Pruitt Steadies Himself For USC
Gabriel Pruitt, the 6-foot-4, 165-pound point guard from Westchester High
School in Los Angeles, took care of his recruiting long ago when he verbally
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committed and subsequently signed with USC. This has allowed him to play
freely, and has given him the chance to concentrate on improving himself for
the Pac-10.
The top thing he's been working on has been physically preparing himself.
"I've been doing a lot of weight training," said Pruitt. "On the next level,
there are a lot of big point guards there, so I need to get a lot stronger.
I'm working on getting bigger."
On the court so far this season, Pruitt has been the man for Westchester. In
the recent MLK Invitational in Portland, he showed off the silky smoothness and
floor leadership that USC saw in him early on. However, while Westchester has
done its share of winning all over the country - the Comets won their MLK
contest 52-35 over Portland's Grant High School - Pruitt is ready for a little
R&R back in LA.
"We’ve had a lot of traveling and been around each other a lot," said Pruitt.
"It's helped us being around each other more to get used to one other, but it's
going to be good to be home and around our families."
While Pruitt has obviously been focused on the season at hand, he has taken
time to pay close attention to USC's season so far. He witnessed the Trojans'
upset home win over Arizona and it got him excited.
"It was a good win for them," said Pruitt. "Hopefully the next game when they
play at Arizona it will be the same thing."
With a state championship unlikely because of sanctions due to questions
surrounding the transfer of Amir Johnson, Pruitt has to settle for winning
every game the rest of the way out in terms of team goals. But individually,
he's got something to aim for.
"(Making the McDonald's All-American Team) has always been my biggest goal,"
said Pruitt. "Recently, I just got invited to the Roundball Classic. So I'm
going to do that, and then hopefully the McDonald's all-star game will come."