University of South Carolina Libraries
Inside: Schedule i The upcoming SEC Women’s Basketball u Men s baskatbal1 at Florida, 7 p.m. ■ Men’s tannis at Wake Forest, Thu. Tournament diagrammed, Clonmger die- a Sof(bal| at Nor1h Car0|ina (DH)i Thu r cusses the negative traits of Vince Carter ■ Women’s basketball vs. Vanderbilt (at SEC Tournament), Thu. Wednesday, Mabch i, 2000 “Wit ©HneCOCll ' / Gamecocks try to conquer Gators - by Shannon Rooke Sports Editor As if the USC men’s basketball team isn’t stressed enough. ^ ' It’s already bad that Carolina has to win its next two games in order to have any shot in the looming postseason tour naments. Now, they’ll have to face up against even more top-ranked teams that stand in their way of what would be one of the biggest season comebacks in SEC history. But it’s not like they haven’t had practice. Having played eight ranked opponents since December and losing 11 ti(Ties to teams ranked in the top 20 at game time, not winning against a nationally-ranked squad has become a con tinuous theme for the Gamecocks. This time, they’ll travel to Florida to take on the No. 8 Gators for a 7 p.m. game in the cursed O’Dome. South Carolina currently trails the series between the two teams 19-16 (12-7 since joining the SEC) and is coming off a three-game losing streak to the Gators. The Gamecocks now hold a 21-25 record in the Sunshine State, and a win against Florida would continue the momentum that South Carolina W seems to have found late in the season. When Gamecock faithfuls look back at the struggling sea son owned by Carolina, one thing they can say is at least they lose with honor. Eleven of USC’s 15 losses have been by eight points or less, including seven which have been decided by five points or less. Against ranked teams, USC lost by a combined 15 points to No. 4 Syracuse, No. 7 Auburn, No. 9 Michigan State and No. 20 Vanderbilt. Although Carolina is coming off a huge SEC win over Geor gia, Florida’s qualifications are nothing to shrug at. The Gators lead the SEC in such categories as scoring of fense (85.7 points per game), scoring margin (+18.4) and assists (17.63 per game) and come in second in areas such as 3-point ers (.369 percent), field goals (.494) and defensive rebounding (33.1 per game). USC does lead the Gators in defensive scoring, averaging 66.3 ppg which places them in fourth place in the SEC. UF comes in a close fifth with 67.3 ppg. Having won 22 regular season games so far this year, the Florida winning record is not to be overlooked. » For the first time in school history, the Gators have swept the SEC Wfestem Division. UF only needs to win one of their remaining two games tq capture the SEC title for the first time since 1989. A win against South Carolina also would break the school record of 23 games won in a single season, set in 1993-94. USC also stands in the way of the Gators tying their school record of league wins at 12 in a season. The last time they came this close, they went to divisional play in 1992. Florida has won 28 games in the O’Dome in the past two years and has earned some impressive spots when it comes to national rankings. Breaking the school record for number of weeks ranked in a row, the Gators have held a top 25 spot for 17 weeks straight. Currently they are eighth in the Associated Press poll, and with a win over their last two opponents, could climb even high er. A consistent topic within the SEC this year has been the youth of most of the men’s teams and how they’re holding up against their more experienced counterparts. With USC’s Chuck Eidson up for the SEC Freshman of the Year award, it’s more than likely he’ll create some waves of his own in Gainesville. Leading the SEC in steals with 3.07 per game, Eidson has earned a starting position for the Gamecocks - and isn’t the only rookie to do so. Teammates Tony Kitchings and Marius Petravicius are two more freshman starters who have been influences on the USC team. , Another young statistics leader has been sophomore Jamel Bradley who has led the Gamecocks in scoring for the past four games. With his 3-point shooting at its best, Bradley has reached double-figure scoring in six of the last seven games, averaging 13 PPg USC guard Aaron Lucas, who missed the first meeting be tween the two teams with a fractured bone in his right hand, re turned to action against Mississippi State and can look forward to helping himself to some of the game time being handed out by USC head coach Eddie Fogler. A year after starting four freshmen on opening day for the first time in school history, the Gators have used three differ ent lineups this season and have used the same lineup for the last nine games. The Gators also can spend some time brag ging about their own underclassmen players with a class of 11 freshmen or sophomores out of a roster of 15. Senior Kenyan Weaks bids farewell tonight to the Gator faithful. Wfeaks is the only Gator to play all four years under UF head coach Billy Donovan and has watched the program grow from being a 12-16 team the year before his arrival to being a captain on a team aiming to go far in postseason play. ; South Carolina at No. 8 Florida Probable starters South Carolina (12-15,4-10 SEC) 14 Herbert Lee Davis 50 Tony Kitchings 12 Marius Petravicius 10 Jamel Bradley 31 Chuck Eidson Head Coach Eddie Fogler Florida (22-5,11-3 SEC) 00 Brent Wright F 25 Major Parker F 50 UdontfHaslem C 5 Teddy Dupay G 13 Mike Miller G Head Coach Billy Donovan Location: Stephen C O’Connell Cotter (12,000) Time: 7 pjn. Television: None Rado: WVOC-560 AM Matthews earns Pitcher of Week Softball. Roundup Gamecock Sports Sophomore Megan Matthews earned the SEC Pitcher of the Week award for her outstanding play at the ^ GJjfclstone’s Tournament in Tampa, Fla., "last weekend. This is the first time the sopho more pitcher has earned the honor this season, but she tied a USC record last season by earning the honor three times. The Greer, S.C., native accom plished a 2-1 record in the tournament, helping USC to a 4-1 record and a tournament crown. Matthews also earned most valuable pitcher honors tor her performance on the mound. After throwing a no-hitter in her home-field debut, Matthews pitched 10 full innings in USC’s 2-1 win over No. 9 Michigan. The preseason All-American recorded 19 strikeouts in 24 innings last weekend and has 74 strikeouts in '6^inings so far this season. Matthews and the Lady Gamecocks m°ved to 9-5 with the strong week end showing. USC travels to Chapel Hill Thursday for a doubleheader against the Tar Heels at 3 p.m. The No. 18 USC squad doesn’t re ton* to Columbia until a March 11 matchup with Hofstra. Sean Rayford Gameock Sports Sophomore pitcher Meaan Matthews was named SEC Pitcher of the Sean Rayford Gameock Sports Marius Petra vici us tries to score over LSU’s Jabari Smith during the Gamecocks’ 64-59 loss to the Tigers Feb. 23. USC takes on No. 8 Florida tonight in Gainesville. Fabris leaves USC football for Browns Football Roundup Gamecock Sports Gamecock assistant football coach Jon Fabris announced Monday he will leave USC to join the Cleveland Browns’ coaching staff where he will work as special teams and defensive as sistant. Fabris, 42, came to USC from Kansas State last season to fill the po sitions of both special teams coordina tor and defensive ends coach. After an 0-11 season, thought was given to splitting the special teams du ties among several coaches to help the “disastrous” USC special teams, head coach Lou Holtz said. Fabris wouldn’t say whether that thought influenced his decision to leave. Earlier this month, Fabris turned down an offer from Southern Cal to be an assistant coach for the Trojans. But his decision to become an assistant to two assistant coaches at Cleveland has raised some eybrows, especially since Fabris said coaching in the National Football League wasn’t an attraction to him. At Cleveland,JFabris will assist spe cial teams coach Mark Michaels. How OVOr ho:ul rnnrll Pliric Pnlmnr Ivic m\l_ FABRIS decided whether Fabris will work with the defensive line or linebackers. Earning about $90,000 a year, Fab ris not only was one of USC’s highest paid coaches overall, but he also was the highest-paid non-coordinator. He made only $5,000 less than defensive coordinator Charlie Strong. Moving around has been an im portant part of Fabris’ life. Ohio will mark the 11th state and fourth time zone in which Fabris will have lived. The Gamecocks now will have to decide whether to continue using a spe cial teams coordinator or to find other ways to coach individual positions. Baseball South Carolina’s baseball squad was awarded in the national polls Monday by jumping up from their previous No. 18 ranking. The Collegiate Baseball poll moved the 12-0 Gamecocks fair spots to No. 14, while Baseball America granted them the No. 16 spot. Next the team will play Radford in a three-game weekend series. The first game is scheduled to begin Friday at 3 p.m. at Sarge Frye Field. If Coach Ray Tanner’s Gamecocks win two games against Radford, they will break the previous record of 13 straight wins to start a season, set in 1980 by Coach June Raines’ NCAA squad. The longest overall winning streak in Car olina history is 17 games, set in 1975 by coach Bobby Richardson. That team end ed the season with a 51-6 regular season record and advanced to the finals of the College Wbrld Series. Men’s basketball Tlie cliampionship game of the SEC tournament has beci. changed to a 1 p.m. tipoff. The game will be televised na