"They run a lot," Chairez said. "Games always start with half-court press [on defense]. If the game is close at the end, then it goes to full-court press."
The trip was organized by former Cal State Fullerton assistant Rob Orellana, a sporting event planner who approached USC assistant Gib Arnold, a longtime friend.
"They said they were interested because they had a young group coming in," Orellana said of the Trojans, whose roster includes 12 freshmen and sophomores.
Said sophomore guard Dwight Lewis: "It's really a chance for us to grow and become more of a team. With all these new players coming in, we have a great recruiting class, but we don't know how to jell yet with each other because they haven't practiced with us yet."
Orellana also organized trips this summer for Auburn, Baylor and Arkansas to play in Cancun. He said Auburn created a buzz in Mexico because fans were familiar with its football team.
Asked whether he expected Mayo to create similar enthusiasm, Orellana said he wasn't sure the Mexican players and fans knew much about him.
"We've tried to transmit it in our e-mails to them," he said. "I think they would be excited about something like that."
Times staff writer Jaime Cardenas contributed to this report.
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ben.bolch@latimes.com
