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Nov. 3, 2010

Coach Horn

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Led by third-year head coach Darrin Horn, South Carolina will host Kentucky Wesleyan in exhibition action at Colonial Life Arena on Thursday. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. Admission is free, while parking is $5.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Thursday, November 4, 2010
Tipoff: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Columbia, S.C.
Arena: Colonial Life Arena (18,000)
Series: Series is tied, 1-1
Television: None
Radio: None
Live Stats: GamecocksOnline.com
Tickets: Admission is free; parking is $5

Game Notes Get Acrobat Reader

Carolina Quick Hits
– South Carolina enters its 103rd season of basketball in 2010-11.
– South Carolina owns an all-time record of 1,273-1,112-1, with its lone tie coming during the 1913-14 season vs. Newberry.
– The Gamecocks are led by third-year head coach Darrin Horn.
– South Carolina will play 13 non-conference contests this season, followed by 16 Southeastern Conference games.
– The 2009-10 Gamecocks concluded their 19th season of competition in the SEC with a 6-10 record. South Carolina owns an overall record of 122-182 all-time in SEC play.
– For the third-consecutive season, South Carolina will open its season with an exhibition contest against Kentucky Wesleyan. The Gamecocks defeated the Panthers 75-55 during the 2008-09 campaign, and earned a 78-55 win over KWU last season.
– Carolina was 11-5 in contests at Colonial Life Arena last season.
– South Carolina head coach Darrin Horn holds a 6-11 career record against ranked opponents, including a 5-7 mark against ranked teams during his time at South Carolina.
– Last season, South Carolina earned its first-ever win over a top-ranked opponent when the Gamecocks earned a victory over then-No. 1 Kentucky.

Gamecocks Return Five Letterwinners
– South Carolina returns five letterwinners from its 2009-10 squad, including senior forwards Sam Muldrow and Johndre Jefferson, sophomore guards Ramon Galloway and Stephen Spinella, and sophomore forward Lakeem Jackson. Muldrow is the top returner in terms of points per game (10.4), rebounds (6.2) and blocks (3.1).

South Carolina Welcomes Top 25 Recruiting Class In 2010-11
– Gamecock head coach Darrin Horn and his staff signed a highly-touted recruiting class, which begins its first season in Columbia in the fall of 2010. The class, ranked as high as No. 17 by Scout.com, features four native South Carolinians in Bruce Ellington, RJ Slawson, Carlton Geathers and Eric Smith. North Carolina natives Damontre Harris and Brian Richardson complete the class. Below is a breakdown of the student-athletes:

Ellington: Consensus four-star prospect… Rated as the No. 56 overall prospect and the No. 12 point guard in the country by Scout.com … No. 96 overall prospect and No. 24 point guard by Rivals.com … No. 21 point guard according to ESPN.com
Geathers: Averaged 10.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game as a senior … Only played two years of organized basketball
Harris: Four-star prospect … Rated as the No. 53 overall prospect and the No. 12 center in the country according to Scout.com … No. 64 prospect overall and No. 15 power forward by Rivals.com … Rated No. 68 overall and No. 6 center according to ESPN.com
Richardson: Three-star prospect … No. 47 shooting guard according to Scout.com … Averaged 19.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and shot 40 percent from beyond the arc as a senior
Slawson: A consensus four-star prospect … Rated No. 92 overall prospect and No. 18 power forward in the country by Scout.com … No. 117 overall and No. 24 power forward by Rivals.com … No. 83 overall and No. 19 power forward according to ESPN.com … Named the South Carolina Boys Gatorade Player of the Year and Region 8 4A Player of the Year
Smith: No. 47 point guard according to Scout.com … Averaged 13.5 points, 2.6 3-point field goals and 3.3 assists per game as a senior

Head Coach Darrin Horn
– Darrin Horn enters his third season in Columbia with a career record of 147-74, including a 36-26 mark at South Carolina. Following the 2010 SEC campaign, Darrin Horn-led teams are 73-37 (.664) all-time in league play. Horn led Carolina to a 10-6 record in SEC action during his first year in Columbia and a 6-10 mark in his second. Horn led Carolina to one of the most celebrated seasons during its 18-year participation in the SEC during the 2009 campaign, as the squad captured the 2009 SEC Eastern Division Co-Championship and won double-digit league games for the first time since the 1998 campaign. His 2010 squad earned an upset win over No. 1 Kentucky and No. 13/19 Vanderbilt.

Muldrow Aims For Block Record
– Senior forward Sam Muldrow is just 78 blocks away from surprassing Brandon Wallace (249) for first place in Gamecock history in career blocks, as Muldrow enters the season with 172 for his career. He ranks second in the record book with 2.15 blocks per game.

Did You Know?
– Just one player on this season’s roster, senior Sam Muldrow, has played at South Carolina under Darrin Horn for more than one year. Fellow senior Johndre Jefferson was a junior college transfer prior to last season, redshirt-junior Malik Cooke, who will play his first season in the Garnet and Black after sitting out the 2009-10 campaign due to NCAA transfer rules, will provide some veteran leadership, while sophomores Ramon Galloway, Lakeem Jackson and Stephen Spinella begin their second season under the direction of Horn. Along with six newcomers, junior Murphy Holloway, a walk-on from Ole Miss, will sit this season due to NCAA transfer rules.

Non-Conference Schedule
– Contests against four teams that competed in the 2010 NCAA Tournament highlight the 2010-11 South Carolina men’s basketball non-conference schedule. Following the 2009-10 campaign that saw South Carolina tackle one of its more challenging schedules in recent years, Horn and his staff aimed for another highly-competitive mark in 2010-11. Carolina will host nine non-conference contests, and will face seven schools that compiled at least 18 wins, including three that tallied at least 25. The Gamecocks will face four BCS schools during the coming non-conference season, including home contests with Clemson and Boston College, and challenging away matchups at Michigan State and Ohio State, marking the first time South Carolina has faced two Big Ten schools in one season since playing both Indiana and Purdue during the 1998-99 campaign.

Gamecock Coaching Staff
– Joining Darrin Horn on the sidelines this season is third-year assistant coach Mike Boynton Jr., second-year assistant Neill Berry and Orlando Early, who is in his first season at South Carolina. Former assistant Cypheus Bunton has moved to the director of player development role, while Trey Brown, a former head manager for the Gamecocks, will serve as the graduate assistant.

Gamecocks In The SEC
– South Carolina has collected 16 victories over the course of the last two SEC seasons. It marks the highest total in back-to-back league campaigns since the combination of the 1997 and 1998 seasons (26) and is the third highest total ever in back-to-back SEC seasons (1996+97, 23 wins; 1997+98, 26 wins).