The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 08, 2002, Page 7, Image 7
THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, November 8, 2002 7
-r\ T^| rn GAME SCHEDULE
TONTACT TTS I_} m I I J I ' SWIMMING AND DIVING vs. Clemson, 5 p.m. Friday
\j\jn w * 1 uu | ■ ■ | ^ WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Athletes in Action (exhibition),
Story ideas? Questions? Comments? 7 pm'
E-mailusatgamecocksports@hotmail.com ■ \^/ M ■ rvy MEN’S SOCCER at No. 20 North Carolina, 6 p.m. Friday
Carolina falls in SEC first round
Florida takes revenge for early-season loss
BY KYLE ALMOND
the gamecock
The USC women’s soccer team
is one and done after losing 2-1 to
Florida on Thursday in the first
round of the SEC Tournament.
Carolina (13-6-2), the fifth seed,
was looking to follow in the foot
steps of No. 8 LSU. The Tigers up
set top-seeded Auburn in the open
ing game of the tournament,
which is being held in Oxford,
Miss.
But the fourth-seeded Gators
took an early lead and held on to
advance.
With the victory, the Gators (9
9-2) avenged a 1-0 overtime loss to
the Gamecocks from earlier in the
season.
“I’m not disappointed with our
effort, and I’m proud of how our
team battled,” USC head coach
Shelley Smith said. "We battled
even when we were two goals
down and showed
_ i ~ r*-; ,3 __a._
U 1VJ l V/l iuv- UUl
on the field.”
Senior Morgan
McIntyre scored
the lone goal for the
Gamecocks, and
USC now awaits
next Monday’s 64- '
team selection for McIntyre
the NCAA Tourna
ment. Carolina is looking for the
school’s first trip to the NCAA
Tournament since the 1998 season.
Florida went ahead in the 10th
minute of play when Florida mid
fielder Danielle Murphy fed
Crystal Frimpong, who beat the
Carolina defense and goalkeeper
Elise Matthews for her fifth goal
of the season. The rest of the first
half was closely contested, with
Florida outshooting USC 3-2.
Senior midfielder Jess Julin had
both shots for Carolina.
With 30 minutes remaining in
the match, USC’s Melinda Carter
just missed a goal off a free kick,
drilling the ball just above the
crossbar.
That near-miss hurt even more
when the Gators increased their
lead to 2-0 at the 61:47 mark. Off a
set piece, Florida forward Jen
Gardner headed in a free kick into
the left corner of the net high
enough to get past Matthews.
Carolina, desperate to get back
into the game, came close with an
other opportunity at 65:26, when
Carter’s shot in the box was tipped
by Amanda Thurber. But the shot
was saved at the last second by
Gators goalkeeper Jordan Kellgren.
USC finally converted a chance
with 12 minutes remaining.
McIntyre found an opening in the
Gators defense and launched a
shot from about 25 yards out that
flew over Kellgren and brought
the Gamecocks within one goal.
But USC couldn’t come up with
-1
‘I’m not disappointed
with our effort, and I’m
proud of how our team
battled.”
SHELLEY SMITH
use WOMEN'S SOCCER HEAD COACH
the equalizer.
At the 84:00 mark in the match,
Carolina came close to getting the
equalizer on another Carter free
kick into the box. The shot was
knocked just left of the goal by
Julin, however.
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gamecocksports@hotmail.com
GAMECOCKS HIT THE HARDWOOD
PHOTO BY CANDI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOC
Junior transfer Kerbrell Brown was impressive in his first game wearing the garnet and black.
The forward from New Orleans scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds and added five
steals in Carolina’s 16-point victory over Team Nike on Thursday.
Second half
the difference
in USC victory
BY MATT ROTHENBERG
THE GAMECOCK
It was a tale of two halves
Thursday night at the Frank
McGuire Arena.
During the first half, Team
Nike led Carolina by as much as
seven points, but the Gamecocks
pulled ahead with a strong sec
ond-half effort to defeat the visi
tors 80-64 in an exhibition game.
“I’m happy because we won,
and yet, I don’t think we played
real good,” USC head coach Dave
Odom said about his team’s per
formance. “We got the ball inside
well, and our post players
showed they could play against
quality competition.”
USC struggled early in the
first half, appearing a little slow
and sloppy with the basketball.
Eight of Carolina’s 12 turnovers
occurred before the break. But
senior guard Chuck Eidson pro
vided a shooting display, going
8-of-10 from the floor, including
two 3-pointers. He led USC scor
ers with 18 points.
Eidson “played an excellent
first half,” Odom said. “He gave
us leadership, he shot the ball,
I he scored the ball,” Odom said.
“I did think he tired out twice,
once in the first half, once in the
second half ... but I thought
Chuck played extremely well.”
Team Nike played strong de
fense against the Gamecocks un
til Eidson broke it open late in
the half with six points to give
USC a seven-point lead going
into halftime.
In those last four minutes of
the first half, a different Carolina
team showed up — one that was
faster, got to the basket quicker,
made its shots and showed a lot
more toughness than earlier in
the game.
The Gamecock defense was a
major difference in how the team
played the last 24 minutes.
Kerbrell Brown, a junior trans
fer from New Orleans, was all
over the court, creating turnovers
while providing some flashy play
on offense. Brown scored nine
points, grabbed eight rebounds
and came up with five steals.
“When you lose people, it
gives others opportunities,”
Odom said, referring to the
Gamecocks playing without
Rolando Howell, who has a mi
nor ankle injury. “You take a
guy like Kerbrell Brown. He
made the most of his minutes
tonight, and I was very pleased
with what he did.”
Senior forward Marius
Petravicius had one of his best
games since arriving at Carolina
in 1999. The 6-foot-10 Lithuanian
had 13 of his 17 points in the sec
ond half, sparking USC’s major
offensive attack. He even man
aged to bang in a 3-pointer,
which, along with his entire
game, impressed his coach.
“I thought Marius has his best ~
night in a long time, his 17 points
not withstanding,”'Odom said. “I
just thought he played very well.”
Tony Kitchings had a big
♦ BASKETBALL, SEE PAGE 8
1 Seniors to say final farewell
USC competing with Razorbacksfor bowl position
Arkansas at USC
12:30 p.m. Saturday
Williams-Brice Stadium
TV: Jefferson-Pilot Sports
BY BRAD SENKIW
THE GAMECOCK
Emotions will run high this
weekend as USC’s fans and coach
11 es say goodbye to many of the se
niors that helped pull the football
team out of the depths of the SEC.
The Gamecocks (5-4, 3-3 SEC)
will celebrate Senior Day on
Saturday against the Arkansas
Razorbacks in the last home game
of2002 and look to position them
selves for a bowl game.
“There were some really good
football players in that crowd that
didn’t redshirt and have been part
of turning this thing around,” USC
head coach Lou Holtz said.
“They’ve done that not just be
cause of their talent, but it’s been
their attitude as well.”
Playing the last game at home
“is going to be hard for them, but
it’s going to be hard for us as coach
es to think about playing without
those guys,” Holtz added.
Arkansas head coach Houston
Nutt agrees that the game has ex
tra meaning to the Gamecocks.
“This will be a big game for
South Carolina,” he said. “This
will be the last time their seniors
will play at home, and I’m sure
they will use that to
get ready tor tne
game. It will be an
emotional day for
them, and I’m sure
they will be ready
to play.”
Among the se
niors who will be
playing their final Faison
game at Williams
Brice Stadium are Corey Jenkins,
Andrew Pinnock, Cedric
Williams, Rashad Faison, Shane
Hall, Langston Moore and
Jonathan Martin.
However, senior Ryan Brewer
will not be able to play that final
home game because of an ankle
injury. He was also out last week
for the Tennessee game.
Arkansas (5-3,2-3) will look to
take advantage of Brewer’s ab
sence as it also tries to become
bowl-eligible. The Hogs have won
three out of their last four, in
cluding back-to-back wins over
Troy State and Ole Miss.
Last week’s unimpressive 23-0
win against Troy State, however,
has Nutt looking to improve on
his offense’s production of only
125 total yards.
“We’ve talked to our guys about
keeping the kind of road focus this
weekend we have had in other
games,” he said. “We have had
some success on the road this
year, and we need to continue
that.”
Arkansas enters the game
with the SEC’s top rushing at
tack, which averages 246.9 yards
per game. The Hogs are also sec
ond in the league in scoring with
32.4 points a game.
“They have a great tailback in
Fred Talley; he has been tremen
dous,” Holtz said. “Their quar
terback, Matt Jones, I would ven
PHOTO BY TRAVIS LYNN/THE GAMECOCK
Matthew Thomas eludes a Tennessee defender during last
week's game at Willlams-Brice Stadium. Thomas, who has
played cornerback the last few weeks, has been moved back
to wide receiver because of injuries to other Gamecocks.
ture to say he runs 4.4” in the 40
yard dash, Holtz said. “He’s giv
en everyone fits, runs the op
tion.”
The Razorback defense knows
stopping quarterback Corey
Jenkins is the key to beating USC.
“South Carolina does a lot of
different things to get Jenkins the
ball,” Nutt said. “Getting ready to
♦ ARKANSAS, SEE PAGE 8
Bowling
in Boise?
Scenarios
take shape
MATT ROTHENBERG
GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM
Late-season games will
decide who goes where
in football’s postseason.
With the nation’s political con
tests behind us for another year,
the most heated battles in the
country will continue to take place
on the gridiron. While only a
month remains in the college foot
ball regular season, teams are still
jockeying for position within their
conferences.
More specifically, we’re talking
about bowl position. The SEC —
with a BCS berth and six other
bowl tie-ins — will face its usual
situation of fitting a square peg
into a round hole. As the current
standings show, there may be no
fewer than eight bowl-eligible
teams in the SEC this season.
With more bowl games than
ever before, it is conceivable that
nearly every bowl-eligible team in
Division I-A — 45, as of today —
could play in the postseason.
But where does that leave the
SEC and, more importantly, the
I’ll get there, but let’s start with
what we already know. Kentucky
and Alabama cannot play in a
bowl game. The Crimson Tide gets
to play a road game at Hawaii,
which is, as far as I’m concerned,
better than a bowl game.
Mississippi State and Vanderbilt
have little to no shot at a bowl, as
both are currently winless in the
SEC. Both can stay that way, too.
The SEC has evolved into a con
ference where nothing may be set
tled until at least the final week of
the regular season. Georgia leads
the Eastern Division and LSU the
Western. However, both have lost
to their division’s second-place
teams, Florida and Auburn, which
will play a role in any tiebreaker.
The Tide, having games against
LSU and Auburn remaining on its
schedule, can upset the balance in
the West.
Naturally, the SEC champion
would probably get the nod for the
Sugar Bowl. Then the next three
bowls likely to select would be the
CapitalOne; Outback and Cotton
Bowls. Expect the Cotton Bowl to
pick the second-place finisher
from the West.
The CapitalOne Bowl tends to
have first dibs on the SEC runner
up, and the Outback Bowl will
take the remaining one of those
top four teams. Sorry, USC fans,
but there will be no third consec
utive trip to Tampa this winter.
Provided Georgia remains in the
SEC East’s top spot, Florida is most
likely to play a bowl game in its
home state on New Year’s Day. The
competition between Auburn and
LSU is a lot less clear; both teams
have tough conference games re
maining on their schedules.
The remaining three bowl spots
are still up for grabs. USC,
♦ ROTHENBERG, SEE PAGE 8