Nov. 24, 2007

South Carolina, celebrating its 100th season of Gamecock basketball, will play George Mason in the third place game at the Old Spice Classic on Sun., Nov. 25 at 4:30 pm on ESPN2. It will be South Carolina’s third straight appearance on ESPN2 in as many days. It will be the two schools second-only meeting with their only meeting resulting in a 76-65 Gamecock win on Jan. 6, 1982 under coach Bill Foster. USC is 3-2 and George Mason is 4-1.

It is the two coaches first meeting as head coaches, but both Coach Odom and Coach Larrinaga are VERY familiar with each other. They were road roommates when both were assistant coaches at University of Virginia for four years under Terry Holland from 1982-83 – 1985-86. While at UVA the two were part of four straight NCAA Tournament teams including the 1984 Caviler team that played in the Final Four.

The South Carolina-George Mason game will be shown live on ESPN2. It is the fourth of 21 appearances South Carolina will make on television this year. It can also be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network with Mike Morgan (play-by-play) and Casey Manning (color analyst). In addition, it can be picked up via the internet at www.gamecocksonline.com.

South Carolina is led by four players averaging double figures including Devan Downey who is averaging over 18 points per game and six assists per game. Downey and Fredrick have scored double figures in every game this season.

South Carolina last played in a Thanksgiving Weekend tournament in 2005 when it made the finals of the ESPN-televised Great Alaska Shootout with wins over Alaska-Anchorage and Monmouth before falling to Marquette in the championship game 92-89 in overtime.