_Gamecock Sports_
Kentucky loss reveals more problems
D AV I 6
Cloninger
I Who Else?
Damn, I hate losing to Kentucky.
Ever since the season sweep of the Wildcats in
the miraculous SEC Championship season of 1997,
the Gamecock men’s basketball team has lost to
Kentucky six straight times by an average of 20
points per game.
This trend was no different last Saturday as the
Gamecocks rebounded from a promising start and
an excellent game against Syracuse to lose 64-48
to the hated Wildcats.
Somehow, USC shot a sickening 27 percent for
the game, converting only 13 field goals (that means
two-point shots for the misinformed) and was held
to its lowest offensive output of the season.
I know middle school teams that can score more
than 13 field goals,'and 95 percent of them can do
it in the first half, instead of waiting the entire game.
How can two days make such a difference?
Last Thursday was a landmark night for the
team, taking No. 6 Syracuse to overtime before
falling behind 10 points early in the extra period.
However, USC wouldn't die, scoring eight
points in the final minute of play to make the score
a very respectable three-point loss.
In fact, if the Gamecocks could have converted
some fiee throws down the stretch, instead of look
ing like Shaquille O’Neal after an all-night bender
every time they toed the line, the overrated Or
angemen (what the hell is that, anyway?) would
have been defeated.
“No matter,” thought all the Carolina fans in
attendance. “Wfe’ll beat Kentucky, because they’re
not that good.”
This follows the same logic of former Cinci
natti Reds owner Marge Schott, who said,
“Hitler wasn’t such a bad guy. Everybody knows
he had the right idea at first.”
In a word, the thoughts were asinine.
The Wildcats came out and, behind center Ja
maal “the extra ‘a’ stands for a**hole”Magloire’s
15 points, thrashed the Gamecocks to an embarassing
and disheartening loss in front of 12,129 people
at Frank McGuire Arena.
"When is this kind of lackluster play going to end?
It seemed as if Carolina was playing in a fog
the whole night, missing easy layups, passing lazy
dying quails right into the arms of a waiting de
fender and basically letting the heterosexually
challenged Saul Smith run all over them.
At least USC has once again grabbed hold of
the treasured position of the bottom of the SEC,
and with games at No. 4 Auburn and Georgia, where
the Gamecocks always play like crap, looming,
this season could be down the toilet pretty
quickly if something doesn’t happen.
For one thing, why were Carolina’s best three
point shooters, Jamel Bradley and Travis Kraft,
mostly riding the bench against Kentucky, even
while USC was down 20?
USC was trying vainly to punch the ball into
the lane for centers Tony Kitchings and Marius Pe
travicius, but the ball was either a) was deflected
into another player, b) caught, laid up and
missed, c) booted out of bounds or d) passed back
out for a missed jump shot.
I’ll take e) all of the above for $300, Alex.
It seems to me that if the inside game isn’t work
ing, the 3-pointer might, just might be an option.
Sure, it may not work, but at least you can try.
With all of this knowledge at its disposal, the
USC coaching staff played Bradley and Kraft for
a combined 14 minutes. Kraft attempted three 3
pointers and made one, while Bradley didn’t shoot.
Makes sense, doesn’t it?
Also, the crowd at the Coliseum, specifically
the section known as the Cockpit, was chanting
shouts of derision at Kentucky assistant coach
George Felton, who used to coach here before
“leaving” USC for the bluegrass.
(I’ll keep that remark in quote marks because
the circumstances of that deal were widely debated.)
Anyway, just before halftime ended, Eddie Fogler
himself came over and told one person in the crowd
to shut his mouth or he would be thrown out.
This was probably the only good performance
of the night for any USC-related person, but it
came at the wrong time, in my opinion.
I applaud Eddie for what he did The fans were
unruly and classless for saying what they said,
and should have been chastised thoroughly.
Just not when your team’s down 14 points at
halftime, playing like their minds are in Tijuana
and should be sitting in the locker room, finding
out just how far a foot can travel up a rear end
before causing permanent damage.
In conclusion, I would just like to say that if
USC wants to have a good season, which they so
rightly deserve, just play with the same emotion
every game. Don’t get pumped because you took
one ranked team to the wire and you were he
roes for one day.
Otherwise, make preparations for spring break,
because the way things are looking now, the Game
cocks will be able to go to wherever instead of
playing in the postseason.
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Marrone, Gortman lead USC in loss
Women’s
from page B1
minute period With three and a half min
utes left on the clock, the Tennessee lead
was cut to 11 but that’s as close as USC
would come for the rest of the game.
In the end the last-minute effort paid
off for Carolina as they outscored the La
dy Vols 4543 in the second half.
“I was very proud of our team and
their efforts to come back in this game,”
Walvius said “I thought we played hard
and played good basketball, but I’d real
ly like to have that first 12 minutes back.
I think we could do a better job in those
first few runs.”
After adding sophomore Crishna Hill’s
two points to Morrone’s 12 and Penn’s 19,
the USC bench proved their depth by outscor
ing their Tennessee counterparts 33-19.
“Where we have to get better is in
other areas of the game,” Summitt said
“Particularly our transition defense, our
free throws and our bench play as well.
“Wfe had a 24-point lead, and then we
go to our bench and all of a sudden we’re
looking at an 18-point lead. You want to
be able to see people come off the bench
and you not lose anything as a team.”
After losing to top-ranked Georgia
78-51 on Monday night, the Lady Vols
fall to 3-1 in the SEC competition, plac
ing them third in the latest standings.
The Lady Gamecocks, after an 86-73
loss to seventh-ranked Mississippi State,
fall behind Arkansas to last place with an
0-3 record in the SEC.
Next up, Carolina will look to crack
its 17-game SEC losing streak while they
host Vanderbilt on Thursday at 6 p.m.
The team confidence level is the on
ly thing believed to be standing in their way.
“The SEC conference is a great
conference all around,” Whlvius said. “Al
most every time we step onto the court,
we play against a ranked opponent.
“We’ve got to overcome that intim
idation factor, and I think that we showed
in the second half that we are a good bas
ketball team and that we can play with
anybody.”
Sean Rayford Gamecock Sports
USC’s Kelly Mairone (left) scored 12 points against Tennessee, includ
ing four 3-pointers, three in the last five minutes. Shaunzinski Gortman
(right) had 14 points on the niqht
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