Rodman crashes glass hard in victory over Oregon State
THE SCORE
USC at Cal, Wednesday, 8p.m., Pac-12 Network
LOS ANGELES » They gave DJ Rodman an ovation at the Galen Center when he was subbed out in the fourth quarter on Saturday night, and Rodman beamed from ear to ear, a feature hardly uncharacteristic for a happy-golucky dude with painted nails and a heart on his sleeve.
“For me, sadness is a waste of time,” Rodman said in the fall, after one practice.
The smile this night, though, was special, because this ovation was thoroughly deserved.
For a month — OK, months — USC had struggled with rebounding, often simply outworked on the glass, the deficiencies never more glaring than in losses to UCLA and Oregon that dropped them to the bottom of the Pac-12. Coach Andy Enfield had grown long frustrated with the effort, characterizing his bigs as “poor” defensive rebounders on Thursday night in a clear wake-up call to his roster, searching for some semblance of toughness.
So he issued a challenge to Rodman before Saturday night's 82-54 win over Oregon State: We need doubledigit rebounds from you.
“He said, `I got you, coach,'” Enfield reflected postgame Saturday.
For 22 minutes on Saturday night in a blowout of the Beavers, Rodman played about five inches bigger than his 6-foot-6 frame, beating the backboard into submission in one of the more impressive individual performances of a formerly wilting USC season.
His 12 points weren't particularly loud, a collection of a few layups and free throws; his 14 rebounds were deafening, in the middle of most every offensive and defensive possession for USC, clawing and tipping and palming balls off the glass in a sheer display of the toughness Enfield was searching for.
“Scoring, I don't really care to score,” Rodman said postgame, before catching himself.
“Or — I do, but. You know, like that. So rebounding is like, one of those things where I can make an impact.”
It wasn't as if Rodman, too, was simply collecting loose balls; he had nine defensive rebounds on a night no other Trojan had more than four, scrapping for five offensive rebounds to extend possessions. With a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, he'd quite nearly outrebounded Oregon State by himself. And blown past Enfield's goal, too.
“That was impressive,” Enfield said. “I thought he was extremely active.”
In perhaps his boldest move of the season, Enfield benched struggling Kobe Johnson — one of USC's two captains, alongside Boogie Ellis — and started three guards on Saturday, playing Ellis alongside surging sophomore Oziyah Sellers and rapidly-improving freshman Bronny James. It was the latest in a month of ever-changing lineup combinations, Enfield spinning through USC's rotation like a Rubik's Cube. And then: click.
The three-guard alignment, with James orchestrating beautifully in a sixassist night, worked wonders for USC's movement on the perimeter and defensive activity. USC went on a 10-0 run early in the first quarter off some pretty ball movement and stout defensive rotations, and never looked back, forcing 10 Oregon
State turnovers in the first half and outrebounding them a whopping 44-24 on the night. It snapped a sixgame losing streak for USC -- and might've unlocked a winning formula in Enfield's lineup combinations.
Sellers, who continues to step up as a consistent shot-maker in Collier's absence, scored 12 points for USC, with big Kijani Wright chipping in 12 and Harrison Hornery 14 in second-half blowout minutes.
“We had a feeling this morning that we're going to win this game,” Hornery said postgame, before being asked to clarify.
“USC doesn't lose six games in a row — we don't lose two in a row,” Hornery said. “So we had to break the streak.”