Trojans Pull Off Escape

SANTA BARBARA —  Has perfection ever looked this unsettled?

USC will awaken this morning still ranked 12th and still unbeaten this season after a 75-73 squeaker over UC Santa Barbara before 4,216 at the Thunderdome.

It was the Trojans’ sixth consecutive win to open this season and their eighth in a row counting back to last season. It was their 10th win in 10 tries against Santa Barbara, which fell to 2-5.

Then again, the Trojans may have had trouble sleeping with their heads full of questions.

Such as:

* Where is USC’s killer instinct? The Trojans raced to an 18-4 lead to start the game, and had a 72-60 lead with 2:48 left to play. Each time they let the Gauchos get back into the game. The Gauchos would tie the game on two Mike Vukovich free throws with 18 seconds left.

The Trojans didn’t win the game until David Bluthenthal, who led USC with 25 points and 12 rebounds, grabbed a missed three-pointer by Tyler Murphy and put it in with five seconds to play. Then USC had to survive a missed 10-foot shot by Santa Barbara guard Jacoby Atako, and a missed follow-up dunk by Mike Vukovich--who led Santa Barbara with 18 points--as time ran out.

“Somebody had to do it,” said Bluthenthal, who had his third consecutive double-double and fourth in six games. “I’m supposed to get offensive rebounds. It was a shot from the corner and I knew it might be a long miss. Fortunately Branduinn Fulllove jumped too soon and I was able to jump after him.”

* Why can’t USC find some patience to work the ball inside when the outside shots aren’t falling? The Trojans made five of their first nine three-point attempts and then sank only four of their next 18. That, along with a season-high 26 turnovers (previous high: 15) helped Santa Barbara, which trailed 32-26 at halftime but went on a 14-3 run early in the second half for its biggest lead, 40-35, nearly steal the win.

“I don’t know how we’re gonna play half the time,” said USC Coach Henry Bibby, who was relieved to get the win yet clearly irked that the Trojans could not dominate a young team that occasionally had four freshmen and a sophomore on the floor.

“We’ve been a schizophrenic basketball team. We’re good, we’re bad, we’re good, we’re bad--I don’t know what we are. We had the game in control in the beginning, we had it in control with four minutes to go and let it get away.”

* When is USC going to see some officiating it recognizes? From the Trojan perspective, the new rules this season have mostly provided confusion over what is and isn’t a foul.

“We don’t know how the game is going to be called from night to night,” Bibby said. “It’s a big adjustment the kids are trying to make. I think it’s a big discrepancy on what you’re supposed to look for in a basketball game these days.”

And yet through it all, USC is still off to a 6-0 start, and could move into the top 10 next week.

Bibby sounded is if he almost hopes the Trojans don’t.

“We’re not playing like a top-10 team right now,” he said. “In spurts we do some good things and in other spurts we’re way down the line. But, again we have some new people playing for us and we’re not hitting on all cylinders. And, again, the officiating is different and I’m trying to coach differently.”

The looks on the Trojans’ faces and the words spoken as they came out of the locker room suggested the players aren’t ready for another move up the rankings.

“I don’t want to say we’re playing passive, but we got settled into that early lead and thinking it should not be a tough game,” Bluthenthal said. “And we still go through some mental lapses. You’ve got to play hard 40 minutes and we play hard maybe 32. The other eight minutes, I don’t know where we’re at.”

Brandon Granville, who made a career-high five three-point baskets and finished with 18 points, six assists and seven turnovers, was also blunt.

“We should be happy to get the win. But we definitely have a lot of work to do,” he said. “We all know we have to play a lot better to reach the goals we have this season. We have a chance for a special year and we can’t keep playing like this.”