The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 14, 2001, Page 8, Image 8
Gamecock Sports Schedule
■ Men’s basketball at Alabama, 8 p.m. Wednesday
■ Women’s basketball vs. Mississippi State, 7 p.m. Thursday
■ Baseball vs. Delaware State, 3 p.m. Friday
■ Softball vs. Washington at USF Tournament in Tampa, 3 p.m. Friday
Around the SEC
Carolina’s Grant
honored by SEC
by Kyle Almond
The Gamecock
South Carolina went two-for-two
last week and, as a result, got itself back
into the NCAA Tournament hunt.
Senior co
captain Antonio
Grant can take
most of the cred
it. For scoring
back-to-back ca
reer-high point to
tals, Grant was
named SEC Play
er of the Week.
“He had just a
tremendous
week,” USC head coach Eddie Fogler
said.
Tremendous might be an
understatement.
Grant’s 18 points and 10
second-half rebounds ignited a sluggish
Carolina team to a win over Georgia
last Wednesday, and his 24 points and
10 boards were team highs in
Saturday’s win at Vanderbilt. Prior to
last week, Grant had only one double
double in his career. Now, he has three.
“He is a player that plays with a lot
of heart,” USC’s Jamel Bradley said of
Grant. “He’s the heart and soul of this
team. When a rebound is needed or a
shot is needed, he comes through.”
What might be even more
impressive than back-to-back double
doubles is the fact that, through both
games and 67 minutes of play, Grant
had no turnovers.
Elsewhere around the SEC:
LSU: As the dust clears from
National Signing Day, the LSU Tigers
look to have one of the most
formidable classes in the country, much
less the SEC.
Head coach Nick Saban’s group of
27 players consistently ranks in the top
three in America, according to most
major recruiting publications. Max
Emftnger of National Blue Chips in
Covington, La., rates the Tigers’ class
No. 1, while Rivals.com and the
National Recruiting Advisor rates it No.
3.
“I think we filled a lot of our needs
witli this recruiting class,” Saban said.
“I am very pleased with the quality of
the big people we were able to recruit
on both sides of the ball, which we most
certainly need. I think we’ve got a few
players that are playmakets on defense,
some skill guys on offense who make
plays, and some speed in the slots.”
Highlighting LSU’s recruiting class
is three Parade All-Americans: tight
end Marcus Spears, wide receiver
Michael Clayton and offensive
lineman Ben Wilkerson.
Spears, a 6-foot-5-ineh, 280-pound
tight end, was rated first at his position
and third overall in the country by
SuperPrep magazine. Clayton, who,
like Spears, is from Baton Rouge, stands
6-foot-4 and runs a 4.5 in the 40-yard
dash. Wilkerson was thought by
many to be one of the best linemen in
the country.
Alabama: For his complete-game
shutout against No. 18 Oklahoma this
weekend, junior right-hander Lance
Cormier was named the first 2001 SEC
Pitcher of the Week.
Cormier allowed only five hits in
the game and struck out four in the
Tide’s 5-0 victory. The win also helped
push Alabama into the Baseball
America Top 25. The Tide is now
ranked 25th.
we need ior Lance to pncn mat
way for us to do well,” Alabama head
coach Jim Wells said. “Since the
midway point of his freshman year,
Lance has been up and down. It was
good for him to pitch the way he did
Saturday, both mentally and
physically.”
Georgia: After 39 years at
Georgia, Georgia athletics director Vince
Dooley is going to retire.
But not yet.
The Bulldogs’ former football
coach, who won six SEC titles and the
1980 National Championship in his 25
seasons at the helm, will leave
Georgia at the end of 2003. Dooley
agreed to a two-and-a-half year
extension this past Wednesday.
“I have agreed to the extension and
assure Dr. Adams (university president
Michael Adams) and everyone
associated with this great university
that for the time remaining, as I have
done for the past 37 years, I will
devote all of my time and energy to
serving the university in the highest
possible manner,” Dooley said.
Dooley’s new contract includes a
$214,925 base salary, including a 5
percent raise, along with $85,000 for
radio and television appearances and a
guaranteed $13,500 bonus for the
football team’s performance.
The sports desk can be reached at
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
Track teams win
more NCAA marks
by Kyle Almond
The Gamecock
USC’s track teams posted nine
automatic and seven NCAA
provisional times this weekend in the
Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, one
of the most prestigious meets of the
season.
A handful of school records were
set in the meet.
Sprinter Pap Howard was the
runner-up in the men’s 200-meters
Saturday, breaking the school record
with an NCAA automatic mark of20.84.
In the same event, teammate Andre
Totten came in third and also set a
NCAA automatic time.
The men’s and women’s
4x400-meter relay teams broke school
marks. Howard teamed with Otukile
. Lekote, Otis Harris and Gerald
Pressley to break tlie men’s record with
a time of 3:07.26. With an automatic
time of 3:33.01, Miki Barber, her twin
sister Me’Lisa, Tacita Bass and
Demetria Washington broke the
women’s record by more than two
seconds.
In the field events, pole vaulter
Chris Steddum broke a school record.
Stcddum’s jump of 17-8 1/2 was also
a NCAA provisional mark.
“That’s agood vault for Chris,” pole
vault coach Kevin Brown said. “Very
good. It’s even more imj'ortant he did
it here, because when we come back
for the NCAA Championships next
month, he will already feel
comfortable in this environment.”
Gamecock Antoinette Wilks
qualified automatically in the long jump
with a personal second-best-ever jump
of20-10 3/4. She already holds the best
jump of the year nationally at 21-8.
Wilks, who also qualified
provisionally this weekend in the triple
jump, credits her work ethic for her
offseason improvement.
“I think I have a lot left,” Wilks
said. “I have been working harder and
concentrating more this year. I changed
my diet. I have been eating better and
at the right times of the day.”
Washington and Miki Barber went
first and third respectively in the
400-meters. Washington ran an
automatic and season-best time of 52.39.
Miki Barber also qualified
automatically right behind Washington
at 52.95. Bass finished eighth with a
time of 54.47, good enough for a
provisional spot.
Washington and Miki Barber also
earned another automatic mark in the
200-meters. Lisa Barber posted a
provisional mark.
Lekote was runner-up in the
800-mctcrs with a time of 1:48.05. It
was USC’s second-fastest time ever in
Track seepages
I USC to try to end ’Bama streak
■ Crimson Tide hoping to tie record
with victory over Gamecocks at home
. by Kyle Almond
The Gamecock
USC faces perhaps, its toughest road
game in the SEC on Wednesday night at
Alabama.
The No. 21 Crimson Tide (18-5,
7-4 SEC) is undefeated at home this
season in 13 games, and it hasn’t lost at
Coleman Coliseum in its last 16 tries. A
win against the Gamecocks (13-8,5-5)
would tie Alabama’s all-time best home
record, which is 14-0 set in 1993-94.
Alabama is led by its dynamic
shooting guard, sophomore Rod Grizzard.
Grizzard leads the conference in scoring
with 18.6 points a game. He also shoots
88 percent from the free-throw line
and gets about six rebounds a game.
But according to Fogler, for the
Gamecocks to have any chance of
winning Wednesday night, the key isn’t
stopping Grizzard. It’s hitting shots from
outside on offense.
“I think you have to shoot the ball
well,” he said. “I think we’ve shot the
ball well in our two road wins this
season from three.”
USC is playing possibly their best ball
of the season after beating Georgia and
Vanderbilt this past week. The wins
propelled Carblina to .500 in the
conference, and Fogler feels that if his
team can continue, it should make the
NCAA Tournament.
“I think we’ll get at least six teams
(from the SEC) in,” Fogler said of the
NCAA Tournament. “I don’t think there’s
any doubt about that.”
There are five teams in the
■ LOCATION: Coleman
Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
■ TIME* 8 p.m. Wednesday
■ RADIO: WVOC 540 AM
■ RECORDS: USC (13-8, 5
5 SEC), Alabama (18-5, 7-4)
conference (Kentucky, Florida, Geoigia,
Ole Miss and Alabama) over .500. Two
teams, Tennessee and Arkansas, are tied
with USC at .500.
“I also think that perhaps this is a year
where... whether it be an ACC team, a
Big Ten team or a SEC team, [one of
them] could get in under .500, because I
don’t see the depth in some of the
other conferences,” Fogler added.
“Geoigia, who’s played probably the
most difficult schedule in America, if they
went 7-9, they could probably get in, in
my opinion.”
’Bama coach Mark Gottfried
thinks .500 is good enough to get in the
tournament.
“I think if you go .500 in this league,
especially this year, there’s no question
that you are one of the best teams in
Basketball seepages
Travis Lynn/The Gamecock
USC’s Marius Petravicius takes the ball to the basket during last
Wednesday’s win against Georgia.
(From left to right) Travis Kraft, Chuck Eidson, Rolando Howell and Ivan Howell sit on the Gamecock bench in street clothes during the
Georgia game. Kraft, Eidson and Rolando Howell were all sidelined for the contest, which Carolina won by two.
Injuries fail to keep USC down
by Shawn Skillman
The Gamecock
The USC men’s basketball team looks more like
extras on the set of Platoon than a team on the rise in
the SEC.
Four different Gamecocks have been on the shelf
this year. Forward Calvin Clemmons sprained his ankle
and missed two games against Auburn and Florida Chuck
Edson went down in January with a tom right ACL and
is out for the season. Rolando Howell missed one game
with an ankle sprain. Travis Kraft’s foot injury has kept
Em out of action.
But as the injuries mount, the Gamecocks
contmue to improve, sitting at 5-5 m the evenly-matched
SEC.
“We just find other people to step up,” sophomore
center Tony Kitchings said. “We are a very unselfish
team, so if we see someone having a good night, we’ll
keep try ing to give him the ball. The last couple of games,
it’s been Antonio.”
A survivor of the injury plague, Antonio Grant
recovered from a strained back to become the
Gamecocks’ first SEC Player of the Week this season.
The senior forward tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds
against Georgia and 2^points and another 10
rebounds against Vanderbilt. Grant also registered no
turnovers in both wins.
According to head coach Eddie Fogler, the Eidson
injury has deeply affected USC.
“He not only can steal the ball, but he’s an
excellent passer and has the instinct and ability to
rebound,” Fogler said of Eidson. “All the versatile tilings
that Chuck brings, we lose. That’s a very tough thing to
overcome.”
Eidson will be off the court for six months and is
rehabbing at his home in Summerville, S.C.
Kraft has been hampered for two years in a row.
Last season, it was a stress fracture in his left foot.
This year, a strain in his right foot has limited the
sophomore to just four games. One of those was against
Florida, where he hit the game winning 3-pointer as
time expired.
“It’s been difficult, but we keep fighting through
it,” Kraft said. “We’ve had so many different people
playing at different times, it’s been hard. I don’t think
we’ve had a full practice with everyone there. But the
captains (David Ross and Grant) have really helped us
stay together.”
Kraft could qualify for medical hardship by the
NCAA and not lose any eligibility at season’s end.
, “We can’t h;uig our heads in this part of the season,”
Howell said. “We have to keep moving to get where we
need to be.”
A reason why the squad feels it has been able to
overcome these circumstances are Fogler’s practices.
“All the injuries are big, even the little ones, but
practices remain intense,” Kraft said. “I think that might
be why some of them occur, but the intensity helps us
get better in the long run.”
The club also consists of players who can play a
multitude of positions, which allows Fogler to
routinely substitute throughout the game.
“Coach does a good job of subbing everyone in and
out,” Kitchings said. “We’ve got role players and
scorers, so it weighs itself out . ’’
Despite the injuries, the club still keeps an
upbeat attitude that carries onto the floor, helping them
win their last two conference matchups.
“We don’t need to look at it as bringing the team
down, but everyone picking it up,” Howell said.
“We’ve had injuries,” center Marius Petravicius
said, “but it is part of the game. All we can do is just
keep playing hard.”
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