Trojans could provide double trouble

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003 | 10:07 a.m.

LOS ANGELES --- USC's identical twins Errick and Derrick Craven proved to be double trouble for the UNLV Rebels when the two teams met at the Thomas & Mack Center in February.

Derrick Craven had 17 points, including 3 of 4 on 3-pointers, and had three steals. Errick Craven added 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting and finished with six of USC's 15 steals as UNLV turned the ball over 34 times.

But when the Rebels (3-1) take the court to face Henry Bibby's Trojans (1-1) here at the Sports Arena tonight for the rematch, they will once again be seeing double.

Actually, you could make that a double-double, and we're not talking In-N-Out Burgers here.

The Trojans have added yet another set of identical twins to their roster to join the Cravens in 6-foot-4 freshmen Lodrick and Rodrick Stewart from Seattle. And the two prep All-Americans are good enough that they started USC's season-opening loss at Western Michigan last week.

"Thank heavens for uniform numbers," USC men's basketball sports information director Paul Goldberg wrote in a recent release.

According to research done by Goldberg, this isn't the first time two sets of twins have been on the same Division I team at the same time. Valparaiso in the 1994-95 season also featured two sets of twins --- freshmen Bill and Bob Jenkins and juniors Jeff and Brian Smith.

Still, having identical twins on your squad can take some getting used to even for the coaches as Bibby can attest.

"It took me close to a year to really get the Cravens apart, but now they're no problem," Bibby said. "Of course, I'm going through the same thing with the Stewarts. Errick and Lodrick are lefthanded and Derrick and Rodrick are righthanded, so that obviously helps. Thank god for uniform numbers, too."

The bottom line, though, is all four are very talented players capable of starting in the tough Pac-10 Conference.

"People love to talk about the fact we have two sets of twins, but they are all good players, great athletes and are here to compete," Bibby said.

The Stewarts told the Los Angeles Daily News recently that they are able to communicate with each other on the court without much effort after years of living and playing together.

"I always know where he is and he knows where I am," Rodrick Stewart said.

They also have hand signals they use during games that no one else can decipher.

"Only we know them," Rodrick said.

It's possible that Bibby could be coaching another set of twins in the furture. The Stewarts have 9-year-old twin brothers named Hikeem and Kadeem.

"They're more advanced than us," Rodrick said.

That's saying a lot.

"They bring a lot of toughness, they bring passion, athleticism and skill," Bibby said of the Lodrick and Rodrick. "They have a love to play the game. We're teaching them how to play. They're like sponges. They want to learn. They outplayed the guys we have. They deserve to be in the lineup."