March 2, 2011

The South Carolina men’s basketball team (14-13, 5-9 SEC) will host Tennessee (17-12, 7-7 SEC) on Thursday at Colonial Life Arena. The contest will serve as Senior Night for Gamecock seniors Johndre Jefferson and Sam Muldrow, while team managers Jonny Clark, Jim Manion and Tyler Williamson will also be honored prior to the 7 p.m. tip-off. The contest will be televised on ESPN with Rece Davis and Mark Gottfried on the call.

** Senior Night awards will begin at approximately 6:50 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Thursday, March 3, 2011
Tipoff: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Columbia, S.C.
Arena: Colonial Life Arena (18,000)
Series: Tennessee leads 34-23
Television: ESPN
Talent: Rece Davis (pxp), Mark Gottfried (analyst);
Jeff Neubarth (producer)
Radio: Gamecock Radio Network
(107.5 FM – Columbia/GamecocksOnline.com)
Talent: Andy Demetra (pxp), Casey Manning (analyst)
Live Stats: GamecocksOnline.com
Multimedia: ESPN3.com
Tickets: Tickets are available via the Gamecock Ticket Office (1-800-4SC-FANS)

Game Notes vs. Tennessee | Find The Gamecocks On TV

Carolina Quick Hits
– South Carolina is in its 103rd season of basketball.
– Thursday’s game vs. Tennessee will serve as senior night for Gamecock seniors Johndre Jefferson and Sam Muldrow, while team managers Jonny Clark, Jim Manion and Tyler Williamson will also be honored prior to tip-off.
– South Carolina will host UT on Thursday, and then make a quick turnaround for a 2 p.m. game at Mississippi State on Saturday in the regular-season finale for both schools.

– The Gamecocks most recently dropped a 64-48 decision at Georgia last Saturday. Redshirt-junior forward Malik Cooke paced Carolina with 11 points and nine rebounds in the contest.
– Cooke, an SEC Sixth Man of the Year candidate, has led Carolina in scoring in four of the last five games, and has tallied double-figures in each of the last five games, including a career high 22 points at Tennessee (Feb. 16).
– Freshman point guard Eric Smith dished a season-high seven assists vs. Ole Miss on Feb. 22.
– SEC Defensive Player of the Year candidate, senior forward Sam Muldrow became the all-time leader in South Carolina history with his four blocks vs. Georgia on Feb. 12. Muldrow now has 262 career blocks, which surpassed the previous high-water mark of 249 set by Brandon Wallace during the 2006-07 campaign.
– SEC All-Freshman Team candidate Bruce Ellington has seven 20-point games this season and one 30-point contest (at Furman).
– South Carolina ranks first in the SEC in overall games with 14.5 offensive rebounds per game, while in strictly SEC games, Carolina also leads the pack with 14.9 offensive boards per outing.
– South Carolina ranks fifth in the nation (Feb. 28 NCAA stats) and third in the SEC in blocked shots per game with 6.1 per outing. Muldrow ranks first in the SEC and fourth in the nation in blocks per game (3.3).
– The Gamecocks are 11-0 this season when leading at the halftime break. South Carolina held a halftime lead vs. Ole Miss at 38-34. It marked the first time the Gamecocks held a lead at the intermission since holding a 31-27 advantage at LSU on Feb. 2.
– In league play, the combination of Ellington, Muldrow, Galloway and Cooke account for 46.2 points per game, 72.0% of South Carolina’s offensive production.
– In home games, South Carolina has held its opponent to under 41% shooting in 10 of 16 contests. The Gamecocks held Ole Miss to just 36.9% (24-65) on Feb. 22.
– Senior forward Sam Muldrow recorded just the second triple-double in school history in the SEC opener win over No. 22/24 Vanderbilt, scoring 16 points, collecting a team-high 14 rebounds and blocking a career high 10 shots. It marked just the 21st triple-double in SEC history and the 11th all-time involving blocked shots.
– South Carolina is 94-111 (.458) in games played in the month of March. In those games, Carolina is 12-18 (.400) in SEC regular-season games, 16-19 (.457) in SEC Tournament games, 4-9 in the NCAA Tournament and 21-9 in the NIT.

Among Freshmen In The SEC
– In overall games … Bruce Ellington ranks fifth in points per game (13.1), sixth in rebounding (3.4), third in assists (3.3) and fifth in steals (1.0) … Damontre Harris ranks second in field goal percentage (59.4%), fourth in rebounding (3.6) and third in blocks per game (0.9).

Scouting Tennessee
– UT has lost five of its last seven games entering Thursday’s matchup vs. South Carolina. The Vols most recently dropped a 70-69 decision vs. Mississippi State in Knoxville.
– Junior forward Scotty Hopson paces the Vols with 17.6 points per game, which ranks fourth in the league in scoring. Freshman forward Tobias Harris adds 14.3 points per game, third among freshman in the league.
– Tennessee is 5-6 in games decided by five or less points this season.

Tennessee Series
– Tennessee holds a 34-23 upperhand in the all-time series between the two schools, however, the Gamecocks hold a 14-11 upperhand in games played in Columbia.
– Tennessee has won eight-straight games against South Carolina and three straight in Columbia.
– The last South Carolina win in the series came in an 81-64 victory on Feb. 17, 2007. The win marked South Carolina’s 100th since joining the SEC. Tre Kelley led the Gamecocks with 25 points in the contest. Carolina won the game despite being out-rebounded 37-28. South Carolina shot a stellar 53.7% (29-54) in the win.

Star Watch – Malik Cooke Emerges
– Redshirt-junior forward Malik Cooke has led the Gamecocks in scoring in four of the last five games, including a career high 22 points at Tennessee on Feb. 16.
– Cooke has led the team in scoring six times, rebounds 10 times and steals a team-best 10 times this season in overall games.
– Over the course of the last five games, Cooke averages 14.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.0 steals in 29.6 minutes per game.

By The Numbers
– 17.0 – Senior forward Sam Muldrow leads South Carolina in SEC home games with 17.0 points per game. He nearly averages a double-double with 9.4 rebounds in those contests, while he blocks 4.9 shots per contest.
– 1 – South Carolina was held to just one made 3 at Georgia last Saturday. It marked the fewest made 3’s in a contest for the Gamecocks since also making just one vs. Clemson on Dec. 2, 2006. A span of 146 games.
– 8 – Freshman forward RJ Slawson played a career high 26 minutes vs. Tennessee on Feb. 16. Slawson pulled down a season-best eight rebounds in the contest, which matched Malik Cooke for a Gamecock high.
– 73 – South Carolina’s 73 shot attempts vs. Tennessee on Feb. 16 were the most since attempting 75 vs. Vanderbilt on Jan. 8 in the SEC opener.
– 20 – South Carolina collected 20 points off of 16 Volunteer turnovers on Feb. 16, the most points off TO’s in an SEC contest this season. In SEC play, South Carolina averages 12.4 points per game off of turnovers.

Up Next For South Carolina
– South Carolina travels to Mississippi State on Saturday in the regular-season finale for both schools. The contest will be televised on ESPN2 and will tip-off at 2 p.m. ET.