Around the Pac-10

Making sense of the Pac-10 race this year hasn’t been easy, but imagine how Oregon State coach Jay John feels. His team is 6-1 at home in the conference and 0-7 on the road. “We have a team that is still so focused on offense to solve their problems,” John said. “Home, obviously everybody’s really comfortable and we’ve shot the ball extremely well here, so offense has solved some of our problems.” On the road, though, the Beavers haven’t shot the ball as well and therefore porous defense has hurt them. Good news in the short term, however: Oregon State hosts California and Stanford this week. … For the Cardinal, swingman Fred Washington had a nice week against USC and UCLA. Filling in for the injured Dan Grunfeld, Washington averaged 17 points. … USC interim head coach Jim Saia has barred sophomore Lodrick Stewart from speaking to the media for the rest of the season. Saia said he wants Stewart to focus on his studies and basketball while avoiding any outside influences. … Oregon freshman Malik Hairston, considered the premier recruit in the conference coming into this season, turns 18 this week.