One of Coach Henry Bibby's many maxims is that his bench players are the most important members of his basketball team.
The Trojans helped Bibby prove his point in last weekend's home split with Arizona and Arizona State.
"I'm not wrong too much," Bibby said Monday after practice. "The bench makes a difference in a game. I think our bench [players] are as good as any starters that are out there, when they play and they have their heads in the game the way they did on Saturday night."
That was when Trojan reserves Roy Smiley, Robert Hutchinson, Jerry Dupree, Gregg Guenther and Jonathan Oliver played a combined 70 minutes and outscored the Sun Devils' bench, which played 49 minutes, 22-16, in USC's 76-74 victory.
In USC's 81-72 loss to Arizona two days earlier, Smiley, Hutchinson, Dupree and Kostas Charissis combined for eight points in 50 minutes, and the Wildcats' Isaiah Fox, Hassan Adams, Andre Iguodala and Dennis Latimore had 32 points in 61 minutes.
