Further Thoughts On Tonight

I had neglected to mention in my earlier post a few players I think will be key for the Trojans tonight and probably on Saturday as well:

1. DeMar DeRozan -- With Hackett, Lewis, Washington, and Gibson all nursing injuries or illnesses, it will be extremely important for DeRozan to assert himself as a major scoring threat. His aggressiveness has gotten better; he must be the most aggressive he has been all season tonight and on Saturday.

2. Nikola Vucevic -- Vucevic was very good is his fist career start up in Pullman and he may get another start tonight up front with Gibson. As I mentioned in the earlier post, Stanford is weak in the front court, so don't be surprised if Vucevic has another strong game with some easy layups inside.

3. Donte Smith -- I have been down on this guy all year, but now is the time he must step up. With Hackett ailing, Smith may actually have to play significant minutes tonight and Saturday. The keys for him will be to take care of the basketball, not be too trigger happy, but to make open threes when he gets good looks. The Trojans could really use Angelo Johnson right now (he transferred this past summer), but all Smith needs to do is keep the Trojans in the game if or when Hackett is out.