Matthew Kredell broke into the Daily News in 1998, working part time
at the paper while going to USC. The basketball team’s Elite Eight
run in 2000-01 was USC’s athletic highlight in his time at the
school, when the football team was stuck in the Paul Hackett-era.
After graduating in 2001, he started writing for the Daily News full
time. He’s in his second year covering USC, which coincides with the
rise of the program. He’ll take credit for the success, though Tim
Floyd may have more to do with it. A third-generation Los Angelean,
he grew up reading the Daily News while at El Camino Real High School
in Woodland Hills.
Locker room report
USC beat Arizona 80-75, ending the program's 21-game losing streak at McKale Center.
Tim Floyd said he thought this was the best that Lodrick Stewart (26 pts), Nick Young (26 pts) and Gabe Pruitt (17 pts, 4 stls) had played in the same game since he began coaching the team.
There wasn't much of a celebration by the Trojans on the court following the final buzzer. Young was the only one that showed real emotion. He hugged Daniel Hackett at midcourt, heaved the ball high in the air and pumped his fist while heading toward the bench.
``It mean a lot,'' Young said. ``I wasn't born the last time they won here. I was born a few months later. It's something I've been dreaming about all week, to come in and get this win.''
The other players may have followed Floyd's lead in not making much of ending the losing streak at Arizona because they weren't around for most of it.
But getting the season sweep on the Wildcats wasn't lost on Floyd, who called Arizona the barometer in the Pac-10 during his first press conference after being hired.
``It's (bigger) to win against Arizona, who I consider the measuring stick in the league,'' Floyd said. ``No one has sustained a better program in the country than Lute Olson. I feel proud of the team win.''