USC Doesn’t Forget, 75-51 : Trojans: Raveling gets his team fired up to play defense against Washington and keep tournament hopes alive.

A master motivator, USC Coach George Raveling went all out in preparation for Thursday night’s rematch against Washington.

Taped to the locker room door were two newspaper accounts of last week’s embarrassing 17-point loss to the Huskies, the last-place team in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Raveling wrote: “It’s Payback Time,” across the top of one story and the other was captioned: “Will (Washington) be smiling this time? No one leaves this place smiling.”

The Trojans exacted their revenge, building a 23-point lead in the first half and coasting to a 75-51 victory over the Huskies before 5,037 fans at the Sports Arena.

Fighting for its first NCAA tournament bid since 1985, USC, 18-9 overall and 9-8 in the conference, concludes its regular season against Washington State Saturday afternoon.

“We’re 40 minutes away from a trip to the NCAA playoffs,” Raveling said. “Forty minutes of basketball will determine how this team is going to be remembered.”

The victory left the Trojans tied for third place with Arizona State (18-9, 9-8), which defeated Oregon, 87-84, in overtime Thursday.

Harold Miner scored 20 points to lead the Trojans, Robert Pack added 18 points and grabbed six rebounds and forward Ronnie Coleman had 17 points and four rebounds.

Miner made eight of 16 shots and sank four of seven free throws as the Trojans won their second consecutive game since last Thursday’s 82-65 loss at Washington.

“They were just embarrassed at the way they played (last week against Washington),” Raveling said. “It was even more pronounced when they watched the film.”

Raveling had placed a sign urging the Trojans to “Play defense like a bunch of mad dogs,” and that’s just what they did in the first half.

Playing a tenacious man-to-man defense, the Trojans stymied Washington’s offense in the first half, limiting the Huskies to a season-low 12 points in the first 20 minutes. It was the fewest points allowed by a Trojan team in the past four seasons.

Washington didn’t score a basket in the final 7 minutes and 33 seconds of the half, missing nine shots. The Huskies also missed the front end of two one-and-one free-throw situations and had three turnovers.

“Even when our shots weren’t falling we kept our defense up because we didn’t want to get embarrassed like we did last week,” Coleman said. “I think that was the best defense we’ve played this season.”

Washington, the worst-shooting team in the Pac-10, shot 21.7% in the first half, hitting five of 23 shots. Washington’s top two scorers, Brent Merritt and Dion Brown, were a combined two for 12. Brown missed all six shots he took in the first half and Merritt missed four of six.

“In the first half, I can’t think of a any team that’s played better defensively that I’ve ever coached,” Raveling said.”

Leading 12-10, USC blitzed Washington 23-2 in the final 11:19 of the half to take a 35-12 lead at the break.

Coleman had eight of his 10 first-half points in the spurt and Pack added nine points, including a three-point shot. Miner had four points.

The Trojans built their lead to 35 points in the second half before Raveling cleared the bench.

“USC got their momentum going,” Washington Coach Lynn Nance said. “They’re a good team and deserving of a tournament berth. They’re playing well at the right time of the year.”

USC, which shot a season-low 36.9% against Washington last week, started slowly once again against the Huskies’ zone. USC missed its first seven shots and didn’t score a point in the first 5:05.

But the Huskies (14-13, 5-12) failed to capitalize on USC’s poor shooting and led just 4-0 before the Trojans went on a 10-2 run.

Trojan Notes

Forward Calvin Banks replaced Yamen Sanders in the Trojans’ starting lineup. Banks had eight points and eight rebounds. . . . USC guard Harold Miner needs 18 points to break the school single-season scoring record of 654 points, set by John Block in 1966.