).”

Arizona shut USC down with a tight, 2-3 matchup zone defense and was able to work inside USC’s defense for layups while shooting 66.7% from the floor.

So, no one is in the driver’s seat going into the concluding weeks of the regular season.

USC will play Stanford (10-13, 2-11) and California (12-10, 4-8) Thursday and Saturday nights in the Bay Area. Since the Cardinal and the Bears are low in the standings, it would appear that the Trojans will retain their lead.

Not necessarily.

Stanford upset USC last month at the Sports Arena, 60-54, and the Trojans struggled while beating Cal in an earlier game, 86-80.

Trojan Notes Stan Morrison said he still isn’t sure whether 6-10 center Clayton Olivier will be available for the games in the Bay Area. Olivier has a ruptured blood vessel in his right foot and didn’t play against the Arizona schools. Morrison said Olivier could have helped USC against Arizona. “Clayton is a very big target and a good reacher,” he said. “He takes up a lot of room and the game has a different perspective when he’s in there.” . . . USC is only 4-3 at home but is unbeaten on the road in six conference games. . . . Guard Larry Friend’s next assist will tie the USC single-season record of 140 held by Gus Williams. . . . USC hasn’t won 20 games in a season since Bob Boyd’s team went 20-9 in 1979.