SPOKANE, WASH. - As expected, Arkansas chose 6-foot-6 swing man Sonny Weems to shadow Nick Young aggressively from the start Friday, and Weems attempted to block Young's rather relaxed release every time he went up with the ball.

USC chose to go big with 6-11 RouSean Cromwell getting the start. Cromwell had mixed results early, blowing two of the first four loose balls that came his way, pulling down one rebound and tying up a Razorback for another.

By the 7:34 mark of the first half, USC was on its third center, Abdoulaye N'diaye, after Keith Wilkinson picked up his third foul. For the half, USC's three big men combined for four points, four rebounds and six fouls.

While USC went big, the Razorbacks were still bigger: Arkansas center Steven Hill, listed at 7-foot, was easily three inches taller than Cromwell.

Just 12 minutes into the game, USC had been called for carrying three times. Two of the calls came in situations in which USC dribblers got no advantage.

The NCAA said enforcing that violation would be emphasized at the beginning of the season, but the intensity with which it's being called here never reached the West Coast or the Pac-10 this season.

Arkansas also had some head-shaking calls as the physical Razorbacks found themselves whistled for hand-checks that must not be called in the SEC. That forced Arkansas into a zone 13 minutes into the game.

It's not easy to upstage the USC Song Girls, but Arkansas mascot Boss Hog, a 9-foot-high inflatable Razorback with a cheerleader-type person inside somewhere, did a pretty good job of it in the pregame entertainment. His trick is to fire a ball at the basket with his compressible snout, from somewhere near the center circle. The snout has amazing accuracy. OK, he didn't make any of his 20 shots, but he hit the rim most of the time and had the crowd oohing and ahhing.

USC may be a first-round host for the women's tournament, but you could hardly tell from the turnout of USC athletic administrators here. Who's left to run the women's games?

First thing the USC folks noticed about the Spokane Arena? No overhead, center-court scoreboard. You don't see many arenas without them these days.

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