Yardbarker: Dwight Lewis

Spartans Take Troy, 74-69

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:27:23 -0500

Taj Gibson sat on the bench with an empty stare with 5:28 left on the clock. The Pac-10 defensive player of the year had just fouled out, after staying out the majority of the second half due to foul trouble. Gibson managed 5 blocked shots but only 3 points, 0 offensive rebounds and 0 defensive rebounds. Michigan State had Gibson's number. Still the USC Trojans had the lead with 3:53 left in the game, with freshman Nikola Vucevic pulling his best to fill Gibson's void. In the end ...

March Madness: USC-Michigan State Lines Preview

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:52:16 -0500

The USC Trojans and the Michigan State Spartans will both be trying to pick up a win on Sunday when they battle at Hubert Humphrey Metrodome in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Odds aren't yet posted for this game, so check back later for the opening line and total. USC dominated the second half and ran away with a 72-55 victory over Boston College on Friday night. USC covered the 2.5-point spread, and the 127 points went UNDER the posted total of 137.5. Taj Gibson shot 10-for-10 ...

USC, Pac-10 bust Obama's bracket, and his chops

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:27:08 -0500

Trojans poke fun at the president after a 72-55 win over Boston College that helps conference go 5-1 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The chief executive pegged the Pac-10 at 1-5. USC guard Dwight Lewis looked up from his locker-room chair at a stadium named after a former vice president and took a shot at the current executive branch. Source: Los Angeles Times Submitted By: BobTheBruin Direct Link

Talking About BC/USC With Conquest Chronicles

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:16:49 -0500

In order to get a more in-depth view of BC's first round opponent we recently exchanged questions with USC blog Conquest Chronicles. They were kind enough to answer my questions below:

1) What had been the key to USC's defensive success this season?

In the past two seasons USC has finished ranked in 25 in Ken Pomeroy's defensive efficiency stat, and the Trojans are currently ranked 20th. A small part of it is obviously the players as the team has great size and athleticism. In particular, Daniel Hackett is an incredibly aggressive on the ball defender, and his large size (6'5"-6'6") is often disruptive for smaller guards. Taj Gibson is also one of the nation's premiere shot blockers, and his excellent timing and length lead to a lot of altered shots. But most of the credit has to go to Tim Floyd. He gets the players to play hard on both sides of the ball, and although SC plays man most of the time, he has shown that he is willing to take risks on the defensive end, just look at last years near infamous use of the triangle and two to hold Memphis to their lowest regulation scoring output of the season or last weeks spontaneous use of the full court press to turn the tide against Arizona State in the Pac 10 championship game.

2) What has been the difference between the team's poor February and red hot March?

Would it be an anticlimax if I said a lot of it was due to random chance? SC came out on the wrong end of a few close games, and other times they just had second half breakdowns against teams they had an excellent chance to beat. A small factor though was the fact that the team is mostly healthy now and that many of the players, Demar Derozan in particular, are playing at the top of their games. It is especially nice to see Dwight Lewis once again willing to take, and even occassionally making, a couple of crucial shots. I swear, he was playing some psychological mind torture games in his head the whole second half of conference play.

3) Demar Derozan has really played up to his potential of late, how can BC stop him?

The best way to stop Demar Derozan is to make it difficult to move around the court. Although he showed bits of his ballhandling ability against Cal, he mostly plays off the ball and looks for cutting lanes, put back opportunities, and long open jumpers. Defenders tend to relax a little bit in the areas near the perimeters as many consider this a bit of a no man's land, but this is where Derozan makes his money. The down side is that if BC is using a player to harass him around the entire court then they need to assign a help defender on the interior in case Derozan makes it by the first man. All in all though, the above is the best way to stop him, keep up the pressure and the ball might not even get into his hands.

4) Prediction for the game?

Like in the other Q&A I have to go with a close SC win. The advanced metrics favor SC, and the teams matchup well (at least size wise) overall. Its going to be a tough game, and the Trojans will need to show up and play the all 40 minutes if they want to win, but everyone plays at full throttle come tournament time. USC by a couple of baskets.

I'm looking forward to a hard nosed game between two physical teams. See you on the court.

Lots of Brackets, Not Enough Time To Analyze the Matchups? Let BracketBrains Help You Win Your Bracket Contest!

Guest Blogger: Conquest Chronicles

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:32:36 -0500

I imagine most casual fans can rattle off a few nuggets or quick scouting report of USC football. But what do any of us not on the West Coast know about USC basketball? To find out more about our upcoming opponent, I asked Laughing Stock from USC blog Conquest Chronicles a few questions about the Trojans. His answer are below.1. Why did the Trojans struggle so much on the road? How much do you think the trip to Minneapolis will impact the team?CC: For a little background, the Trojans didn'...

Game Notes: #10 USC @ #7 Boston College

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:05:39 -0500

#10 USC at #7 Boston College Date 3/20/2009 7:20:00 PMLive StatsLinkTV CBS Team Stats

Southern California 21-12 (9-9 Pac-10)

Pac-10 Conference Champions

Team by Team Comparison:

W-L PF PA HOME ROAD USC 21-12 68.4 63.5 16-2 3-9 BC 22-11 74.9 70.5 14-4 5-5

Head Coach: Tim Floyd

Scouting Report

C Taj Gibson, 6-9, Jr., 14.4 ppg, 9.3 rpg
PF Leonard Washington, 6-7, Fr., 6.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg
SF DeMar DeRozan, 6-7, Fr., 12.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg
SG Dwight Lewis, 6-5, Jr., 14.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg
PG Daniel Hackett, 6-5, Jr., 12.3 ppg, 4.8 apg

Notes

The 3-9 road record is a plus for BC. Remember the Pac-10 tourny was played in LA so that was essentially home court advantage for them. It will be interesting to see how they respond in the road.
As you can see, the team has height at nearly every position. One guy to watch out for is Gibson. He isn't as tall as Southern, but he is quicker and more athletic. He has 15 double-doubles this season, but he can also get into foul trouble (fouled out of 5 games as well)
USC will rotate only 2 or 3 guys off the bench and they are not very deep. Hackett averages nearly 38 minutes a game.
DeRozan is a sensational freshman talent. He is a projected lottery pick (ala OJ Mayo last year). He has been pretty solid all year, but has really stepped up his play over the 5-game winning streak averaging 19.6 games during this stretch capped off by earning Pac-10 MVP honors. He is very athletic, but he is incapable of beating you from the perimeter (shooting just .188 from threes)
USC has been known to employ a variety of defensive sets, including the triangle and 2 to disrupt perimeter players. However, USC stuck with man-to-man to shut down Arizona state down the stretch. Their defense has been consistently stout all season.
USC is a good shot blocking team, particularly Gibson who averages 2.8 blocks per game.
Offensively, USC struggles at times (they won a game 46-44 earlier this season). They are not a very good three-point shooting team, but they are athletic and their guards are not afraid to post up and play inside. They have a very balanced scoring attack.

Boston CollegeNameGPMinsPtsAstsRbdsStlsBlksTOsFG%3P%FT%Off Eff Tyrese Rice 32 33.3 17.1 5.4 3.9 1.5 0.2 3.8 41.5 35.3 85.6 104.5 Joe Trapani 33 29.1 13.5 1.4 6.6 0.6 1.0 2.0 43.8 36.2 78.4 90.6 Rakim Sanders 33 27.7 13.0 1.6 4.5 1.6 0.8 1.9 46.1 33.8 68.0 90.6 Corey Raji 33 27.3 9.8 1.5 6.1 0.7 0.2 0.9 50.0 8.3 66.3 108.1 Reggie Jackson 33 20.2 7.1 1.6 3.2 0.8 0.4 1.2 44.1 27.3 68.5 106.5 Josh Southern 33 22.7 6.1 0.9 5.1 0.4 0.8 1.3 50.3 0.0 64.2 97.3 Biko Paris 33 12.4 3.5 1.7 0.9 0.2 0.0 0.9 38.5 38.9 72.1 125.7 Tyler Roche 27 14.0 3.6 0.5 1.5 0.3 0.3 0.6 41.2 34.5 60.0 93.0 Cortney Dunn 28 12.6 0.9 0.1 1.9 0.1 0.5 0.3 45.0 0.0 57.1 85.4 Evan Ravenel 14 10.3 2.0 0.4 1.4 0.1 0.6 0.7 32.1 0.0 58.8 76.3 Dallas Elmore 12 9.2 2.7 0.5 1.2 0.2 0.2 0.6 48.1 22.2 50.0 95.3 Nick Mosakowski 3 1.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0Lots of Brackets, Not Enough Time To Analyze the Matchups? Let BracketBrains Help You Win Your Bracket Contest!

PICTURE OF THE DAY 4

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 09:17:06 -0500

WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING. Freshman DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points, Hackett added 19 and Dwight Lewis 13 for the sixth-seeded Trojans (21-12), who overcame a 15-point halftime deficit and became the lowest seed to win the Pac 10 tourney.Here, Forward Taj Gibson (#22) of the USC Trojans and Jeff Pendergraph (#4) of the Arizona State Sun Devils look to rebound the ball in the Pacific Life Pac-10 Men's

STF Conference Report -- The Pac-10

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:16:22 -0500

[photo: Jack Dempsey - AP] Talk about parity -- we've got two weekends of play left, and 60% of the league has a mathematical chance at the regular-season championship. Washington leads -- barely -- after getting help from their Northwest brethren Wazzu (beat UCLA) and Oregon State (beat Cal). No ...

Game Balls: WASH ST. vs USC

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:59:48 -0500

(Mike Richardson / RichPix.com)It wasn?t pretty but USC (16-9, 7-6 Pac-10) took care of business last night beating Washington State 61-51. USC is 14-1 at the Galen Center this season. TrojanWire game balls go to Taj Gibson and Dwight Lewis. Double teamed all night by the ugliest team in ...

Video: Post-Game Interviews, Report Following USC-Stanford Game

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:40:31 -0500

Click below to watch Chris Penrose and LQ Singian's Post-Game Report and Interviews with Dwight Lewis and Taj Gibson following the Trojan victory over the Cardinal Thursday night:

Week 5 Pac-10 Hoops Preview (Beta) feat. Bonertown!

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:42:36 -0500

Constable Echelon I react to every game on the docket this week in the Pac-10. If I like the game, it’s in bold. Also as an extra treat I’ve managed to get my hands on a rough mix of the new Robin Thicke joint “Bonertown!” that was hinted at in last week’s post. The mind [...]

Game 18: UW (13-4) vs. USC (12-5)

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:58:37 -0500

The Opponent: USC (12-5) Pomeroy Rating: (35) (What is this?)
Game time: 8:00 p.m.
TV: FSN
Radio: 950 KJR

I had USC in my power rankings earlier this week, I have them listed currently as a bubble team to get into the tournament. Freshman phenom DeMar DeRozan and senior leader, Taj Gibson are leading this team right now.

The Trojans come into this game coming off a home sweep of the Arizona schools, beating ASU 61-49 and beating Arizona 65-64. A quick glance at their schedule only shows one bad loss against Oregon St. Other than that, they've dropped games against the likes of Oklahoma, UCLA, and Missouri.

Dwight Lewis is currently leading the Trojans in points per game, averaging 15.8 per game. USC has good balanced scoring with four players averaging over 10 points per game. However, he is doubtful, still nursing an ankle energy. Isaiah Thomas will have his hands full against veteran point guard, Daniel Hackett who is averaging 5.6 assists per game and close to two steals a game as well.

I want to see the Huskies work the ball into the post and attack USC that way. Getting Amaning moving early will be key for the Huskies as Taj Gibson will have to guard either Amaning or Brockman. Dentmon and Thomas again will have to be solid from the perimeter for the Huskies to pull out a win tonight.

Keys for the Huskies:

Three-point shooting
Isaiah winning the matchup against Daniel Hackett
Attacking the paint

Bottom Line: The Huskies should win this one with relative ease. I'm thinking Huskies by 10.

Husky Projected Starters: (Pomeroy Rating: 19)))
PG-Isaiah Thomas (15.8ppg, 3.2apg)
SG-Justin Dentmon (13.8ppg, 2.5apg)
F-Quincy Pondexter (10.0ppg, 6.0rpg)
F-Darnell Gant (3.5ppg, 3.8rpg)
F-Jon Brockman (15.8ppg, 10.7rpg)

Go Dawgs!

PS: You should try to go to this game, you can get tickets for $15

Oh yea, and Lil' Romeo plays for USC. No joke.

MONDAY HOOPS

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:38:15 -0500

MARYLAND 67, American (Eagles, 5,824 students, Washington, DC) 51 ? Landon Milbourne and Dave Neal each scored 14 points, and the Terps avenged last year?s embarrassing loss to American University. Greivis Vasquez scored 13 for the Terrapins (8-2), who have won four straight since successive ...

Puerto Rico Rip Off

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:05:17 -0500

The #19 USC mens' basketball team suffered their first loss at the hands of Seton Hall, 63-61, in the Puerto Rico Tip Off. Despite the Trojans leading 48-23 at the half, the Seton Hall Pirates managed to outplay USC in the second, retaking the lead with 7:43, and then again with 1:42 left on the ...

Trojans Make Anteater Stew

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:34:50 -0500

Dwight Lewis (18 pts, 7 rebounds) and Taj Gibson (17 pts, 6 rebounds) didn't miss a step in Saturday's game against the Irvine Anteaters, winning their first home opener since Tim Floyd took the reigns as head coach four years ago. Hackett was solid with 10 pts, 5 assists and 3 steals, and ...