Bibby Displaying a Bunker Mentality

To try to keep the Trojans’ season from becoming tarnished, Coach Henry Bibby has decided that silence is golden.

On Tuesday, he announced he was cutting off all media access to the players “to get them to focus” on the remaining six games of the Pacific 10 Conference season.

USC, 17-7 overall and fifth in the conference at 7-5, is coming off a 44-point home loss to Arizona and has lost three of its last five games.

And while Bibby denied that player responses after the Arizona game had anything to do with it, he could not have been happy with Brian Scalabrine reportedly saying some Trojans “might be afraid of being successful.”

“We don’t need to talk our problems out to [the media],” Bibby said. “We need to go play basketball. Our attention needs to be put on the game, and not our surroundings.”

Bibby, who made the decision “while driving to work” Tuesday, added the ban could include player postgame interviews. He said he didn’t know how long the ban would be in effect.

According to NCAA rules, the only time postgame player interviews are mandatory is during the NCAA tournament.

“The players need to stop trying to analyze the questions you guys give them about ‘chemistry’ and things,” Bibby said. “Their job isn’t to analyze. I do that.

“We’re talking too much. We need to put our thinking into the basketball on the floor.”

This is not the first time Bibby has cut off the media from his players. In the past, such bans have lasted about a week.

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Oregon State guard Deaundra Tanner, who was suspended for two games by Coach Ritchie McKay for undisclosed transgressions, is expected to play against USC. The former Inglewood High standout is averaging 11.6 points and 3.4 assists.