Jan. 24, 2009

Recap | Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery

–Tonight’s win gives South Carolina its first back-to-back SEC wins since defeating Arkansas 66-60 on Jan. 24, 2007, in Columbia, then defeating Mississippi State 66-63 in Starkville three days later.

–The win gives the Gamecocks consecutive home SEC wins for the first time since 2006, when they defeated Mississippi State 83-61 on Feb. 11, then beat Alabama 67-56 on Feb. 14.

–South Carolina is 3-2 in SEC play, its first time with a winning record through five league games since starting 4-1 in 2004.

–The Gamecocks now have three straight wins over the Rebels, and improve to 13-12 all-time in the series. South Carolina now has a winning margin against two Southeastern Conference schools (Mississippi and LSU) and holds a .500 mark against Vanderbilt.

–South Carolina is 3-0 at home in SEC play for the first time since the 2005 season when the Gamecocks defeated Georgia, Tennessee and Vanderbilt to open the home conference slate.

–South Carolina went on an 11-0 run to start the second half, jumping from a 37-35 halftime lead to a 48-35 margin less than three minutes into the second period. Prior to that, the lead had changed hands 14 times in the first half.

–Devan Downey led all scorers with 22 points, his best performance in SEC play this season. Downey had one of his best league outings last season against Mississippi, scoring 25 points in the Gamecocks’ 80-77 win in Oxford.

–Mike Holmes finished one point short of his fifth double-double of the season with nine points and 10 rebounds in the game.

–Sam Muldrow continues to provide a spark under the basket for South Carolina, scoring a season-high nine points on a perfect 4-for-4 night in his fifth appearance of the season.