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.
Key to game
Building up to the Texas game, everyone was talking about how USC would defend Kevin Durant. But the key to the game ended up being Gabe Pruitt's defense on point guard D.J. Augustin.
This game could be a similar situation.
North Carolina has a small, speedy guard similar to Augustin in the 5-foot-11 freshman Ty Lawson. If Pruitt can shut him down the way he did holding Augustin to six points and six turnovers, it would go a long way toward a USC victory.
``Lawson handles the offense and runs everything,’’ Pruitt said. ``I feel if I can shut him down, and take them out of their offense, that is the key.’’
Pruitt is a taller point guard at 6-4, but he has shown the ability to stay in front of the smaller guys in getting the best of Augustin, Oregon’s Aaron Brooks and Arizona’s Mustafa Shakur this season.
``I’ve got a lot of confidence in Gabe,’’ Nick Young said. ``He goes out there and plays defense like Ryan (Francis) last year. He really gets the team going.’’