University of South Carolina Libraries
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, November 7, 2001 12 CONTACT US GAM’E SGHEDULE MEN’S SOCCER at. UNC, 7 p.m. Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? SWIMMING/DIVING vs. Florida, 9 a.m. Saturday Write us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com FOOTBALL vs. Florida, 7:45 p.m. Saturday VOLLEYBALLvs. Wake Forest, 3 p.m. Sunday Gators are ready to strike Saturday’s game just as important to Florida players BY PRESTON BAINES THE GAMECOCK Coach Lou Holtz and the rest of the Gamecocks knew they were facing a much less talented team Saturday, and they knew they would be facing the Florida Gators this Saturday (7:45 p.m., ESPN). The game plan showed this, as Carolina moved up and down the field on Spartanburg’s Wofford College with mostly running plays and short throws. But Holtz felt the play must be more solid against Florida. “The championship comes through Columbia, but it’s not a layover stop,” Holtz pointed out about this year’s game with the Gators. “Now, we are right where we were last year, 7-2, and we have a conference game against Florida,” Holtz said. “I would not put it past their prolific offense to score 100. “We’ve got to be much im proved. I am concerned about our offensive line being able to run on a consistent basis.” Holtz seems to be worried every week, but he definitely has cause for concern this week as he prepares his team toface what is possibly the best receiving corps in the nation. “It’s hard to emulate Grossman and all those receivers. I just'saw highlights (of the Florida-Vanderbilt game), and a receiver scored two or three touchdowns that I had never heard of,” Holtz said. Other Gamecocks, including receiver Matthew Thomas, shared Holtz’s sentiments. “We didn’t accomplish our goals today,” Thomas said. “We missed a lot of assignments. We have to play to our standards re gardless of the opponent.” The Gamecocks weren’t the only ones thinking about next week’s eastern division show down in Columbia. Florida coach Steve Spurrier was already getting his players ready for the big game. “Our first goal is still to win the eastern division,” Spurrier said. “Obviously, now we wish South Carolina had lost one of those close ones way back when, but it didn’t happen. It’s a must for us now. To win the division, it’s a must that we beat South Carolina. We all know that.” Gators strong safety Gus Scott was happy with the team’s 71-13 thumping of Vanderbilt during homecoming in Gainesville, Fla. But he felt there was a challenge ahead that required a better per formance. “We worked hard and will have to work even harder to pre pare South Carolina,” Scott said. Gator quarterback Rex Grossman, one of the nation’s top passers, is excited about the up coming game against the Gamecocks. “Now we have to look toward defeating South Carolina,” Grossman said. “We have no choice but to win there. That’s what makes the SEC exciting; you have no margin for error.” One of the Gators’ top re ceivers, Taylor Jacobs, expects the atmosphere at Williams-Brice to be exciting. “(South Carolina) is supposed to be a powerhouse in the SEC, and we’re supposed to be a pow erhouse too,” Jacobs said. “When two powerhouses collide, there is gonna be a lot of electricity in the air.” If there is one area of concern for Carolina, it has to be the punt ing game, an area the Gamecocks will need to have some success with in order to beat Florida. “We punted atrocious all week. I said we weren’t going to punt,” Holtz said. “We ran a fake be cause we didn’t want to punt.” Even after a huge day on the ground for junior running back Andrew Pinnock, he had bigger fish to fry. “I will enjoy it tonight, then be gin preparation for Florida,” Pinnock said. Saturday’s game at Williams Brice Stadium will be for the SEC eastern division championship for Carolina if the Gators knock off Tennessee on Dec. 1 in Gainesville. The ability of Matthew Thomas and other members of the Carolina offense to move through traffic will be key in Saturday’s game, photo by aaron hark Odom opens career at USC with victory over Nike Elite BY PRESTON BAINES THE GAMECOCK Despite any shortcomings coach Dave Odom’s team may have had in the first game of his reign at USC, he was excited to be back in action. “It was fun,” Odom said. “It was fun to be back on the court. Fun to be on the sidelines. Fun to have a team playing hard. Fun to win. It was a good start.” The 90-81 win over Nike Elite might not have counted official ly, but Odom and the rest of the Gamecocks were happy to start a new season. Another guy excited to be back on the court was junior guard/forward Chuck Eidson. He tore his ACL midway through last season and missed the Gamecocks’ attempt to make the NCAA tournament. “I remember the first time I practiced. It was the same feel ing,” Eidson said of getting back on the court. “But it was magni fied a whole other level. Words can’t really express how it was.” Odom thought Eidson wasn’t very aggressive at the beginning. but then turned it around. “I think he was a little tenta tive,” Odom said about Eidson. “I don’t mean holding back or anything like in terms of being afraid. It was just the first time back out there, and it’s probably like being on Broadway. You’ve been away for awhile, and you come back and you’re a little bit tentative Eidson scored 10 points on 4 8 shooting and added eight as sists. The game remained close the entire first half,- and the Gamecocks took a 43-42 lead into the locker room. The first half was marked by strong inside play by Gamecock sophomore Rolando Howell, who compiled nine points and three rebounds in the half. Nike Elite scored at will for much of the half, causing some concern about the Gamecock de fense. “We just didn’t play defense in the first half,” Odom said. “I thought in the second half we did begin to effect some of the shots. “But, still, when you play teams like this, teams that are older and more experienced and don’t play with quite the pace thaAome of the teams you play with, you have to make them [dribble] the ball. It was almost like they measured us with air rifles or something.” The Carolina frontcourt led the way through the second half. Howell finished with 16 points while Marius Petravicius added 14 and Tony Kitchings put in nine points with seven rebounds. The game was decided on two spurts by the Gamecocks in the second half. To start off the half, Carolina put together a 17-9 run to take a 60-51 lead but Nike edged their way back into the game. Nike continued to pull closer behind newly acquired Teddy Dupay, who was recently booted off the Florida Gators team for having contacts with a bookie. Dupay knocked down a couple of three-pointers late in the second half to keep the attack coming. Then after Nike pulled with in one point at 79-78, Carolina be gan to $it it away. And this pleased coach Odom the most. “Still I think the one thing I saw tonight that I like was that We finished it,” Odom said. “We finished the job that we set out to do.” Closing out games was one of the main problem areas of last year’s Gamecock squad. “I want to make sure that they know that the game isn’t over until the horn sounds,” Odom added. The biggest improvement from last year was the shooting. After shooting an SEC-worst 41.7 percent last season, the Gamecocks shot a blazing 54.3 percent against Nike Elite. Senior guard Jamel Bradley continued his offensive on slaught from the past two years. Bradley scored 17 points on 7-15 shooting. He went 3-7 from three point range. Carolina will be in action next on Nov. 14 in an exhibition game against a yet-fo-be-decided oppo nent. Rolando Howell dunks on a member of Nike Elite Saturday night at Frank McGuire Arena, photo by regina GOODWIN Inferno drop three of last four games BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE GAMECOCK Returning to the Carolina Coliseum after a hard-fought 4-3 victory in Greenville on Tuesday night, the Columbia Inferno be gan a two-game homestand Nov. 1 before heading back on the road. Thursday night’s match against the winless Columbus Cottonmouths might have seemed like a sure win for the Inferno, but the snakes had other ideas. Both clubs played tight hockey for two periods, with Columbus goalie Alex Fomitchev and Columbia goalie Kevin Swanson making some brilliant saves. Cottonmouth forward Nick Lent rifled home two shots: one on a power play and one in the third period, both on feeds from Sean McAslan. Teammate Carlyle Lewis added an empty - netter with one second left in regulation for a 3-0 victory over the Inferno. Fomitchev earned the shutout by stopping all 28 shots he faced, while Swanson saved 33 of 36. i ne mieino wouiu rare no uei ter Friday night, despite a strong offensive effort with a team record 53 shots on goal. Greenville came to the Coliseum with payback on their minds and revamped goaltending on the ice. Scott Fankhouser, who joined the Grrrowl from its AHL affili ate in Chicago, started between the pipes for Greenville. Craig Minard opened the scor ing for the Grrrowl late in the first period, and Martin Masa put the eventual game-winner in during a short-handed situation in the second. It wasn’t until midway through the third peri od that Columbia’s Denis Martynyuk found a hole in Fankhouser’s armor for his sec ond goal of the season, though it was too little, too late. Inferno goalie Martin Villeneuve settled in after al lowing the two goals, saving 25 shots on the evening, but the loss brought his record to 4-3-0. While there was some rough play on the ice, it was nowhere near the fisticuffs shown by both teams the past Tuesday. Leaving the Coliseum on Saturday, the Inferno traveled down 1-20 to the Lions’ Den in Florence in search dff a win against the Pee Dee Pride. The Pride withstood the Inferno at tack and mauled Columbia 6-1. In a match with numerous fights, the Inferno’s special teams failed as Pee Dee capital ized on live of their eight power play opportunities. Kevin Haupt, Dany Bousquet, Peter Geronazzo, Gregor Krajnc and Allan Sirois all tallied on the man-advantage, while Geronazzo scored the game-win ner short handed. Sandy Allen looked spectacu lar in the net for the Pride, sav ing 32 shots, while Villeneuve again bore the brunt for Columbia, ending with 26 saves. Inferno captain Joel Trottier notched the lone goal, his sixth of the season, in the first period off an assist by Matt Ulwelling. Trottier leads the team in points and is tied with Ryan Petz and Mike Legg for the team lead in points with twelve. Still looking to get back on the winning track, the Inferno went to Columbus on Tuesday night and came away with a 5-3 win. The Cottonmouths remain in last place in the Southeast Division with just two victories. Going into Tuesday night’s game, the Inferno (6-6-1) were tied for fifth in the eight-team di vision. Pee Dee and the South Carolina Stingrays are tied for the top spot with sixteen points each. The Inferno will return home this Thursday for a 7:00 p.m. face-off with the Florida Everblades. All tickets will be specially priced on a first-come, first- served basis at $10 each. The Inferno also has a 7:30 p.m. Friday game against the Greensboro Generals. From there, the team will .head to Augusta on Saturday night to try to knock off the Lynx and then return home Tuesday for a rematch with Florida. Tickets range in price from $11 $18 and are available at the Coliseum box office and all Capitol Tickets outlets. The games can be heard on ESPN Radio 1230-AM. Check out the Sports Challenge and more at dailygamecock.com h 4 ESPN on the road to USC KYLE ALMOND JBWZINI24@HOTMAIL.COM ESPN’s College GameDay is finally coming to Columbia, and that means one thing: we’re officially on the map. Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit will be doing their thing Saturday, right outside Willie Brice, and the rest of the nation will finally get a chance to see what we’ve known all along: the atmosphere at USC is among the best in college football. I’m excited about the Florida game, and I can’t wait to verbally rip Steve Spurrier to shreds, but for some reason I’m a little more hyped for GameDay. Maybe it’s because I’m a journalist. Maybe it’s because I’m worried about the Gators firing on all cylinders. But I’m going into GameDay hoping some unanswered questions I’ve had over the years will finally be addressed. For example, does Corso carry that pen of his everywhere? It adds great emphasis when he’s making a point on the show, but I would imagine it makes taking a leak quite difficult. Does Fowler’s hair ever move? This guy never gets flustered. Facing potentially the largest. crowd in the show’s history, maybe Fowler will have finally met his match. And then there’s Herbstreit, the guy we all envy. The star quarterback who married the head cheerleader. Does this guy have the life or what? Actually, now that I think about it, I bet Herbstreit calls in sick for this one. He’s probably still bitter about the whole Outback Bowl thing, considering he’s a former Buckeye. He’ll want to avoid the taunts and smart aleck comments from obnoxious kids like me. So with Herbstreit out, that will probably bring in the backup, Beano Cook. 01’ Beano’s been around for ages, so he should fill in quite nicely. He probably still thinks Lou Holtz is head coach at Notre Dame, but we can overlook that. After all, we don’t want Mel Kiper to show up instead. Anybody who knows by heart the body fat percentages of projected seventh-round nose guards is just too scary. With Fowler, Corso and a special appearance by Cook, Saturday’s show could be the most memorable yet. Be there. Just make sure you leave when it’s dark outside. There are 20,000-plus students waiting for their chance to shine on live TV. Shoutouts Corso, make the right choice: don Cocky’s helmet. Even if we happen to lose and your prediction falters, you’ll be considered a god here. Come on, it’s just too much free beer to turn down.... Rex Grossman, hope you have a good set of earplugs... Lamar Odom, put down the doobies and the Cheetos. You actually have a team now.... D’Backs, congrats, you proved me wrong and deserve the title.... Byung-Hyun Kim, go give Luis Gonzalez a big kiss. Buy him a Rolex. Give him your wife. Just do something for the man.... Ryan Leaf, you might not want to screw this one up.... You heard it here first: Game cocks win in a thriller.... Daaaai Bears.