Feb. 24, 2006

Tipoff: 1:05 pm (EST)
TV: JP (Bob Rathbun, Larry Conley)
Radio: Gamecock Radio Network
Sirius radio: Channel No. 147
Series Record: USC leads 21-16
In Columbia: USC leads 11-6
In Nashville: VU leads 10-9
Neutral site: Series tied 1-1
Last Meeting: USC won 64-62 in OT in Nashville on Jan. 18, 2006

Probable Starters for the Vanderbilt game (starters from previous game)

SEC Throwback Week Continues: Host Vandy Saturday on Senior Day;
USC Welcomes LSU on ESPN in final home game of the season Feb. 28
USC, 14-12 and 5-8 in the SEC, will host Vanderbilt, 14-10 and 5-8 in the SEC, on Senior Day Sat., Feb. 25. The Vandy game televised on JP will feature Bob Rathbun and Larry Conley making the call.

USC won the first game of the series, 64-62 in overtime, in Nashville on Jan. 18.

With less than 40 hours to return home, rest and prepare, USC will take the court at 1:05 pm on Saturday after hitting the lockerroom well after 9 pm in Athens on Thursday. You have to look back to USC’s first season in the SEC 15 years ago to find a turnaround as tight in SEC play. That season, with both games played at home, USC lost to MSU 57-60 Jan. 26 before losing an overtime game on Jan. 28 to Alabama on ESPN (81-83).

USC will honor its senior class prior to the game (Antoine Tisby, Rocky Trice and Tarence Kinsey). Like last year’s senior class, when all four seniors graduated, 100% of the 2006 seniors will graduate this year (Trice and Kinsey in May and Tisby in August).

Both teams are coming off losses during the week with Vandy falling 77-66 to LSU and South Carolina playing a rare Thursday night tilt at Georgia and falling 48-47 on ESPN.

The Vandy game will be carried on the Gamecock Radio Network with Mike Morgan (play-by-play) and Casey Manning (color analyst). The game can also be heard via the internet at www.uscsports.com and on Sirius radio channel 147.

Their Last time

Darrel Mitchell scored 21 points and No. 24 LSU beat Vanderbilt 77-66 Feb. 22 to clinch its second straight SEC Western Division title. The Commodores had dominated the series in Nashville, winning 33 of the first 45. But VU dropped a fourth home conference this season and a second straight game to a ranked team.

Derrick Byars led Vanderbilt with 18 points, while Shan Foster had 13 of his 15 in the first half and Julian Terrell added 10.
Glen Davis added 16 points and 11 rebounds for LSU, and Tyrus Thomas had 15 points and 14 rebounds as the Tigers used their size advantage to dominate inside. LSU outrebounded VU 46-29 and outscored them 34-20 in the paint, which gave them a decided advantage at the free throw line (24-of-35 to 11-of-13).

What’s left?
Vanderbilt (Feb. 25, JP) and LSU (Feb. 28, ESPN) are the two teams left on the home schedule. Entering Saturday’s games those 2 are 10-9 on the road this season, including 7-6 in SEC play (with LSU winning at Vandy on Feb. 22). The two combine for a 0-4 record in the Colonial Center, with coming to Columbia looking for its first wins in the new building.

USC will honor former Athletic Director Dr. Mike McGee and his wife Ginger at halftime of the Vanderbilt game. A plaque, presented by USC Board Chairman Herbert Adams, Athletics Committee Chairman Sam Foster, Athletics Director Eric Hyman and President Andrew Sorensen, will be later hung in the Colonial Center in honor of his 12 years of service (1993-2005).

USC will honor Zam Frederick at the LSU game It is the 25th anniversary of Frederick winning the NCAA Division I scoring title when he scored 28.9 ppg during the 1980-81 season. A co-captain of the 1981 team that finished 17-10, Frederick was named to the Citizens Savings All-America team. The native of St. Matthews, S.C., Frederick scored 1,383 points in his career and his is currently No. 14th on the all-time points scored list. His 781 points his senior year were second only to Grady Wallace’s 906 points (1957).

USC will close out the regular season at Auburn on March 4 and then travel to Nashville for the SEC Tournament March 9-12.

A look back
Playing its second straight overtime game, USC got the best of Vanderbilt in Nashville on Jan. 18 (66-64) behind Tre’ Kelley’s career-high 29 points. (see page 4 for game recap).

A USC win on Saturday would give Dave Odom 370 career wins and give Carolina its sixth series sweep since the Gamecocks joined the SEC 15 years ago (1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004). A Vandy win would give Kevin Stallings his 120th win at Vanderbilt.
USC leads the series 21-16. USC has won 10 of the last 12 against the Commodores. USC is 3-6 vs. the East this year, while Vandy has put together a 3-5 campaign against the same side.

A few things about the rivalry:
First Meeting: Feb. 28, 1927 (25-31 in Atlanta)
Last Meeting: Jan. 18, 2006 (66-64 OT in Nashville)
Last 5 Meetings: 4-1
Last 10 Meetings: 8-2
Most USC Points in Columbia: 91 (91-96, Feb. 21, 1994)
Most VU Points in Columbia: 96 (91-96, Feb. 12, 1994)
Largest USC Winning Margin in Columbia: 21, (74-53, Feb. 26, 1997)
Largest VU Winning Margin in Columbia: 9 (51-60, Jan. 19, 2002)

Home Court
The Gamecocks are 72-26 (73%) at home since 2001. Since the opening of the Colonial Center four years ago, the Gamecocks are 49-14 (78%) at their new home – including a 31-2 (94%) against non-conference opponents and an 18-12 (60%) mark against SEC foes.
USC has seen more than 707,000 basketball fans come through the turn styles at the Colonial Center – averaging more than 11,225 per game.

A telling sign of success
USC is averaging 41% beyond the arc in SEC wins and just 30% in its seven losses. On the flip side when the SEC opponent wins they are hitting 38.7% in three point land as compared to 34% in a loss to the ‘Cocks.

All season long leading the way
Carolina is led by Tarence Kinsey and his 15.2 ppg. For stats geeks, Kinsey leads the Gamecocks in scoring in just about every way you can figure it: SEC games (14.8 ppg), wins (14.8 ppg), losses (14.8 ppg), home (15.3 ppg), away (13.9 ppg) and neutral (21.0 ppg). Kinsey also leads the team in mpg (34.1), 3pt % (48.5%) and free throw % (87.6%). He is second in steals (1.4) and tied for third in assists (2.1). Kelley is second with 11.7 ppg and leads the team with 4.2 apg. Brandon Wallace leads the team with 6.2 rpg and is second with 2.4 apg. He leads the team with 1.4 bpg and is fourth with 7.5 ppg. Wallace’s four double-doubles top Renaldo Balkman’s three and Kinsey’s two. Balkman’s third on the team with 9.9 ppg and 2.1 apg. He leads the team with 1.6 spg and his 6.0 rpg are second-best on the Carolina roster.

Count it
At Georgia USC was led by Brandon Wallace’s fourth double-double of the year and his fifth career when he scored a career-best 14 points with 12 rebounds in Athens. He was 6-9 from the field, including a key 3 late in the second half that put the Gamecocks ahead. He also picked up a block and an assist in his 38 minutes of play.

Wallace bashes the boards with the best of them vs. Georgia this year – as he collected a season-high 15 rebounds in the two teams last meeting on Jan. 18. In his last three games against the Bulldogs, including last year’s 8 rebound performance on Feb. 5, he is averaging almost 12 rpg.

A 3 does it
Tarence Kinsey, maybe best known for the 3 that won the NIT title last year, has racked up 997 career points and needs just three more points to hit the 1,000 mark and become the 38th Gamecock to go over the 1,000 mark. Kinsey’s 395 points this season already surpass the points he scored in his sophomore (273) and junior years (286). He scored just 43 points in an injury riddled freshman season.

Kinsey has hit 20+ points seven times this season, including two 21 point performances at Kentucky and then at home against Kentucky. In his first three seasons at USC, Kinsey played in 85 games and in those 85 games he hit the 20+ mark only twice. (23 vs. South Carolina State, 12-22-04 and 21 vs. Idaho, 11-18-03). He has 105 career three-pointers and needs four more to enter the career top 10 at Carolina (109, Antonio Grant 1997-2001).

Behind us
USC shot 36.0% from the floor Feb. 23 at Georgia. It was only the fifth game this season the Gamecocks have shot below 40% as a team – all resulting in losses. USC shot 22.7% from the field in the first half of the game at Georgia. It was its lowest first half field goal percentage since it shot 21.7 in the first half of a 64-48 loss at Mississippi State on Jan. 22, 2003.

USC posted 13 points in the first half at Georgia, but UGA was only two points better, holding court at 15-13 at intermission. It was USC’s lowest point total since Jan. 8, 2003 when the Gamecocks went to the lockerroom down 13-15 to Ole Miss. USC ended up winning the game 55-49 three years ago.

Do it like the NIT again
USC’s leading scoring Tarence Kinsey is averaging a career-high 39% beyond the arc this season (47-122), but the Tampa native is just 2-21 (10%) since hitting 4-6 in the 71-67 win at No. 6 Florida on Feb. 8.
Kinsey has hit at least one three in 21 games this season.

Continuing to graduate
USC’s three seniors will all graduate by August, 2006. Tarence Kinsey and Rocky Trice will each graduate in May with Antoine Tisby finishing his degree in August.

USC saw all four seniors graduate last year: John Chappell, Josh Gonner, Jon Land and Carlos Powell. Chappell (Macedonia) and Powell (Portugal) are playing basketball overseas.

Go back two seasons ago and USC had three of its five seniors graduate: Mike Boynton, Jr., Sheldon Everett and IVAN HOWELL. Rolando Howell, currently starring the Italian League, needs one more class to graduate.

Brandon, Then Ryan, Tony and Renaldo
Brandon Wallace’s two blocks in the Kentucky game moved him two past Ryan Stack (124, 1995-98) for fifth place on the career list with 127 career blocks. Wallace now needs 33 more blocks to hit No. 4 Mike Brittain (160, 1983-86). The career blocks leader might be a stretch: Danny Traylor blocked 235 from 1971-73.

Wallace has blocked three or more shots in four games this season, tallying 34 on the year. Wallace has blocked a shot in 59 of the 93 games he’s played. He has three+ blocks in 19 games in his career. After blocking 35 shots his freshman year, Wallace blocked 55 shots last season. The 55 were the most since Ryan Stack blocked 55 in the 1997-98 season.

Renaldo Balkman has 34. Balkman has already topped last year’s total of 21 after blocking 43 his freshman campaign. Balkman has 98 blocks in his career, which puts him at No. 7 on the career list. Next on his list was the man Wallace just finished off: Tony Kitching with 123 (1999-2003).

Assists
In USC’s 14 wins Tre’ Kelley is averaging 11.0 points per game while in the 11 losses he is averaging 10.8 a game. Very close, but the difference is in the field goal % and in the assists.

In the 14 wins, Kelley has combined to make 45 of 108 shots (42% from the field) while he has made 46-126 shots 36.5 % from the field) in the 11 losses.

He has dished out 4.8 apg in the wins and 3.3 apg in the losses. As a team, Carolina is averaging four more assists a game in their victories than in losses. (15.6 assist per game in a win compared to 11.6 assists per game in a loss).

Looking down the road, Kelley has 759 career points and is averaging a career-high 11.7 ppg this season after hitting 5.1 ppg his freshman year and 8.9 ppg his sophomore year.