Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Gamecock Sports Schedule ■ Women’s basketball vs. Akron at Carrier Classic, Friday, 1 pm ■ Diving vs. College of Charleston, Friday, 2:30 p.m. ■ Volleyball vs. George Washington in NCAA Tournament, Friday, 5 p.m. ■ Men’s basketball at Charlotte, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. USC to go to Outback or Peach Bowl i by Kyle Almond The Gamecock t Gamecock fans will find themselves in a strange position this Saturday. Instead of cheering on Phil Petty, Jermale Kelly and the rest of USC’s football team, most South Carolina sup porters will be rooting for the enemy — Rex Grossman, Jabar Gaffney and SEC East rivals Florida. Officials from the Outback Bowl announced Wednesday they would ex tend their invitation to either Florida or South Carolina, depending on the out come of Saturday’s SEC Championship game between the Gators and Auburn. If SEC East champion Florida wins, they will earn a spot in a BCS bowl, Auburn will play in the Citrus Bowl and. the Gamecocks will play in the Out back. If Auburn wins, they will get the BCS berth, Tennessee will go to the Cit rus, Florida will go to the Outback j and the Gamecocks will slip to the Peach Bowl. The best case scenario for most Gamecock fans would have USC play ing in the Outback Bowl, a morepres tigious, higher paying bowl that begins the New Year’s Day bowl line-up. The Outback Bowl is played in Tam pa, Fla., at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buc caneers. Whoever gets the bid will play No. 19 Ohio State. The Peach Bowl will be played on Dec. 29 in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. Georgia Tech has already accepted an invitation. ‘The University of South Caroli na is thrilled about the possibility of playing in the Outback Bowl in Tam pa,” USC athletics director Mike McGee said. “Although we understand that this is a provisional invitation, on behalf of the university, athletics program and fans, we look forward to what we ful ly expect will be a terrific experience for all Gamecocks.” The Outback Bowl’s decision comes after the Citrus Bowl’s announcement that they would take Tennessee if Auburn wins on Saturday. Citrus Bowl officials had already said they would take Auburn if Florida wins. “We’re in a no-lose situation with two fine teams to match against Ohio State,” Outback Bowl chairman Chuck Riggs said of Florida and USC. “It would be the first time for either of these teams to play in our bowl, and I can assure them they will have a great time in the Tampa Bay area.” USC head coach Lou Holtz was happy with the provisional bid, but said it really didn’t matter to him which bowl the Gamecocks played in. “On behalf of the Gamecock foot ball team, we are honored to have be fore us the opportunity to represent the SEC against the Big Ten Conference in the Outback Bowl,” Holtz said. “As a coach, I get excited about having the opportunity to lead our team to the Out back Bowl against a team the caliber of Ohio State. I can assure you I will feel equally excited should circumstances place us in the Peach Bowl against an outstanding Georgia Tech team.” “We are definitely in a win-win sit uation,” Holtz added. Saturday’s SEC title game is a re match of an earlier meeting this season. Florida blew out the Tigers, 38-7, in Gainesville on Oct 14. Grossman threw five touchdown passes in the rout. Saturday’s game, which will be held in the Georgia Dome, can be seen at 4:30 p.m. on ABC. Auburn holds a slight advantage in the overall series, 39-36 2, The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Sean Rayford The Gamecock USC running back Andrew Pinnock fights through Georgia tacklers in a game earlier this season. Pinnock and the Gamecocks are headed for the Outback Bowl if Florida can win the SEC Championship game this Saturday. If Auburn wins, Carolina will play in the Peach Bowl. Sluggish South Carolina holds off Mercer, 71-57 by Kyle Almond The Gamecock USC was able to win their third straight game Wednesday night, but you wouldn’t know it by listening to head coach Eddie Fogler. “The game was not played very well on our part,” Fogler said. “We’ve got to play a lot bet ter than that.” Fogler was not pleased with his team’s in tensity. “I don’t know why we aren’t playing with emotion or confidence,” he said. “We look slow, we don’t react and we seem to get dis couraged when things don’t go our way.” Despite their struggles, the Gamecocks were able to defeat the Mercer Bears at Frank McGuire Arena, 71-57. With the win, USC im proved to 3-1 on the season, while Mercer dropped to 1-2. After the game, even the players said they should pick up their level of play. “We know our abilities,” sophomore Chuck Eidson said, “and not to show it must be dri ving Coach (Fogler) crazy. It’s definitely dri ving us crazy.” “If we knew the answer (to playing better), we’d be doing it,” senior David Ross said. USC has had trouble this season with its early season non-conference opponents. It re ceived a wake-up call in its season opener against Tennessee Tech, when the Golden Eagles up set the Gamecocks, 73-67. Carolina continued to have problems against Mercer, especially in the early going. The Game cocks fell behind by seven points after three minutes of play and didn’t take their first lead of the game until about 11 minutes into the first half. Sloppy passes and turnovers by USC also kept the game tight through most of the first half. Carolina finished with 14 turnovers in the game. A12-0 scoring run by the Gamecocks right before the half put them ahead by 10. Mercer became ice cold from the field, going over sev en minutes without scoring. In the second half, USC continued to keep the Bears at a distance. Sophomore forward Calvin Clemmons came out of the locker room fired up, scoring all 10 of his points in the second half. His back-to back dunks extended the lead to 15. Mercer’s Josh Sagester hit a three-pointer with four minutes remaining to cut the lead to nine, but solid free-throw shooting by the Gamecocks down the stretch assured that would be the closest Mercer would get. Carolina hit 13 of 14 from the free-throw line. Edson led the Gamecocks with 12 points and five assists in the game. Clemmons added eight rebounds to go with his 10 points. Ross came off the bench to score 11 points. Sophomore Scott Emerson led Mercer with 14 points and seven rebounds. The Gamecocks’ next game looks to be their toughest test yet. USC plays at UNC Charlotte on Saturday. Ross knows his team will have problems if they don’t show improvement. “If we don’t come out ready to play on Sat urday, we’re going to get (a loss) handed to us,” he said. Clemmons isn’t concerned. “I’m not worried,” he said. “It’s early in the season. Wfejust need to keep our heads and keep playing hard.” “We need to relax, have fun and play bas ketball. If we play like we know how to, we will be all right.” The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Carolina to face toughest test of season at Charlotte by Michael Haney The Gamecock South Carolina will look to extend its three game winning streak tomorrow as they travel to Char lotte to face the UNC-Charlotte 49ers. This is the Gamecocks’ first road game of the sea son, but the team is no stranger to playing away from home. The team traveled to Spain this summer for a two-week trip and played professional teams from all around the Iberian Peninsula. The Gamecocks (3-1) have bounced back from a shocking opening loss to Tennessee Tech to win three straight games over Wofford, South Carolina State and Mercer. The 49ers (3-1) have shown they will be a force to be reckoned with this season. The team won its opening game in the CoSida Classic in Raleigh, then beat N.C. State handily to bring home the tournament title. Charlotte suffered its only defeat in its follow ing game off a last-second shot by St. Bonaventure, but the 49ers rebounded to defeat Miami (Fla.) by 30 earlier this week. Charlotte’s play and USC’s lackluster start have Carolina head coach Eddie Fogler concerned. Fogler calls his team’s performance so far this season “sluggish.” “It’s like we’re in slow motion,” the coach said of his team’s play. “If we don’t show up to play (against Charlotte), we’re going to get blown out,” senior David Ross said. “(Charlotte has) got a kid named (Rodney) White who is absolutely terrific,” Fogler said. “They are excellent. They are a very, very good basketball team.” Ineligible last season, White played at Newport Prep in Maryland instead. There he averaged 20 points and over 10 rebounds per game. So far this season, White is keeping up with last season’s pace, averag ing 20 points and six rebounds to help lead the 49ers. White teams with Cam Stephens to form a for midable 49er frontcourt. Stephens is averaging almost a double-double each game, with 11.5 points and nine rebounds. Carolina will have to also watch out for 49er guard Demon Brown on the perimeter. He is 16 of 32 in three point shots. Diego Guevara is also a go6d shooter from three-point range and is a clutch shooter. The Char lotte backcourt rounds out with Jobey Thomas, an other accurate threat from the outside. Chuck Eidson is the only Gamecock in double fig ‘If we don’t show up to play (against Charlotte), we’re going to get blown out.’ David Ross (JSC forward ures, averaging 12 points a game, but six more play ers are averaging at least seven points a game. Eidson hopes the team can play up to its poten tial Saturday. ‘They are a real good team,” Eidson said of UNC Charlotte. “Hopefully we can show Gamecock fans what we’re made of. We’ll find out Saturday.” The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Clemson makes it six straight vs. USC by Chris Foy The Gamecock The South Carolina Lady Gamecocks, fresh off a trip to Cancun, tried Wednesday night to get something that had elud ed them for the past five years: a win against the Clemson Tigers. Going into the game, both teams were looking to improve subpar early season records. Clemson was 2-2 and Carolina was 1-3. USC was in good position to get a win over its rival and its second win of the season, leading 27-24 at halftime. Howev er, it was unable to hold on, and the Lady Gamecocks (1-4) fell to the Lady Tigers (3-2) for the sixth year in a row, 56-43. The first half was a hard-fought one, with the lead chang ing haftds three times. USC began to break away as the half i winded down and led by seven at one point. The Tigers nar rowed the margin to three in the final 1:30 of the first half. The key to South Carolina’s early success was its shooting. The Lady Gamecocks made 50 percent of their field goal at tempts in the first half. USC shot 44.4 percent from behind the three-point arc. After strong offensive play from both teams in the first half, • the second half was marked with impressive defensive efforts from the two teams. The Lady Tigers managed to shut out the Lady Gamecocks i for the first eight minutes of the second half, and South Car olina held Clemson to only six points. Junior forward Tatyana Troina finally broke the Lady Gamecocks scoring drought at the 11:35 mark, but it was too little too late for USC. Troina’s score brought the Lady Gamecocks within one point of Clemson, but the Lady Tigers began an offensive resur gence that allowed them to pull away. They went on to outscore ! USC 26-14 for the remainder of the game. The second half showed a sloppier performance by the ' Gamecocks and an improved one by the Tigers. After making half of their attempts in the first half, USC hit only 24 percent in the second half. Clemson made 31 percent of their shots in the second half. Sophomore center Petra Ujhelyi had her third double- ; double of the season for the Lady Gamecocks, posting 11 points and 15 rebounds. The Lady Tigers had three double-digit scorers: Nuria Fonts, Erin Baath and Chrissy Floyd. Fonts and Baath each posted 15 points on the evening. , j While South Carolina head coach Susan Walvius was pleased with some of the efforts by her team, she was frustrated with the outcome of the game. “This was one of the poorest basketball games I’ve ever seen,” she said. “I am definitely pleased with the defensive ef fort of the team. However, (offensively) we just didn’t execute and missed far too many easy shots. We played not to lose tonight, and when you do that, you lose.” Junior forward Teresa Geter, who finished the game with six points, six rebounds and six assists, agreed with Walvius that the team’s offensive play left much to be desired. “As a team, we wanted to continue what we felt were some great strides we were making,” Geter said. “We played better and better on Sunday against Purdue, but tonight our offense just didn’t go anywhere.” Wednesday’s game marked the beginning of an 11-day, six game stretch for the Lady Gamecocks. USC will travel to Syra cuse to face Akron on Friday and host team Syracuse on Sat urday in the Carrier Classic. i m The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Sean Rayford The Gamecock Gamecock guard/forward Chuck Eidson rises for a dunk against Mercer Wednesday night.