Nov. 12, 2007

Game Notes

South Carolina opened its 100th season of Gamecock basketball on Fri., Nov. 9 with a 92-67 win over South Carolina State. It is the second straight year the Gamecocks opened their season vs. the Bulldogs, picking up a 55-52 win last season in Columbia on Nov. 10, 2006.

South Carolina will now host The Citadel on Mon, Nov. 12 at 7:30 pm. USC is 74-23 vs. The Citadel lifetime, including 46-9 in Columbia. The Citadel opened its season on Friday night vs. Daniel Webster with a 131-79 win.

The TC games can both 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.

After that

After South Carolina hosts The Citadel on Monday night, South Carolina will have a few days off before they host Southern Califoria — the other USC — on Sat., Nov. 17 at 7:30 pm. The game, which will feature the National Boys Player of the Year in OJ Mayo, will be also shown on CSS. Good seats for the game.

vs. The Citadel

Carolina leads the all-time series 74-23 vs. The Citadel. The Citadel’s last win in the series came on Feb. 22, 1989 when the Bulldogs won 88-87 in the Carolina Coliseum. The Bulldogs are led by Citadel graduate Ed Conroy (1989) who led the team to a 7-23 record in his first season last year. Conroy was a member of that team that defeated South Carolina.

South Carolina is 282-130 vs. the Southern Conference. The Gamecocks were members of the Southern Conference from 1931-32 – 1952-53.

Just in Case You Missed it

South Carolina now leads the series 16-0 vs. South Carolina State and 17-1 all-time against the MEAC after its 92-67 win on Friday night.

The 92 points by the Gamecocks are the most for Carolina in a home opener since it defeated Lander 96-54 on Nov. 26, 1988. It is the most for the Gamecocks since they scored 94 points against Tennessee on Jan. 23, 2002. South Carolina was up 30-28 at half last year vs. SCSU. USC ended up winning the game 55-52. This year, USC led 55-28 at the half. The most USC scored last year in the first half was 42 vs. UNC Asheville in its 71-51 win on Dec. 28, 2006 and it was also its largest lead at halftime at 42-24. The 55 points at halftime was the most the Gamecocks have scored since they scored 58 vs. The Citadel on Dec. 21, 1995.

Devan’s Downey’s 24 points were the most for a newcomer since Larry Davis scored 26 in his Gamecock debut Nov. 24, 1995 in USC’s 82-64 win over UNC-Greensboro. Davis transferred from North Carolina and Downey transferred from Cincinnati. Davis was 8 of 15 including 3-4 from the three and 7-8 from the FT line. Downey was 10 of 19 including 3-5 from behind the arc and 1-2 from the FT line.

The 39 field goals made by South Carolina broke a Colonial Center record. The previous record was 35 field goal attempts.

Mac Wasn’t Happy

The Gamecocks had three players wear seven different jersey numbers in the SCSU game due to blood on the uniform. Evka Baniulis 31, & 15; Michael Holmes 24, 13, & 35; Sam Muldrow 44 & 30.

Palmetto State Braggin’ Rights South Carolina will play four teams from the Palmetto State again this year including: South Carolina State (won 92-67 on Nov. 9), The Citadel (Nov. 12), Clemson (Dec. 1) and College of Charleston (Dec. 22).

Dave Odom is 62-11 overall against all teams in the state of South Carolina — with his only losses coming to in-state rival Clemson. That total includes one game against the Gamecocks as well. The most wins come against Clemson as Odom is 22-11 against the Tigers and is 36-0 against the rest of South Carolina.

With wins over College of Charleston, SCSU and the Citadel and a loss to Clemson, the Gamecocks were 3-1 vs. teams within their own borders last season. USC finished at 3-1 vs. in-state teams in 2005-06, posting wins over SCSU, Wofford and Winthrop and falling at Clemson.

TV Time

South Carolina is scheduled to make 21 regular-season appearances on television this year, including looks on the ESPN network (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) four times. USC was on TV a school-record 29 times in 2005-06.

He is?

Just in case you are wondering if its in the blood. Dave Odom’s son Ryan is an assistant coach at Virginia Tech. USC assistant coach Barry Sanderson’s brother is Scott Sanderson, the head coach at Lipscomb. They are both the son of Wimp Sanderson, a former Alabama head coach. Graduate Assistant Steve Portland is the son of former Penn State women’s head basketball coach Rene Portland.

Diaper Dandies

The Gamecocks started three sophomores, a freshman and a senior in the exhibition game on Monday and again on Friday vs. SCSU.

Carolina started at least two freshmen in 21 of 30 games last season. USC started three freshman against No. 25 Kentucky on Jan. 16, 2007 in Columbia.