2006-07 USC TROJAN MEN’S BASKETBALL SEASON SUMMARY USC men’s basketball may have entered the season with uncertainty due to the tragic shooting death of freshman point guard Ryan Francis last May and the academic ineligibility of junior point guard Gabe Pruitt, but Tim Floyd’s Trojans left no uncertainty about their mission to return the school to the NCAA tournament for the fi rst time since 2002. The Trojans fi nished with a 23-11 record, advanced to the Pac-10 Conference Tournament fi nal and were rewarded with a No. 5 seed in the East Regional of the 2007 NCAA Tournament, where they swept through Arkansas and No. 4 seed Texas. The season promised to be something special no matter what the outcome with the opening of the spectacular new arena – The Galen Center – USC’s new state-of-the-art on-campus facility. The debut in the arena against South Carolina, an overtime loss, was not the storybook beginning that had been hoped for, but the young Trojan lineup that featured two freshman starters and a rotation of the nine players – including four freshmen -- immediately showed Trojan fans the depth of the 2006-07 squad. Of course, still leading the way was junior Nick Young an All-Pac-10 and District 15 fi rst-team performer for the second consecutive season and deadly outside shooting senior Lodrick Stewart. From day one in the South Carolina game when he scored 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, freshman forward Taj Gibson demonstrated the Trojans’ new presence in the paint. He would go on to become the fi rst USC freshman to score in double fi gures in his fi rst fi ve games since the 1985-86 season and registered eight double-doubles in his fi rst 16 games and set USC freshman records for blocks and rebounds. Daniel Hackett, an early-entry freshman, was forced into the starting The Trojans’ new home -- The Galen Center point guard role and immediately demonstrated that the ball was going to be in good hands. Hackett scored 13 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out three assists and had several key three-point plays down the stretch to keep the Trojans in the South Carolina game. The Trojans won their next fi ve games, all at home, before traveling to Lawrence, Kan., to take on national-power Kansas Jayhawks. Playing before 16,300 fans the Trojans and Jayhawks battled back and forth with seven lead changes in the fi rst half before the Trojans fell four behind at the break. The game remained largely a two-score game throughout the second half as Stewart, facing his brother Rodrick for the fi rst time, hit fi ve of eight three-point shots and scored a game-high 23 points. Forced to foul at the end, Kansas was able to close the game with the big- gest margin of 10 points, 72-62. USC’s next game at the Wooden Classic in Anaheim, Calif., against George Wash- ington turned out to be one of the key games of the season. After a sloppy fi rst half that saw USC go scoreless for nearly 10 minutes, fall behind 29-16 at halftime and 38-18 two and a half minutes into the second half, the Trojans regrouped, showed their grit and improved free throw shooting to outscore the Colonials 56-27 the rest of the way and pullout a 74-65 victory. Stewart scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half and Hackett all 18 of his after the break. The difference in that game was at the foul line where USC shot 33-for-38. The 33 makes were the most by the Trojans since also hitting 33 free throws vs. Arizona State in 2000. Freshman Daniel Hackett The Trojans then took part in the Las Vegas Classic, winning home games against Charleston Southern and Longwood, before losing an extremely physical foul-marred game in Las Vegas to Kansas State, which was playing one of its few games this season with freshman sensation Billy Walker. That game also marked the season debut of Pruitt who needed that game and the win the next night against then No. 8 Wichita State to shake off the rust. USC won an exciting double-overtime Pac-10 opener vs. then-No. 14 Washington as Young scored 23 of his 25 points in the second half and overtime periods and Pruitt made his fi rst start, tossing in 18 points and dishing out six assists. USC looked to be on its way to a sweep of the Washington schools with an 11-point lead in the second half against Washing- ton State, but the Cougars came back and won on a short runner by Kyle Weaver with four seconds left. At that time, no one knew that the next time they would meet, the fi nal game of the regular season, would decide second place in the conference. 2006-2007 • 1 • USC BASKETBALL USC regrouped nicely with a sweep in Oregon, fi rst handing No. 16 Oregon its fi rst loss of the season (13-1) and then defeating Oregon State 91-46 in the biggest rout in the history of the series. Gibson was named National Freshman of the Week by ESPN.com and TheSportingNews.com for his efforts and Tim Floyd was tabbed Coach of the Week by Dick Vitale. The Trojans then came home and lost a heartbreaker to No. 4 UCLA when Arron Affl alo hit a jumper with four seconds left to defeat USC by a point in a game Troy led most of the way. USC again bounced back with home wins vs. No. 11 Arizona and Arizona State, before going on the road and splitting in the Bay Area, falling at Stanford and winning at California. The Stanford game saw USC have an opponent record 19 blocks, includ- ing an individual opponent record 12 by Brook Lopez. USC completed a season sweep of the Oregon schools (fi rst time since 1997), defeating No. 9 Oregon and Oregon State in Los Angeles, before traveling crosstown and falling 70-65 at No. 2 UCLA. It was the second time this season USC had led the Bruins most of the game, but game up empty, this time being outshot 31-5 at the free throw line. The Trojans showed no lingering effects from that loss as they traveled to Tucson, Ariz., to face the No. 19 Wildcats and beat them on their home- court for the fi rst time in 21 years. Perhaps the Trojans were affected by that game because before they returned to Los Angeles, they lost to Arizona State, giving the Sun Devils their fi rst victory in conference play. In the fi nal home games of the season, USC extracted revenge on Stan- ford winning 69-65 and then completed the NorCal sweep with an 84-66 win over California on Senior Night. That game was special as senior Nick Young dunks against Arizona Abdoulaye N’diaye started and got the Trojans off to a quick start with two dunks and two blocks, Stewart became the Tro- jans’ all-time three-point leader in front of the home crowd and walk-on senior captain Chris Penrose drilled a long three at the end of the game to put an exclamation on Troy’s fi rst season in the Galen Center. The regular season ended unlike any other stretch of the season for the Trojans as they lost consecutive games at Washington and Washington State. It was the fi rst time all season USC had lost back-to-back games as they were trying to com- plete the fi rst regular season without consecutive losses since 1974. USC didn’t go down without a fi ght, though, losing a double-overtime thriller at Washington State in the season fi nale on March 3 which gave the Cougars second place in the Pac-10, while USC had to settle for a third-place tie and a No. 3 seeding in the conference tournament. The Trojans had a strong showing in the Pac-10 Conference as the No. 3 seed, defeating No. 6 seed Stanford, 83-79, in overtime behind Nick Young’s 26-point performance, then riding Gabe Pruitt’s hot shooting and 26 points to defeat No. 2 seed and No. 11 ranked Washington State in the semifi nals. The Trojans faced No. 4 seed and No. 16 ranked Oregon for the Pac-10 Championship and fell 81-57, as the Ducks shot an opponent season-high 53.6 percent and drained 14 three-pointers. Trojans Gibson and Pruitt were named to the Pac-10 Conference All-Tournament team. USC enjoyed its fi rst taste of the tournament in fi ve years, as they defeated Ar- kansas 77-60 in the fi rst round and then dispactched No. 11 Texas and freshman phenom Kevin Durant 87-68 to advance to the East Region semifi nals. Along the way, USC set the school record for wins (25), had its most home wins Chris Penrose celebrates on Senior Night since the 1961 season (15) and its most conference wins since 2002 (11). Stewart, Young and then Pruitt crashed the 1,000 points club and USC saw the development of a real homecourt advantage at the shiny new Galen Center. Add to that, the No. 2 rated recruiting class headed by O.J. Mayo coming in the fall and the future looks bright for the USC bas- ketball program, but the Trojans are not quite done with the present yet.