Trojans use the power of the press

There are no longer seeds of doubt regarding USC and the NCAA tournament, only doubts of seed.

And USC appears to be assembling a case for a good one after a 77-64 victory over seventh-ranked Stanford at the Galen Center put the Trojans in a strikingly similar position to where they were at this time a year ago, when they went on to grab a No. 5 seeding in the East Region.

USC secured a share of third place in the Pacific 10 Conference for the second consecutive season after disrupting Stanford with a full-court press and grabbing 16 more rebounds than a Cardinal team that was ranked third nationally in rebounding margin.

"Nobody has hounded us on the glass like they did today," said Stanford Coach Trent Johnson, whose team has lost consecutive games for the first time this season. "They were better than us this morning."

The Trojans, 20-10 overall and 11-7 in the Pac-10, will play Arizona State in a Pac-10 tournament quarterfinal Thursday at noon as the fourth-seeded team because they lost a tiebreaker with Washington State, which swept USC in two meetings.

The Trojans have won 11 of 15 games since starting conference play 0-3 and on Saturday dealt Stanford (24-6, 13-5) its most decisive loss of the season.

USC fans were able to savor the final minutes without worry after the Trojans built a double-digit lead midway through the second half, chanting "One more year!" as freshman guard O.J. Mayo stepped to the free-throw line with 1 minute 44 seconds remaining.

Mayo had 25 points and eight rebounds in what could be his final college home game, saying afterward that he was preparing to sign up for summer school classes while remaining noncommittal about his future.

"I think it's kind of selfish to worry about what I'm going to do next year," he said.

USC sophomore forward Taj Gibson logged his fifth double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds, helping the Trojans outrebound a Cardinal team that had grabbed 17 more rebounds than USC when the teams met in January.

The Trojans opened the game with a full-court press, a surprise tactic for a thin team but one that Coach Tim Floyd said he wanted to tinker with before the postseason now that USC probably had assured itself of an NCAA tournament invitation.