Sept. 9, 2003

The University of South Carolina has released its 2003-04 Gamecock Men’s Basketball schedule today. USC will play in the Guardians Classic for the first time and host seven non-conference games, traveling to three, prior to opening the 16-game SEC schedule on January 7, in Columbia, against Florida. The Gamecocks will play on television eight times.

USC finished the year 12-16 last season, with a 5-11 record in the SEC.

USC will host the first round of the Guardians Classic on Nov. 17-18 with Garnder Webb, Idado and Elon participating. USC will host Gardner Webb Nov. 17, with Idaho and Elon playing each other. The second night, Nov. 18, the winners will face each other and the losers of the first night will play. Two teams will advance to Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo. for the Championship Round Nov. 24-25. Another two teams will advance to Kansas City from the first round series in Springfield, Mo. Teams in that first round series include host Southwest Missouri State, San Francisco, Mississippi Valley State and Western Illinois.

USC will host NC State in a televised game Dec. 20. Yale will play USC for the first time since 1975, in Columbia, Dec. 30 and the Gamecocks will host only the second meeting with Navy (Nov. 21) – the first being in 1925.

Other non-conference action at the Carolina Center includes a doubleheader with the USC women’s team when the men host Campbell (Nov. 29), Charleston Southern (Dec. 17), South Carolina State (Dec. 22). The final non-conference game will be played against Appalachian State January 2 at the Carolina
Center.

The schedule also includes visits to The Citadel (Dec. 3), Clemson (Dec. 6), and Temple (Dec. 15) prior to the SEC.

Conference match-ups in Columbia include Tennessee (Jan. 17), LSU (Jan. 24), Alabama (Feb. 4), Mississippi State (Feb. 11), Vanderbilt (Feb. 14), Georgia (Feb. 28) and Kentucky (March 3). USC will travel to Georgia (Jan. 10), Auburn (Jan. 14), Vanderbilt (Jan. 28), Mississippi (Jan. 31), Kentucky (Jan. 7), Arkansas (Feb. 21), Florida (Feb. 25) and close out the regular season with a game at Tennessee (March 6).