Feb. 20, 2007

Coach Odom Previews Florida Game

Winning its 100th career SEC game since joining the SEC last Saturday, South Carolina travels to No. 3 Florida on Wed., Feb. 21 for an 8 pm match-up with the Gators. Florida won the earlier match-up on Jan. 13, 84-50, after USC swept the season series last year.

Carolina is attempting to win its second consecutive game in Gainesville. The Gamecocks defeated Florida 71-67 on Feb. 8, 2006 behind Tre’ Kelley’s 17 and Tarence Kinsey’s 16. Bryce Sheldon introduced himself to the rest of the SEC that night when he came off the bench to score 14. If USC were to knock off the defending national champions it would be the first time the Gamecocks have won consecutive games in Gainesville since USC defeated Florida 80-79 on Jan. 15, 1997 and then exactly nine years ago — a 79-74 win on Feb. 21, 1998.

The USC-UF will be broadcast on LFS-TV with Tim Brando and Barry Booker making the call. The match-up can be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network with Mike Morgan (play-by-play) and Casey Manning (color analyst) and broadcast over the airwaves on Sirius channel No. 121. It can also be picked up via the internet at www.uscsports.com.

USC, 13-12 and 3-9 in the SEC, plays a 24-3 Florida team that has posted an 11-1 record in the SEC this year. USC defeated Tennessee on national television 81-64 on Sat., Feb. 17 behind Tre’ Kelley’s 25 points. Florida lost for the first time in 18 tries at Vanderbilt 83-70 the same afternoon.

Florida has all five starters in double figures: Green (13.6), Brewer (13.0), Noah (12.7), Horford (12.6) and Humphrey (10.2). USC has two scoring double digits (Kelley, 18.3 and Wallace, 10.3). Wallace paces USC with 9.6 boards per game, which is second in the SEC, while Horford (8.8 rpg) and Noah (8.0 rpg) bang for the Gators on the boards. Wallace leads USC with 2.8 bpg and is second in the SEC with that tally. Kelley leads the Gamecock charge with 5.0 apg.

Flat out scoring!

Tre’ Kelley has scored 21+ points in each of the last four games to average more than 25 ppg during that span. He has 103 points in those four to bring his season scoring average up to 18.3 ppg and he now sits at No. 2 in overall SEC play. His 20.3 ppg in league play are tops in the SEC.

If he ended the season at 18.3 ppg overall that would be the most for a Gamecock since BJ McKie scored 18.8 ppg in 1997-98 – the same year McKie led the SEC in scoring. If Kelley pushes his average over 20 points per game, he would be the first Gamecock to do so since Zam Fredrick scored 28.9 per game in the 1980-81 campaign.

Kelley has scored 1379 points and dished out 482 assists during his career. He is No. 15 on the career points list and No. 3 on the career assists list. He needs 5 points to pass Zam Fredrick (1383, 1977-1981) and 22 to pass Kevin Joyce (1400, 1970-73) to sit at No. 13. On his radar to hit the top 10: Melvin Watson at No. 12 (1424, 1994-98), Jo Jo English at No. 11 (1439, 1988-1992) and Terry Dozier at No. 10 (1445, 1985-89).

Kelley is looking to become just the third Gamecock to post 1000 points and 500 assists in his career. Jack Gilloon (1975-78) posted 533 assists and scored 1027 points while Melvin Watson (1995-98) was the second player to do so with 1424 points and 543 assists. Kelley needs to average a little less than four assists a game over the next five games to join those two former Gamecocks.

If Kelley would hit 1500 points (he’d need to averaged 24 ppg in the next six games) and finish with 500 assists, he would be the first player in USC history to accomplish that feat in 99 years of Gamecock basketball.

Bryce and the 3 ball

Bryce Sheldon is 51-of-117 from three point range this season (44%). His overall shooting percentage is 39% (69-of-179 from the field). Entering the game against the Gators, the 44% is the third best 3 point % in a season in school history. The only Gamecock to hit better than 44% in a season is Brent Price with 49% (68-of-139) in 1989 and .44% (49-of-112) in 1988.

The very most the last 3 years, but not so many this year

USC played in the more games than any other SEC team in the last three years (2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06). USC leads the pack with 105 games played with an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2004 and two NIT Championships in 2005 and 2006. Florida is second at 102 and Kentucky is third with 101 games played.

But, besides Kelley and Wallace, who had started 73 games and 61 games, respectively – the cupboard was pretty bare of other USC starters from those three years. Besides the seniors, gone was 2006 NBA first round draft pick Renaldo Balkman, who started 40 games in his three-year Gamecock career. Dwayne Day came into this season with 10 career starts and Bryce Sheldon entered the year with just one career start. Of the 525 ‘players’ needed to start those 105 games, USC only returned only 145 starts (28%).

In comparison, Florida needed 510 ‘players’ to start those 102 games over the last three years. The Gators returned 267 of those starts this season with over 52% of their starts returning from the last three years.

One time! And 3s by Odom

Carolina shot 53.7% against the Vols on Feb. 17. It was the second best shooting percentage on the season (56% at The Citadel) USC has shot over 50% five times this season and is 5-0 in those games.

Carolina hit 13 three-pointers vs. UT as well. That tied their season high for most three’s in a game and it is also tied for the sixth most three’s hit in a game by USC. The USC record for most three’s in a game is 15 against Cincinnati on Feb. 15, 1997. If you take a look at the games where USC has hit 13 or more three’s in school history, Coach Dave Odom has coached seven of the 11 games.

Carolina’s shot 20 or more 3 pointers in a game 18 times this year. The 31 three-point attempts vs. Auburn were a season-high and tied for fourth-most in USC history in a game and the 30 at Kentucky were eighth all-time in school history. The previous season-high was 29 at SoCal.

Carolina shot 46.4% from beyond the arc vs. UT was also a season high. The previous season high from 3 point land was 46.2% at Alabama.

Joining just Alex

Entering Wednesday’s contest with Florida, Brandon Wallace has 732 rebounds and 231 blocked shots in his career. The only other Gamecock to have at least 700 rebounds and 200 blocked shots in his career was Alex English. (1973-76) English grabbed 1064 rebounds and blocked 230 shots.

Nationally; Not a lot a TO

As of Feb. 18 on the national rankings list, Brandon Wallace is No. 12 in blocked shots and No. 17 in rebounds. He is No. 2 blocked shots and rebounds in the SEC. Nationally Tre’ Kelley is No. 51 in assists and moved up to No. 52 with 18.3 ppg.

As a team on the national scene USC is No. 7 in fouls with 14.6 per game and No. 9 in turnovers with 11.4 per game. USC is also No. 49 in blocked shots per game (4.5 bpg) and No. 62 in 3s (7.7 3pg).

Carolina has turned the ball over nine times or fewer in a game eight times this season. Against Tennessee Carolina turned the ball over eight times with five coming in the first half and three in the second half. USC committed its fifth turnover of the game with 6:23 remaining in the first half and it did not commit another turnover until the 1:04 mark in the second half.

Archie Following Dominique Archie is second on the team with 126 rebounds and 18 blocked shots. Archie tied his career high with three blocked shots on Feb. 10 against Georgia. He recorded three blocks against Southern California and Lipscomb earlier this season. Archie, a red-shirt freshman, is third on the team with 8.7 ppg.

Dreamboat

Make your plan, work your plan. Brandon Wallace had a goal this season – break the career blocked shots record and he’s just four blocks from his goal! The record is 235 by Danny Traylor (1971-73). Wallace will need about 1.0 bpg, if you figure five games at the minimum left on the schedule, as he has tallied 231 career blocks prior to the UF game. Wallace pasted Alex English (No. 2, 230, 1973-76) during the win over UT when he picked up four blocks to move to No. 2 all-time with 231.

Wallace has 68 blocks this year and that ties him for the sixth-most in a season for a Carolina player (Jeff Roulston had 68 in 1990). Wallace’s 73 blocks in 2006 were the fourth most in Carolina history.

With at least five games remaining, if he could average less than two blocks a game he would have two of the top five spots in most blocked shots in a season.

The most blocked shots in a season are Danny Traylor with 122 in 1972 and his 1973 total of 113 is the second most. If Wallace does average two blocks a game over the next five games Wallace and Traylor would hold four of the five top spots for most blocked shots in a season and it would also make Wallace the all-time career record holder in blocked shots with Traylor falling to second.

Moving On Up

Tre’ Kelley and Brandon Wallace continue to climb the career record paths as both are working on a number of career milestones this year. With their play at Florida, Wallace will have played in 131 career games (No. 2 all-time) Kelley is No. 2 with 130 games played. Carlos Powell has the school record with 132 games played (2001-05). Both Wallace and Kelley could top Powell’s record before the end of the year.

Trio • Tre’ Kelley has scored double digits in all but two games this season (4 vs. CofC and 9 at UGA). He leads the team with 18.3 ppg. Against UT Kelley scored in double figures for the 22nd time this year and the 65th time in his career. His 36 points at UK were the most for a Gamecock in SEC regular season play, only topped by BJ McKie’s 37 in the SEC Tournament semi-finals in 1998. He has 4+ AST in 17 games this year, including a season-high eight assists four times.

• Kelley has attempted 20 or more shots in six games this season. (Southern Cal, Baylor, Princeton, Florida, Kentucky, Georgia) Entering this season, Kelley took 20 or more shots in only one game. (March 21, 2006 NIT Game vs. Florida State).

• Kelley also leads the team with 121 assists on the season, averaging 5.0 apg. He is looking to become the fourth Gamecock to ever lead the team in assists in three consecutive seasons (Jack Gilloon, Michael Foster, Melvin Watson). He led the SEC in assists last season.

• Brandon Wallace is averaging 9.6 rebounds per game, snaring 8+ REB in 20 games this year, including 11+ in 10 games. He pulled down a career-best 16 rebounds at Mississippi State and a career-high 10 offensive rebounds vs. Arkansas.

• Wallace is looking to lead the team in blocks for the third consecutive season. He would become the fifth Gamecock to accomplish that. (Alex English, Mike Brittain, Jeff Roulston, Tony Kitchings). He has blocked 68 shots, (2.7 bpg). On track to break the school record set by Danny Traylor (235, 1971-73), he would have to average one bpg in the next four SEC games + one SEC Tournament game.

• Bryce Sheldon has 2+ 3’s in 11 games this year, including a career-high six 3’s in the Gamecocks win at Southern California on Nov. 16. He has scored 20+ points twice this season. He has started nine straight games, scoring double figures six times during that span.

20+, 30+

Carolina has had five different players post 20 or more points in a game this season with Tre’ Kelley being the most recent vs. Tennessee when he scored 25 points. He was the first Gamecock since Carlos Powell to put 30+ (Kelley, 36 at UK) on the board when Powell scored 30 against Ole Miss on Senior Day in 2005. Kelley has netted 20+ 11 times, Brandon Wallace and Bryce Sheldon twice and Dominique Archie and Evka Baniulis both once. Baniulis scored 21 including hitting 5 of 8 from beyond the arc in the 80-75 loss to Auburn.

In 2006 USC only had three different players to score 20+ in a game (Kelley, Tarence Kinsey and Renaldo Balkman).

Winning vs. Losing

USC is 4-8 after a loss this season. The Gamecocks were 8-6 following a loss last season, they were 8-3 in 2004-05 and 6-4 in 2003-04.