Dewayne Dedmon has a stress injury in his right foot and is expected to miss four to six weeks.

Dedmon is a sophomore transfer on USC and a candidate for the NBA Draft.

At first, the injury, which was revealed by an MRI on Monday, was deemed a stress fracture.

But team athletic trainer David Borchardt amended that to note that it is a "stress injury" and that Dedmon will be immobilized for one week.

Dedmon suffered a fractured right hand during the preseason.

"I just look at it like, I'll be back," Dedmon said Tuesday. "It's not like it's at the end of the season where I can't finish out the season, but I can hopefully be back before conference."

"It affects us greatly," Kevin O'Neill said. "You can't replace 7-foot, 250 pounds, especially in the situation when we have so many inexperienced guys."

Dewayne Dedmon, USC's redshirt sophomore center, only had one shot attempt in the team's 42-36 loss to Cal Poly.

"The best way to get involved is to go get the ball," Kevin O'Neill said. "If you're 7 feet tall, go get the ball. He is a developing young player and it will take quite awhile for him to get where he needs to get."

USC has played well defensively to start the season, holding opponents to a shooting percentage of 31.3%.

Kevin O'Neill has labeled the defense as "excellent" and "some of the best in the country," and "satisfying" and "about as good as it can be," still have lost three of four games.

"Looking at our defensive numbers, I'd say we should be 3-1 and not 1-3," O'Neill said. "But I always thought the offense would come along more slowly this year."