Nov. 26, 2006

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South Carolina, 3-1, travels to Charleston to play The Citadel, 2-5, in its third road game in four tries this season. It will be Carolina’s second straight trip to play at McAlister Field House in four years, leaving with a 70-38 win on Dec. 3, 2003 after Brandon Wallace collected his first career double-double (10 PT, 11 REB). USC will return home to host Clemson on Sat., Dec. 2 at 1 pm (FSN TV).

Carolina leads the all-time series 73-23 and hold a 27-13 mark in Charleston. The Citadel’s last win in the series came on Feb. 22, 1989 when the Bulldogs won 88-87 in the Carolina Coliseum.

The Bulldogs, coming off an 81-60 win over Ashbury Nov. 24, are led by Citadel graduate Ed Conroy (1989) and will only be playing at home for the third time in eight tries on Monday. The two already have a common opponent on their early going: USC defeated Southern California 80-74 in OT (11/16/06), while Southern California defeated The Citadel 74-58. Southern California will return the favor to both schools next season.

Three of USC’s starters average double figures in Tre’ Kelley (16.8 ppg), Brandis Raley-Ross (13.8 ppg) and Brandon Wallace (11.5 ppg) as compared to two for the Bulldogs: Donny McLendon (11.6 ppg) and Kevin Hammack (10.3 ppg).

The Citadel game can be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network with Mike Morgan (play-by-play) and Casey Manning (color analyst). It can also be heard via the internet at www.uscsports.com.

Carolina, 23-15 and 6-10 SEC last year, won its second straight post-season NIT title with a 76-64 win over Michigan. The two straight titles was a feat only matched by St. John’s in 1943 and 1944. The 23 wins tied Odom’s highest win total at Carolina (23 wins when they advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2004). It was USC’s fourth 20-win season in five years under Odom.

Been awhile

South Carolina will have had eight days off after its 75-68 win over Lipscomb (Nov. 19 – Nov. 27). The Gamecocks shot over 50 percent for the first time this year against the Bison, hitting 53.1 percent of their shots, including 33% from the three-point line and 86% from the charity stripe (18-21). USC had an eight day lay-off last year in November as well (Nov. 12 – Nov. 20).

Palmetto State Braggin’ Rights

South Carolina plays three straight games against Palmetto state foes in the next eight days beginning at The Citadel (Nov. 27), vs. Clemson (Dec. 2) and vs. College of Charleston (Dec. 5). The CofC game will feature the return of former USC great Bobby Cremins, now the Cougars head coach.

With the 55-52 win over SCSU, Dave Odom is 59-10 overall against all teams in the state of South Carolina — with its only losses coming to in-state rival Clemson. That total includes one game against the Gamecocks as well. The most wins come against Clemson as Odom is 22-10 against the Tigers and is 34-0 against the rest of South Carolina. USC finished at 3-1 vs. in-state teams last season.

Teddy Bears …

South Carolina tangles with Clemson on Sat., Dec. 2 at 1 pm and don’t blame the Gamecocks if they are looking for some revenge after the Tigers beat USC 82-63 last season at Clemson (Dec. 3, 2005).

Carolina basketball fans will have the opportunity to help Columbia children. Fans are being asked to bring a teddy bear to the Carolina – Clemson basketball game to toss onto the court at half time. All bears will be given to the Columbia City Police Department Victim’s Assistance Unit.

The first 200 fans to arrive with a teddy bear donation will receive a FREE T-shirt, courtesy of the Russell House Bookstore.

In addition, the first 500 fans in the door (teddy bear or not) will receive a free BEAT CLEMSON t-shirt.

Off the Bench

A majority of the scoring – 77 percent – has been done by Carolina starters and basically one player off the bench. The Carolina starting lineup has scored 201 of the team’s 262 points. The bench has posted 61 points in the four games thus far. Of those 61 points, freshman Brandis Raley-Ross has scored 55 of the 61 bench points (90%).

Climbin’

Tre’ Kelley scored his 1000th career point as a Gamecock in the win over Lipscomb. He is the 39th Gamecock to score 1,000 points in his career at USC. Kelley also played in his 3000th minute in the Garnet and Black in the LU game.

Kelley and Brandon Wallace are working on a number of career milestones this year. The following are some of the categories the two are working to move up in.

Tre’ Kelley

• He has 380 career assists and is No. 9 on the career list. He needs three assists to move to No. 7 (passing BJ McKie with 382 assists from 1996-99). The school record is 543 set by Melvin Watson from 1995-98.

• He is No. 9 with 116 career three-pointers and needs one more to be tied at No. 8. The school record is 264 set by Jamel Bradley fro 1999-2002.

• He is No. 6 with 365 career three-point attempts. He needs 16 to move up to No. 5 (370, Jo Jo English, 1989-92). Bradley is the record holder and attempted 686 during his career (1999-2002).

• With a successful season, he could enter the top 10 career lists for most games played (played in 109 games played; No. 10 is 121 by 3), most games started (77 games started; No. 10 is 101 by 2) and most minutes played (3037 minutes played; No. 10 is 3476 by 1).

Brandon Wallace

• He is currently No. 4 in career blocks with 171 He needs 55 blocks to move to No. 3 (Jeff Roulston, 226, 1989-92). The school record is 235 blocks by Danny Traylor (1971-73).

• With a successful season, he could enter the top 10 career lists for most games played (109 games played; No. 10 is 121 by 3).

SEC

Brandon Wallace leads the SEC in minutes played this season, playing an average of 38.3 mpg. and Tre’ Kelley is third at 36.3 mpg

Averaging 16.8 ppg, Kelley is currently No. 4 in scoring in the SEC. Wallace is No. 5 with 8.8 rpg among the SEC’s finest. Wallace is No. 5 in blocked shots (2 bpg) and Kelley is No. 6 in assists (4.8 apg).

Freshman Dominique Archie is tied for the SEC lead in offensive rebounds (4.0 offensive rpg).

Freshman Brandis Raley-Ross sits at No. 17 in the SEC with 13.8 ppg and No. 22 with 5.8 rpg..

USC is No. 2 in the SEC in free throw percentage (.757) behind the team’s leader from the charity stripe: Raley-Ross (19-24 at .792).

Taking Care

Florida and South Carolina were the only two schools in the nation last year to have its entire starting fi ve have a positive assist-turnover ratio – the other was South Carolina, as the NCAA and NIT champions were the only two school in the country to accomplish the feat. USC is off to a similar start this year, as all fi ve starters are once again posting positive assist-to-turnover ratios.

To end the 2006 season USC turned the ball over 64 times in its last seven games (9.1 topg) while its opponents turned it over almost twice as many times at 105 times (15 topg) during that span.

USC has picked up right where it left off last year. USC leads the TO War this season, averaging 9.8 topg while the competition has averaged 12.8 topg.

This season USC is 1-1 after posting 10 or fewer turnovers. USC did just that 13 times last year, posting an 11-2 record. All told under Odom USC has turned the ball over 10 or fewer times 46 times, posting a 33-13 record..

Double-Double

Dominique Archie scored his first double-double in win over Lipscomb. Archie was the first USC freshman to score 20+ points since Rolando Howell scored 20 points in a 78-65 loss to Kentucky in the SEC Tournament on March 9, 2001. He is also the first freshman to have a double-double since Brandon Wallace collected a double-double at The Citadel on Dec. 3, 2003 (10 PT, 11 REB). The 20 points was a career-high and he also recorded a career-high 10 rebounds.

It is the first double-double of the year for any Gamecock.

Not lost

Brandon Wallace recorded a career-high 20 points in the win over the Bison. His previous high was 19 points against Louisville on March 28, 06.

In addition, USC had four players in double figures vs. the Bison. Last time that happened: March 21, 2006 (at FSU, USC won 69-68 in OT).

20-20 plus

USC had two players score 20+ in the win over the Trojans with Kelley collecting 26 and Sheldon pouring in 22. USC followed that performance up with two more players scoring 20 points in the win vs. Lipscomb: Brandon Wallace and Dominique Archie.

It’s been awhile since USC had two players score 20 points each in a game back-to-back. Nine seasons to be exact. Nate Wilbourne and Melvin Watson both scored 20 points on Jan. 13, 1996 (Florida won 81-69) and then Wilbourne followed up with 21 points and Larry Davis scored 22 in USC 87-83 OT win over Vandy on Jan. 17, 1986. .