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April 11, 2006

Columbia, SC – In the final RPI poll (April 4), USC’s basketball team finished the year at No. 36, moving up from No. 62 (March 12) prior to its run to the NIT title. USC finished the year with a strength of schedule ranking
of No. 8 nationally – its highest ranking since collegerpi.com began keeping statistics (1993-94).
Only four other SEC teams finished ahead of USC in the final RPI, including NCAA champion Florida who USC swept during the season: Florida (No. 4), LSU (No. 7), Tennessee (No. 8), and Kentucky (No. 29). In last week’s final USA Today Coaches poll USC received votes as the only non-NCAA Tournament team in the poll. In SOS, only two teams finished ahead of USC: Tennessee (No. 2) and LSU (No. 7).

USC finished in the top 50 of four NCAA categories as a team, including No. 6 in fouls per game and No. 13 in turnovers per game. USC players were also ranked in three categories individually, including Tarence Kinsey (No. 45 in free throw %), Tre’ Kelley (No. 77 in assists) and Brandon Wallace (No. 52 in blocked shots).

USC (NIT) and Florida (NCAA) swept the post-season tournaments. It is believed that USC is the only NIT champion to sweep the NCAA champion in its season series. It is only the fourth time a conference swept both the NCAA and NIT and the first time since 2003 (Big East).

In addition, in statistics released by the NCAA on April 10, USC’s basketball team exceeded the national average
in 12 categories this season as compared to 11 last year. In addition, USC posted better numbers in 12 categories as compared to the 2004-05 Gamecock basketball team (see page two for complete results).

Please see the following statistics (NCAA provided national avg., USC provided USC avg.)

Final 2005 National Avg. Final 2005 USC Final 2006 National Avg. Final 2006
USC
No. of Teams 326 326
Games 29.94 33* 30.06 38*
FGM 24.42 25.81* 24.43 25.44*
FGA 55.69 55.85* 55.59 55.28
FG% 43.85% 46.2%* 43.94% 46.0%*
3FGM 6.37 4.97 6.44 6.89*
3FGA 18.33 15.30 18.43 19.94*
3FG% 34.73% 32.5% 34.95% 34.6%
2FGM 18.05 20.84* 17.99 18.55*
2FGA 37.36 40.55* 37.16 35.34
2FG% 48.32% 51.4%* 48.40% 52.4%*
FTM 14.01 11.97 13.88 9.97
FTA 20.39 19.52 20.09 14.71
FT% 68.68% 61.3% 69.12% 67.8%
Points Scored 69.21 68.6 69.17 67.8
Opponents Points Scored 64.6 62.6
Personal Fouls 18.59 16.85* 18.40 14.42*
Rebounds 34.88 34.5 34.71 32.0
Assists 13.65 13.27 13.66 14.61*
Blocked Shots 3.31 4.30* 3.34 4.97*
Steals 7.21 7.61* 7.11 7.68*
Turnovers 14.67 12.61* 14.66 11.84*

Key
Bold – Increases for USC this year
* = Exceeds national average

NCAA Final Team Leaders, Top 100 Individuals

Team (top 50 in bold) Category USC Rank Actual National Leader Actual
Scoring Offense (326 ranked) 185 67.8 Long Beach St. 83.3
Scoring Defense (326 ranked) 42 62.6 Air Force 54.7
Scoring Margin (326 ranked) 77 5.2 Tex. A&M-Corp. Chris 15.0
Field-Goal Percentage (326 ranked) 61 46.0 Tex. A&M-Corp. Chris 50.1
Field-Goal Percentage Defense (326 ranked) 150 43.3 Kansas 37.0
Three-Point FG Per Game (326 ranked) 109 6.9 Troy 11.9
Three-Point FG % (288 ranked) 167 34.6 Southern Utah 42.9
Free-Throw Percentage (326 ranked) 215 67.8 St. Joseph’s 79.9
Rebound Margin (326 ranked) 181 0.2 Texas 10.6
Assists Per Game (326 ranked) 102 14.6 Tex. A&M-Corp. Chris 19.6
Blocked Shots Per Game (326 ranked) 28 5.0 Connecticut 8.8
Steals Per Game (326 ranked) 92 7.7 Houston 12.4
Won-Lost Percentage (326 ranked) 103 60.5 George Washington 90.0
Turnovers Per Game (326 ranked) 13 11.8 Temple 7.7
Personal Fouls Per Game (326 ranked) 6 14.4 West Virginia 12.7

Individual (100 ranked)

Category PlayerRankActualNational LeaderActual
Free-Throw % Tarence Kinsey 45 84.3 Blake Ahearn, Mo.St. 93.6
Assists Per Game Tre’ Kelley 77 4.6 Jared Jordan, Marist 8.5

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