March 29, 2006

Tipoff: 7 pm (EST)
TV: ESPN (Ron Franklin, Fran Fraschilla, Bill Raftery & Heather Cox)
Radio: Gamecock Radio Network
Series Record: UM leads 1-2
In Columbia: UM leads 0-2
In Ann Arbor: USC leads 1-0
Neutral site: First Meeting
Last Meeting: UM won 90-86 on Jan. 2, 1977 in Columbia, S.C.

Probable Starters for the Michigan game (from previous game)

• – Blocks per game

Cock Calls 1 Kelley’s start vs. UM will break school record for starts in a season Career-high 10 AST vs. UL
2 McDowellScored 10 PT vs. WKY (3-3 3 PT); Career high 12 vs. Winthrop
4 SheldonPlayed 12+ minutes in 13 straight games; 12 PT vs. UK at SEC Tourney (4-6 3 PT)
5 ArchieThe only freshman scholarship player on the squad — will be redshirted this year
10 TriceCareer-high 7 REB vs. WKY; 25 starts (10 straight)
12 NerbunOnly walk-on the team this season; Played 1 MIN, w/ 3 ATT vs. WKY
14 TisbyHas not been with the team since the WKY win; 16 PT, 7 REB vs. WKY
20 PalaciosBroke bone in left foot in Florida game (3/12) that will require surgery – done for season
21 Kinsey19.0 ppg in NIT; All-SEC 2nd team; 1183 career PT (#26); Hit a 3 in 31 of 37 games
23 DayHas 10 starts in 32 games played this season; Did not play at Auburn or vs. UK
24 KonateHas not played since 1-25 due to ankle injury; Played in 13 games this year
33 WallaceCareer-high 19 PT vs. UL; 5th career D-Dat Cincy (12 PT, 13 REB); 7 games w/ 4 + BLK
34 Balkman Game-high 23 PT, 4 BLK vs. UL; 6+ REB in 21 games this season

If USC Wins or

• School’s 2nd NIT Championship. If Michigan wins it would be its second NIT title in three years
• 13th team to have two or more NIT championship trophies
• Second team to win NIT championships in back-to-back seasons (St. John’s 1943, and 1944)
• Milestone wins come at the Garden for Odom: a win over Michigan would be Coach Odom’s 100th career victory at South Carolina. He won his 300th career game over Syracuse in the 2002 NIT semifinals. A USC win would give USC 23 wins – tying Odom’s highest win total at Carolina (23 wins when they advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2004).

Vs. Blue
USC hasn’t played Michigan since 1977, when UM got away with a 90-86 win on Jan. 2, 1977 in Columbia.
Last Meeting: 1-2-77, 86-90 in Columbia
First Meeting: 12-20-61, 70-68 in Ann Arbor
Streak: UM has won two straight dating back to 1975-76
Dave Odom has faced Michigan once, winning 71-60 on Nov. 28, 2000 while coaching at Wake Forest.
UM, led by former Duke All-American Tommy Amaker, features four players in double figures including Daniel Horton (17.6), Dion Harris (11.3), Courtney Simes (11.2) and Lester Abram (10.3). Grahman Brown’s 7.3 rpg lead the Wolverines.
USC enters the game with a 20-8 (.714) record in the NIT while the Wolverines are 24-5 (.827). The Gamecocks-Wolverines winner will have the most consecutive wins in the NIT. Both of those teams have won nine straight games, which ties the record held by Ohio State and Memphis.

Not so much
The Gamecocks have turned the ball over 51 times in their last six games (8.5 topg) while their opponents have turned it over almost twice as many times at 92 times (15.3 topg) during that span.

Second Half Power?
The Gamecocks have trailed in two of the four NIT games at the half. In the second half, USC has outscored its opponents 151-130. In the first half, USC has outscored its opponents 124-107. Carolina led WKU by 15 and Louisville by 10 at the break while trailing FSU by three and Cincinnati by six.

‘Cocks in the NIT
USC is making its 10th appearance in the NIT and second consecutive. Last season, USC took home the trophy after defeating five teams: Miami, UNLV, Georgetown, Maryland and St. Joe’s. The Gamecocks are seeking their second consecutive NIT trophy; the only other team to ever win back-to-back post-season NIT titles is St. John’s in 1943 and 1944.

The Gamecocks are 20-8 overall in the NIT and are 13-1 under head coach Dave Odom (see page four for full NIT results). The 20 wins in the NIT are the best for a team in the SEC. USC has made it to Madison Square Garden in New York five times: 1969, 1975, 2002, 2005 and 2006. Carolina played in the championship in 2002, 2005 and now 2006. USC took home the championship in 2005 while finishing as the runner-up in 2002 to Memphis.

Gamecock Appearances in the NIT
1969, 1975, 1978, 1983, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006

Tick Tock
Tre’ Kelley and Tarence Kinsey both passed Jamel Bradley (1211, 2002) for the most minutes played in a season with their play in the win over Florida State and have continued to build on that record with Kelley playing 1290 and Kinsey clocking in one minute less at 1289. Entering this season, Bradley and Aaron Lucas were one-two in minutes played in a single season (both in 2002). With 1,130 minutes played this season, Brandon Wallace passed John Roche (1969, 1094 minutes) to jump into the single season top 10 vs. Cincy and now sits at No. 7 with Mike Boyton, Jr. (1130, 2004).

Coach Odom has guided his teams to post-season bids in 15 of his 20 seasons as a head coach. This is his sixth time coaching in the NIT. He has won two NIT championships with one coming at Wake (2000) and the other at USC (2005). Including his title at Wake Forest in 2000, Odom has 20 wins in the NIT. All-time NIT Appearances Under Odom: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006 Since Coach Odom’s arrival in the 2001-02 season, the Gamecocks have turned it up a notch at the end of the season. Carolina is 20-7 in the post-season under Odom – including three NIT appearances, an NCAA appearance and the SEC Tournament final once.

Quickly
ESPN? Yes! USC is 10-3 in the past two years on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU. In 2005-06 USC appeared on television 22 times during the regular season and including Thursday night’s game, 31 times total, including 11 games on national television (9ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU, 2 CBS) and one tape delay (SUN Sports). The 22 appearances were the most regular-season television appearances ever for the Gamecocks. USC is 16-14 on TV this season.

USC is 8-6 following a loss. USC was 8-3 in 2004-05 and 6-4 in 2003-04.

Gamecocks on Tour
The Gamecocks have played in 13 different states this season:
1.South Carolina (Columbia, Clemson)
2.North Carolina (Cullowhee)
3.Alaska (Anchorage)
4.Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
5.Mississippi (Oxford)
6.Tennessee (Knoxville, Nashville)
7.Kentucky (Lexington)
8.Arkansas (Fayetteville)
9.Florida (Gainesville, Tallahassee)
10.Georgia (Athens)
11.Alabama (Auburn)
12.Ohio (Cincinnati)
13.New York (New York City)

Odom Post Season
The Gamecocks are 8-4 under Odom against the ACC – a conference where he coached for 12 years (head coach at Wake Forest) and put up at least eight wins against the then-ACC teams. USC has defeated Miami, Maryland and Florida State in the NIT in the past two years and defeated Virginia in its 2002 NIT runner-up run. In addition, USC has defeated three Big East teams in the past two years: Georgetown, Cincinnati and Louisville and is 4-0 vs. the Big East with Odom at the helm in the NIT (defeated Syracuse to advance to the finals in 2002).

Beaten some big timers
With the two wins over UF’s Billy Donovan and the win over Rick Pition’s Lousiville crowd, Odom has posted a number of quality wins over coaches who have led their teams to the Final Four and/or won national championships during their own careers. With 377 careers wins as a head coach in his 20 years at East Carolina, Wake and South Carolina, Odom has wins over a number of legendary coaches including Donovan, Pitino Roy Williams (at Kansas), Lon Kruger, Rick Majerus, Dean Smith, Gary Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, Tubby Smith, John Chaney, Nolan Richardson, Bobby Cremins, Denny Crum, Jim Valvano, Jim Boeheim, Terry Holland and Eddie Sutton.

Did they?
The Louisville game featured a few career highs for Gamecock players:

• Tre’ Kelley had a career-high 10 assists
• Brandon Wallace scored a career-high 19 PT w/ highs in FG ATT (12 and FG made (8)
• Tarence Kinsey tied his career high with five steals The Gamecocks shot 60% (33-of-55) from the field against Louisville even though Carolina shot 4-of-18 from behind the arc. Inside the arc, Carolina hit 29 of their 37 shots for a percentage of 78.4%. USC knocked down a season-high 11 slams.

A Few Things

• The Gamecocks have made 255 (37 games) three pointers this season. Heading into the game against UM, the number ranks as the second-most three pointers hit in a season by a Gamecock team. The record is 257 (2002, 37 games).

• The overtime game against FSU was Carolina’s fourth game of the that needed extra time to decide a winner (2-2) this season and its first overtime game in NIT play all-time. The four overtime games are the most overtime games that Carolina has ever had in a single season. Carolina has played 10 overtime games in the past three seasons (6-4).

• Keving Palacios, who came off the bench as of late to play some valuable minutes, suffered a broken bone in his left foot during the SEC Championship title game vs. Florida. He had surgery on Sat., March 18 and will not play the rest of the season.

• Tre’ Kelley is the only Gamecock to start every game this season. If he starts vs. Michigan he will break Chuck Eidson’s record (37 in 2002). Kelley is the first Gamecock to start every game in a season since Eidson did it in 2002-03, starting all 28 games, averaging 11.3 ppg. If Tarence Kinsey starts vs. UM, he will move to No. 2 and will be tied with Eidson. See records later in the notes.

• Carolina is 23-13 under Coach Odom in the month of March. Since joining the league in 1991-92, SC is now 39-34 in March. The win at Auburn was Odom’s 370th win as a head coach and he needs one more win to hit 100 wins at USC.

• Kinsey has scored 20+ points 11 times this season and a career best 24 points three times. He was just off his career best of 24 when he scored 23 in the win over WKY. Prior to this season in 85 games he had only scored 20+ points twice.

• In addition to Kinsey, Tre’ Kelley has hit 20+ five times this season – including 25 in the win over No. 14 Tennessee – and Renaldo Balkman has hit it twice.

• Carolina is 14-5 this season when Bryce Sheldon hits a three-pointer in a game. When he hits three or more three’s in a game, Carolina is 5-1 on the season. When he scores 10 or more in a game, the Gamecocks are 3-0.

• USC made the SEC semi-finals for the third time in five years with Odom, advancing to its first final under Odom and second overall in the SEC (1998).

• The eight assists by Tre’ Kelley in the Kentucky game are the most by a Gamecock in a SEC Tournament game. The previous high was six by Larry Davis (vs. LSU on 3/7/96), Chuck Eidson (vs. Alabama (3/9/00), and Aaron Lucas (vs. Tennessee, 3/10/00). Carolina won all four of those SEC Tournament games.

• USC turned the ball over just 37 times in the SEC Tournament (9.2 topg) – including seven times vs. Kentucky. Even more impressive, USC turned the ball over just four times in its win over MSU – the fewest turnovers since USC turned it over just four times in a 75-77 loss to Florida on Jan. 18, 2003.