Floyd might use small lineup more

There was a small detail about USC’s basketball team during its final nonconference game Sunday.

Its lineup.

The Trojans went away from conventional wisdom during a 66-56 victory over Oral Roberts, using four perimeter players surrounding 6-foot-9 center Taj Gibson. It was an effective combination at the start of the second half, as the group turned a nine-point USC lead into an 18-point advantage.

With Marcus Johnson, a 6-6 transfer from Connecticut available for the first time, Trojans Coach Tim Floyd used him with guards Daniel Hackett (6-5) and Dwight Lewis (6-5) and small forward DeMar DeRozan (6-7). It’s a combination that will be used more in Pacific 10 Conference play, as power forward Leonard Washington is out at least two weeks with a high ankle sprain.

The Trojans will still look to 6-10 senior Keith Wilkinson to assume a large chunk of Washington’s minutes, “but we can’t play Keith and Taj for 40 minutes,” Floyd said.

Nikola Vucevic, a 6-10 freshman, is still assimilating to college basketball, so Floyd will “improvise here for a while. Nikola can give us some minutes, and we’re increasing his minutes. But we want to have the flexibility to play small, which we have done here for three years when we needed to. Marcus, I think, is going to give us the ability to do that.”

Johnson, who became academically eligible Friday, had six points and three steals in 19 minutes against Oral Roberts.

“I had some jitters before going in,” said Johnson, who had not played in a year. “It didn’t take me long to get into the flow of play.”

Johnson showed that, racing back to block a shot on a fastbreak in the first half. He also had a steal and fed Lewis for a layup that gave USC a 50-32 lead.

The smaller lineup can have trouble on the inside. But the Trojans’ big backcourt “negates that some,” Floyd said, adding, “if we had 6-2 and 5-10 guards it would make it hard to play that way. But Taj is a terrific rebounder and all four of our guards are capable of rebounding.”

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Simmons sidelined

Guard Marcus Simmons did not finish practice Tuesday because of continuing pain in his sprained left ankle. He is not expected to play on the two-game trip to Oregon this week.

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