Dec. 2, 1997

USC Loses to UNLV

LOS ANGELES - Depleted by key injuries, USC (4-2) lost 82-72 to UNLV and snapped a 4-game winning streak before 2,949 at the L.A Sports Arena.

USC Coach Henry Bibby lost 6-8 Jarvis Turner (he played only 8 minutes) for a month with a broken left hand and 6-7 Gary Williams (12 points in just 18 minutes) was ineffective after being popped in the mouth.

Senior guard Gary Johnson scored a career-high 18 and carried the load for a second-half line-up that featured four guards and bullish 6-6 forward Shannon Swillis, who hauled down a game-high 15 rebounds and blocked 3 shots.

Swillis hit a jumper with 6:46 to play and the Trojans held a brief lead, 66-65.

Trojan freshman Jeff Trepagnier turned in a show-stopping first half. In the span of three crowd-pleasing minutes, the 6-4 Trepagnier threw down a monster slam, rejected two shots, and nailed a three-pointer.

The freshman from Compton finished with a career-high 11 points before fouling out. Jeff also held Vegas (3-1) top gun Tyrone Nesby to 14 points, his first sub- 20-point outing this season.

Guard Greedy Daniels led UNLV with 17 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals.

Turner, second leading scorer for SC, broke his hand early in the first half on a freak play. Battling for an offensive rebound, he hit a UNLV player on the shoulder. Turner watched the second half from the bench with cast on his hand.

Keep in mind 6-8 senior Anthony White has not played this season because of a broken right foot.

Next, the Men of Troy play at Ohio State December 20.

Quotes:
USC Coach Henry Bibby:
We've got to regroup. You lose a guy like Jarvis Turner, that hurts. Anthony White is out. That hurts. It's an opportunity for others. Greg Lakey and Shannon Swillis must play. Gary Williams goes back to power forward.

(Jeff Trepagnier) is not nervous or scared. We saw it at San Diego State. He was blocking shots. He's an aggressive player.

Daniels was the difference. He caused a lot of problems penetrating. He really hurt us.

USC Center/Forward Jarvis Turner:
I broke it on somebody's shoulder. I was going for a rebound and hit my open hand on a shoulder. It just snapped. I could hear it.

UNLV Coach Billy Bayno:
I thought USC played well. They're a quick, scrappy team. USC is an unbelievable offensive rebounding team and they will cause problems because they're quick.

They will win some games because they have offensive weapons, they can shoot and they're tough.

Notes:

Credit Coach Henry Bibby with an excellent recruiting job. The INCOMING CLASS of early committments is rated SECOND BEST IN THE COUTNRY by Basketball Times.

Trojan Ken Sims notched a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.