SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore forward Hassan Adams dribbles through traffic during Arizona's 82-72 loss to Stanford Saturday.

Cats hope to regroup on road against USC

When UA basketball's Hassan Adams makes his homecoming tonight in Los Angeles against Southern California, the Trojans could have the sophomore power forward and his Wildcat teammates seeing double, or even quadruple.

Backed by a pair of pairs, Southern California's lineup features a college basketball anomaly: two sets of identical twins. Freshmen Lodrick and Rodrick Stewart are making an immediate impact on head coach Henry Bibby's USC squad (7-6, 2-2 Pacific-10 Conference), joining veteran juniors

Errick and Derrick Craven. Young guards Rodrick and Lodrick have both cracked the Trojans' starting lineup at times, averaging just over 16 points and 48 minutes per game combined coming into tonight's game.

The Wildcats have noticed both sets of twins' ability to take control of a game. "The Craven twins and the Stewart twins are all drivers and penetrators," head coach Lute Olson said. "If they get one-on-one at half court on a semi-break, they are taking it to the basket."

As for Adams, the Westchester High School standout is taking the return to his hometown in stride.

"They are just regular games to me," the sophomore Adams said of his return. "I just take it as another game to go out there and play."

The only benefit of playing in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena and Pauley Pavilion this week is the opportunity for more family and friends to watch him play, Adams said. Arizona will take on UCLA in Los Angeles on Saturday.

In a dozen games this season, Adams is leading the Wildcats in steals, offensive rebounds and scoring, averaging 16.6 points per game. Despite the impressive numbers this season, Adams is coming off his worst shooting performance since scoring no points in the second round of the 2003 NCAA tournament against Gonzaga on March 22. Saturday against Stanford, the sophomore registered just four points and fouled out early against the Cardinal.

Adams wasn't the lone Wildcat to struggle against the Cardinal, which held Arizona to its lowest shooting output of the season at 36.2 percent.

If history is any indication, a matchup with the Trojans may be exactly what the Wildcats need. Winner of the past three games against USC dating back to March of 2002, Arizona made short work of the Trojans the last time the two squads took the court on Feb. 15 of last year. Using a monstrous 32-4 second half scoring run, fueled by center Channing Frye's then-career high 25 points, Arizona beat the Trojans 86-59 in McKale Center. The win marked the first time since the 1992-93 campaign that the Wildcats swept a season series from both Los Angeles schools, having beaten UCLA two days earlier by 36 points.

Arizona leads the all-time season series between the two schools, dating back to 1922, by a count of 48-32. Though the Wildcats fell to third overall in the conference behind Stanford and UCLA, Arizona is still considered one of the teams to beat in the Pac-10.

Freshman guard Mustafa Shakur thinks the Men of Troy will think no differently.

"Arizona is always the team to beat, so everybody comes out with their 'A' game," Shakur said.

"I expect them to come out and play as hard as possible against us. We just have to match their intensity, if not more."

It won't be all fun and games for Adams this weekend when the sophomore returns home. According to the Los Angeles Times, Adams will testify at tomorrow's appeal hearing for his former high school, Westchester High. The school is being investigated for recruiting violations and has been banned from postseason play for one year.

Westchester was placed on a year's probation in 2000 after it was discovered that Adams participated in a summer tournament for Westchester while still enrolled at Verbum Dei High School.