The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 28, 2002, Image 9
Soccer
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
“I thought our guys in the sec
ond half clearly had a lot of
chances,” Berson said. “It was like
two different games — the first
half and the second half today. I
thought that Furman was very
sharp and has us back on our
heels in the first half, but I thought
that we clearly had them back on
their heels in the second half.”
But despite outshooting the
Paladins 9-2 in the second half
and controlling the majority of
possession, USC came up empty.
“It’s been the story for us in the
last two games that we haven’t been
able to get the goal,” Berson said.
“We’re playing a lot of good
teams, and this group is a young
team, and they’re learning ev
ery time they go out,” he added.
“And one of the things they
learned in this game, as well as
in the Charleston game, is that
you have to play two good
halves. You can’t play one good
half and expect to win.”
The Gamecocks are tied for
10th in the latest NSCAA poll, but
they can expect a huge drop with
their two losses this week. And
if the team continues to slip in its
final four games of the regular
season, its NCAA Tournament
chances might be in doubt.
Next weekend, USC will play
Coastal Carolina and Winthrop
in a tournament in Charleston.
In the next two weeks, the
Gamecocks will play Florida
International and defending
champion North Carolina.
“Every game from here on out
is vital,” Berson said. “We cer
tainly know that we have our
work cut out for us.”
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Point
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
There is also a chance that
Gerald could receive an oppor
tunity to become a starter.
Gerald will likely play a larger
role at the point in his final years
at USC. But for now, he could
find himself playing minutes
mostly as a reserve.
Odom left open the possibili
ty of freshman Marcus Morrison
getting some playing time at
point guard, though it’s more
likely he will find time at a for
ward position.
“I think that when it’s all said
and done, before he leaves here,
Marcus Morrison will see some
time back there,” Odom said.
“He’s got the size I like, he plays
with enough flair back there.... I
really like what he’s done as a
playmaker so far, but he cer
tainly doesn’t think like a point
guard.”
Nevertheless, Eidson is the
prime candidate right now, and
Odom insists that one of the few
ways Boynton or Gerald could
secure the point guard spot is if
they can outperform those at the
wing position.
“I didn’t want to start the year
with Chuck there, because I
think he’d close out Michael and
Jarod, and you’d never really get
a good look at them,” he said.
“He’s clearly the best out there.
... The thing we want to do is go
ahead and acknowledge he is the
best we have at that spot and not
try to retard his progress or the
team’s progress by trying to force
the issue somewhere else.”
Boynton and Gerald “have to
be so good so we can push Chuck
to the wing,” Odom said. “Their
competition is not Chuck
Eidson. They have to better than
the wings.”
Time will tell, though, to see
how the Gamecock starting line
up forms and who will be play
ing point guard. No matter
which route Odom takes, it will
have a big impact on the USC
men’s basketball team.
But he still ponders the pecu
liarity of the situation on his
squad, where all three major
candidates are similar in one re
gard.
“What a crazy team this is,”
Odom said. “We’ve got three
point guards and they’re all left
handed. Is that unbelievable or
what?”
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Odom
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
to the championship game of the
National Invitation Tournament.
Odom said he thinks the team
is ready to take the next step.
“I feel it learned a great lesson
last year, and I feel it has taken that
lesson into the offseason and tried
to build on it the right way,” he
said. “We have a team, at this
point, of no egos — a team that
thinks about we and not me. And
that’s something I want us to build
on.”
Carolina lost its starting back
court — point guard Aaron Lucas
and shooting guard Jamel
Bradley — but Odom likes what
he still has on the roster.
“We have great upper-level
leadership right now,” he said.
“Chuck Eidson has taken the
reins of this team, not only from
a basketball standpoint, but I
think a leadership standpoint; I
could not be more pleased with
him. Marius Petravicius had a
double knee-ankle operation a
month ago, and he’s come back
strong.... And Chris Warren —
no player on our team worked
harder than Chris Warren in the
offseason. He definitely has im
proved.”
Odom said the player he sees
the biggest difference in, howev
er, is junior forward Rolando
Howell.
“Rolando Howell has the bit in
his mouth right now, obviously
meaning that he wants to be good
for the right reasons,” Odom said.
“He is pushing hard — he cer
tainly is not on cruise control —
and he is doing very, very well.”
Howell, a Columbia native, is
the team’s leading returning scor
er. With 9.9 points a game, he was
third in scoring last season be
hind Lucas and Bradley. Odom is
looking for even more production
out of him this season.
“We want him to think more
about his offense,” he said.
“Since (the Auburn game last
year), I’ve noticed a remarkable
change in the way he’s ap
proached not only the game of
basketball, but the way he’s tak
en control of his life. He has a
sense of purpose he didn’t have
before that. I’m very, very proud
of what he’s doing.”
Questions still remain about
Carolina’s NCAA Tournament as
pirations, especially with the void
left by the team’s two graduating
seniors. But Odom is confident he
has the raw materials to con
struct a winner.
“I think, by in large, right now,
we have a pretty good feel of what
--... --
we have to work with,” he said.
“For the most part, I’m very
pleased. I’ve seen enough to know
that we have the ability to be a
pretty good basketball team, but
I’ve also seen enough to know
that we have a long way to go be
fore we get to that point.”
USC will play two exhibition
games before starting the regular
season Nov. 24 against East
Tennessee State in the new
Carolina Center. Carolina is
scheduled to play Team Nike on
Nov. 7 and a foreign team Nov. 13.
Both exhibitions will take place
in the Carolina Coliseum.
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“I’ve seen enough to know that we have the ability
to be a pretty good basketball team, but I’ve also
seen enough to know that we have a long way to go
before we get to that point.”
DAVE ODOM
use MEN'S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH
BRIEFLY •
women s soccer
clinches SEC berth
Freshman Amanda Thurber
scored her first collegiate goal,
and Jessica Julin added her fifth
goal of the season Sunday as the
USC women’s soccer team (11-5-2,
4-3-2 SEC) clinched a berth to the
SEC Tournament with a 2-1 win
at Alabama.
“This is a huge win for us,”
USC head coach Shelley Smith
said. “We knew we had to win
this game and we stepped up and
played very well. I’m very hap
py for our team.”
Junior Elise Matthews earned
the win for USC with five saves.
Women’s golf team
finishes in second
The USC women’s golf team
fired a team score of 291 on
Sunday to finish hi second place
at the Lady Paladin Invitational
in Greenville.
The Gamecocks finished with
a team score of 884 for the week
end, four strokes back of
Furman, the tournament win
ner.
This is the Gamecocks’ best
finish of the year, and they’ll look
to continue their good play into
this fall’s final tournament next
week in Auburn, Ala.
Defending SEC champion
Kristy McPherson fired a two
over par 74 on Sunday and fin
ished in a tie for fifth place, her
second Top 5 and third Top 10 on
the year.
Junior Kory Thompson and
freshman Erica Battle finished
in a tie for eighth place, the high
est finish for both in their colle
giate careers.
Swimming teams
fall at Virginia meet
USC’s swimming and diving
teams suffered their first losses
of the season Saturday at
Virginia. The men’s squad was
defeated 129-109, and the wom
en’s team lost 131-107.
The meet for Carolina was
highlighted, however, by sopho
more diver Andy Bradley, who
won both the 1-meter and 3-me
ter springboards.
The USC women also found
success on the diving side, with
sophomores Lauren King and
Tracey Richardson each earning
a first-place finish* King took first
place on the 1-meter spring
board, while Richardson took
first on the 3-meter.
Junior Chris McCrary con
tinued his success in the sprint
events for USC with a first-place
finish in the 50-yard freestyle and
second-place finish in the 100
freestyle. USC’s Tamas Szucs
also finished first in the 200
freestyle.
hail season over Tor
men’s tennis team
Gamecock Angelo Niculescu
lost in the Round of 16 this
weekend at the ITA Regional
Indoor Championships — the
last tournament on USC’s fall
schedule.
After starting the tournament
2-0, Niculescu dropped a three
set match to Wake Forest’s Mike
Murray 4-6,7-6(7), 6-4.
USC’s Ben Atkinson, Marcus
Westman and Seth Rose also
claimed opening round victories
in the tournament, held in
Chapel Hill, N.C. But the trio lost
in their respective second-round
matches.
In doubles play, Atkinson and
Niculescu defeated Glauco
Nascirento and Jose Carlos Pinto
of Hampton 8-4. However, they
fell in the second round to
Nicholas Monroe and Daniel
Pinchbeck of North Carolina.
Wiggins, Suzuki
lose first match
Danielle Wiggins and Ayako
Suzuki lost 8-3 on Saturday to
Kentucky’s 22nd-ranked duo of
Nathalie Roels and Sarah Witten
in the Round of 16 of the ITA
Southeast Regional in Winston
Salem, N.C.
The defeat was the first on the
season for Wiggins and Suzuki,
who dropped to 4-1 on the season.
-1
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