March 24, 2005

Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery

Carolina advances to the NIT semifinal at Madison Square Garden. The Gamecocks will play the winner of Maryland and TCU on March 29th at either 7:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. TCU and Maryland will play on Saturday at 12:00 P.M. on ESPN 2. The other side of the bracket is a semifinal match-up between Memphis and St. Joes. The Gamecocks last NIT appearance was in 2002 when they made it to the NIT final against Memphis.

Carlos Powell has scored 20 or more points 11 times in his career … He is now No. 7 on the all-time points list, passing Art Whisnant (1959-62) … Next: at No. 6 Jim Slaughter (1521 points, 1947-51) … The usual: in double figures for the 29th time in 31 games this year, 84 times in his career and 100 games that he has scored in straight. Also has played in 130 games for the Garnet and Black and he has scored in 125 of those 130 games … The only five games Powell failed to score in was on 3-2-02 against Mississippi State, 1-16-02 at Arkansas, 1-12-02 vs. Kentucky, 1-5-02 at Florida, and 12-6-01 vs. Georgetown.

Tre’ Kelley is in double figures for the 16th time this year and the 19th of his two year career … He scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half and had six of his seven assists in the second half … He scored 19 points and had 16 assists in the last two games combined.

Antoine Tisby is in double figures for the 8th time this year and has scored 10 or more in six of the last 10 games.

Tonight’s attendance was 10,662 … USC’s total attendance this year was 192,816 (19 games) — averaging 10,108 a game. In 3 years the Colonial Center has drawn 509,534 fans to 51 games.

Carolina went 25-of-42 from the field for a 59.5% from the field which is the highest percentage on the year. (.593 vs. Appalachian State, 12-1-04)

This was the 5th USC home game this season where the Gamecocks trailed at halftime … USC is 4-1 this season at home when trailing at the break … Three of the five games went into overtime.

Date Opponent Halftime Score Final Score
3-24-05 Georgetown 26-34 69-66
3-6-05 Ole Miss 29-39 76-70 (OT)
1-26-05 Vanderbilt 30-36 68-63
12-22-04 SC State 26-27 68-65 (OT)
12-4-04 Clemson 22-25 62-63 (OT)

After going 0-6 from beyond the arc, the Gamecock hit three of their last four three-pointers.

Carolina turned the ball over seven times in the first half resulting in seven Hoyas points. The Hoyas turned it over two times resulting in no points. The Gamecocks turned that stat around in the second half as they turned it over only two times with the Hoyas scoring no points on them. Georgetown committed nine turnovers in the final stanza resulting in seven Carolina points.

Georgetown leads the overall series 4-1 and the series is tied in Columbia 1-1 … The previous meeting between the two schools before tonight was on December 5, 2003 in Washington, D.C. with the Hoyas taking a 67-59 victory.