Ridnour Pressed Into Miscues

USC’s full-court press defense, which the Trojans run with frightening frequency and precision, is usually negated by quick teams with an extraordinarily gifted ball-handler, such as Oregon point guard Luke Ridnour.

But the Trojans unleashed it on the Ducks on Friday night and rode the wave to today’s Pacific 10 Conference tournament title game against Arizona. .

“They just kept coming at us with that press,” said Ridnour, who had nine turnovers. “I know I had some turnovers and you can’t do that against a team like USC. We should have controlled the ball batter when we were up.”

USC forced 21 turnovers and got 12 steals.

USC was 22 of 22 from the free-throw line against Oregon, setting a school and Pac-10 record for most converted free throws without a miss.

The Trojans’ previous school record was 15 of 15 against Oregon State in 1992.

Arizona had held the Pac-10 tournament record by making 17 of 18 at the Forum in 1989.

With his eight rebounds and two blocks against Oregon, USC senior power forward Sam Clancy moved up on two career charts.

Clancy, with 824 rebounds, passed Ronnie Coleman (821) and Allen Young (822) for third place on the Trojans’ all-time rebounding list. John Rudometikin (831) is in second place.

He is already USC’s all-time leader in blocked shots with 191, but Clancy is now tied with Arizona State’s Mario Bennett for third place on the Pac-10 list.

Paul Gutierrez

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The most important assist of the Pac-10 tournament so far belongs to Lee Zeidman, Staples Center’s vice president of building operations.

Throughout Thursday’s first round, Zeidman noticed players from all teams slipping and falling on the midcourt tournament logo.

Late that night, he met with tournament officials who voiced the same concerns.

“Our feeling was, something had to be done before somebody got hurt,” Zeidman said.

The slippery vinyl flooring logo had been purchased by the Pac-10, from somebody other than Zeidman’s usual supplier.

So he made the league an offer it couldn’t refuse.

“I told them I could get the sort of vinyl floor logo we use during the NBA playoffs,” he said. “They agreed.”

By Friday afternoon, a new midcourt logo was in place. By Friday night, the skidding had stopped.

Bill Plaschke