Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Monday, December 2, 2002 7 TA i^A TA m GAME SCHEDULE CONTACT US I_J m 1 I r I MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Temple, 7:30 p.m. Monday I ■ I I \ I i WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Georgia Southern, 7 p.m. Tuesday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I \ Ik# WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Wofford, 7 p.m. Wednesday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com _I V^/ ■ ■ r^_/ SWIMMING AND DIVING at Auburn, Thursday Gamecocks come up big in Paradise Women's basketball goes 2-0 in U.S. Virgin Islands event BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE UAMECOCK The USC women’s basketball team had a successful Thanksgiving weekend, win ning a pair of games in the Paradise Jam Tournament. Carolina walked over Oregon and upset ISth-ranked Boston College in the tournament, which was held in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Thursday night, the Gamecocks had three scorers in double figures as they defeated the Ducks 67-40. Jocelyn Penn led the way for USC with 24 points and nine rebounds, and Petra Ujhelyi added 16 points and 13 rebounds. Cristina Ciocan also con tributed 13 points for Carolina, and the team shot 42.9 percent from the field. The Gamecocks had a 15 point lead at halftime and al lowed Oregon only 14 points in the second half. That is the lowest second-half point total allowed by Carolina since 1992. USC also out-hustled the Ducks on the glass, bringing down 40 rebounds to Oregon’s 28. Andrea Bills led Oregon with 10 points. The Gamecocks’ momentum carried on to Friday night, when the Gamecocks upended Boston College 54-51. USC nev er trailed in the game and clinched the St. Thomas Division Championship with the win. Penn once again shined for Carolina, with 16 points and 10 rebounds, but Ciocan bested her with 18 points. Ujhelyi had nine points, and Koretha Johnson scored eight for USC (4-0). Jessalyn Deveny had 18 points, and Becky Gottstein put up 15 for the Eagles (3-1). The Gamecocks return to the Carolina Center on Tuesday to play Georgia Southern. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. USC will play host to Wofford on Wednesday for their second game in as many days. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com PHOTO BY CANDI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOCK Kelly Morrone and the women’s basketball team improved to 4-0 after upsetting No. 18 Boston College on Friday. Eidson sparks USC to victories Senior breaks steals record, gets USC'sfirst triple-double BY KYLE ALMOND TIIK (iAMECOCK Chuck Eidson reached two milestones this past weekend and led the USC men’s basketball team to a pair of wins in the Carolina Center. Eidson, a 6-foot-7 senior, broke the school record for career steals Saturday in a 71-56 victory over Appalachian State, eclipsing Barry Manning’s mark of 223. The previous night, he became the first Gamecock ever to record a triple-double. Eidson had 25 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in USC’s 82-65 win over South Carolina State. “It is special,” Eidson told The State newspaper about the triple-double. “I’m not going to downplay it. It’s something that had never been done here before with all the great players that played here. You’ve got to think that’s something very special.” The 25 points also tied Eidson’s career-high. He completed the triple-double with a rebound in * PHOTO BY ROBERT GRUEN/THE GAMECOCK Chuck Eidson had a career weekend for the Gamecocks. He recorded the first triple-double in USC history on Friday night and broke the school record for steals Saturday night. the final minute of play and left the game to a standing ovation. “Chuck had a tremendous game,” USC head coach Dave Odom said. “I have had the chance to watch him for the past four seasons. He has turned into a complete basketball player. He can pass, shoot and defend.” Eidson had 16 points in Carolina’s victory Saturday against the Mountaineers, but Odom doesn’t want his Gamecocks to become too dependent on their (JSC’s Leaders, Career Steals 1. Chuck Eidson 224 2. Barry Manning 223 3. Melvin Watson 194 4. B.J. McKie 165 Michael Foster 165 6. Jamie Watson 152 7. Aaron Lucas 137 8. Jo Jo English 136 9. Carey Rich 127 10. Larry Davis 112 premier player. “We have to get our offense flowing,” Odom said. “We’re not flowing. We’re waiting for Chuck to make a play or Carlos (Powell) to make a shot.” Carolina (3-0) led by 14 points at halftime and was never in trou ble of losing the game Saturday. Odom is concerned, however, go ing into Monday night’s matchup against Temple. “Offensively, we are struggling right now,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of taking the next 3-4 days to work on our offense.” Alleviating some of the coach’s worries was a strong defense against Appalachian State (2-1). ♦ BASKETBALL, SEE PAGE 8 New arena’s problems mar opening week larj — ueaa spots in tne public address system, a jammed lobby and a flickering score board have troubled the Carolina Center’s first week of operation. But USC and the arena’s man agement company, Global Spectrum, aren’t worried about the minor glitches. “You worry about things like power outages, busted pipes and fire alarms going off,” said USC Associate Athletics Director Brad Edwards, who is in charge of mar keting the $70 million, 18,000-plus seat arena. “We haven’t had any of that,” he said. “We really couldn’t ask for a better opening.” At least until Saturday night, when a fire alarm did go off dur ing player introductions of (ferolina’s 71-56 victory over Appalachian State. The game was aexayeu iu mumies. xnere was no fire emergency. Season ticket-holder Rick Mohn of Arcadia Lakes said he hopes to avoid the “mob scene” he found in the lobby prior to the men’s basketball game. “They’ve got to do something about that bottleneck,” Mohn said. Arena manager Tom Paquette said big crowds for a new arena are a good problem. “When I see lines, I’m not upset,” he said. Paquette said the backups are occurring in part because of the “novelty” of the building. Patrons are crowding the front entrance to see the fountain and lobby, rather than using the two side entrances. “When you put 15,000 or 17,000 people in a building, you’re going to havejines,” he said. “But even tually you’re going to see differ Early Glitches in the Carolina Center ♦ Multimillion-dollar scoreboard shuts off with a little more than six minutes remaining in season opener against East Tennessee State. ♦ Shot clock buzzer gets stuck during opener. ♦ Fire alarm goes off Saturday against Appalachian State, delaying tipoff for 16 minutes. ♦ Crowded front entrance/lobby with long lines to enter building. ♦ Some fans have trouble hearing public-address announcer. ■1 BBBM m B 11 ent pedestrian paths.” The arena’s real test began Friday, with the first of three men’s basketball games played in four days, including Monday’s na tionally televised bout with Temple. Paquette said changing the arena’s configuration for differ ent types of events, such as from basketball to an ice show to a wrestling match, would be more difficult. “But television games are al ways a challenge,” he said. “I don’t anticipate any problems, but I’m knocking on every piece of wood I can find. ” Many fans have had trouble hearing the players’ names an nounced. Paquette said the speaker cab inets that ring the ceiling are ad equate and that there is enough ♦ GLITCHES, SEE PAGE 8 USC extends Holtz’s contract | BY KYLE ALMOND THIS l.'AMKCOCK Despite a losing record this sea son for the Gamecocks, USC foot ball head coach Lou Holtz had his contract extended by one year. Holtz’s contract now runs through 2007, giving him five more seasons at Carolina. “The university is committed to Coach Holtz and the members of his fine coaching staff,” USC President Andrew Sorensen said. "He is. an invaluable asset of the university and our football pro gram. I look forward to his leader ship and his continuing commit ment to the development of our student-athletes — both on and off the playing field—for the next five years.” The extension announcement came Tuesday, three days after the Gamecocks lost their final game of the season — a 27-20 defeat at Clemson that left Carolina at 5-7 and eliminated any chance for a third straight bowl game. Holtz was rewarded, however, for USC’s improvement during his tenure. After going 0-11 in Holtz’s first season, Carolina went 8-4 in his second season and 9-3 in his third. In both winning seasons, the Gamecocks fin idiicu uxc y cai with a victory over Ohio State in the Outback Bowl. “Coach Holtz has turned around the Carolina foot ucui pi ugi cun, iedu ing it to outstand- Holtz ing success, in cluding consecutive New Year’s Day bowl victories over Ohio State University,” USC Athletics Director Mike McGee said. “He has assembled a strong coaching staffled by assistant head coach Skip Holtz and defensive coordi nator Charlie Strong. We have ev ery confidence under Coach Holtz’s leadership (that) the foot ball team’s progress will continue ... and that Carolina will be recog nized nationally as a premier foot ball program.” Holtz, who earns a base salary of $200,000 per year for coaching “He is an invaluable asset of the university and our football program. I look forward to his leadership and his continuing commitment to the development of our student-athletes - both on and off the playing field - for the next five years.” ANDREW SORENSEN use PRESIDENT, ON HEAD COACH LOU HOLTZ USC, has a 22-25 record at Carolina. He replaced Brad Scott, who went 23-32-1 in five seasons.. The loss at Clemson finished a rough season for the Gamecocks that ended with a five-game losing streak. “It is disappointing to end the season without a bowl game,” said Holtz, who has been to 23 bowls in his 31 seasons as a col lege head coach. “I’m not used to that.” A win against the Tigers would have made USC bowl-eligible at 6 6, but the Gamecocks blew a 20-13 fourth-quarter lead. “We didn’t deserve to go to a bowl,” Holtz said. “There were just so many things that kept us from it, like third down and foolish penalties.” Carolina had problems on both sides of the ball. On offense, the team could mnctc»r nnlv nnintc Hurina itc five-game skid. Most of the blame can be placed on a passing game that was nonexistent for most of the year. USC averaged 151.8 pass ing yards per game, which ranks 103rd in the country out of 117 Division I-A teams. “I felt like we didn’t pass the ball enough,” Holtz said. “We need to be 50-50. Our running game was great, but we need to pass more.” The Gamecock defense, rock solid in recent years, showed its vulnerability all season and couldn’t always bail out a strug ♦ HOLTZ, SEE PAGE 8 COMMENTARY Answers to USC’s football questions BY MATT ROTHENBERG TIIK (IAMKCOCK Now that the football season has come to a close for USC, it would be fitting to take a look at some questions — and their possi ble answers — for next season’s team. It is safe to assume that head coach Lou Holtz will take a good look at his squad as it shapes up over the next several months for its opener against Louisiana Lafayette next year. Is Dondrial Pinkins going to be the starting quarterback? Pinkins will certainly be given every shot to earn that job, and his starting performances against Florida and Clemson this season were strong audi tions for the posi tion. Squad team quarterback Ary- j hel Freeman was converted to re peiuor and Renn ett Swygert is com ing off two knee Pinkins surgeries. So un less a junior-college quarterback steps in or a true freshman im presses the coaches, Pinkins will most likely be the starter. Who gets to carry the ball with Andrew Pinnock gone? There are a lot of candidates for the starting tailback job. Kenny Irons, Daccus Turman and Thez Robinson showed flashes of promise this season, and Gonzie Gray might see more time in the backfield, too. Freshman Regis Edgerson was redshirted and should get a good look at tailback as well. There are a number of pos sibilities the coaching staff could work with. How does the offensive line recover after losing four starters? With tackle Travelle Wharton leading the way, the offensive line should take a little time to gel in 2003. But not too long. Jeff Barnes will be a senior, and he can play nearly every position on the line. Na’shan Goddard received valu able playing time at center while C. J. Frye was out, and he did a re spectable job. Jonathan Alston also got a lot of playing time during the season and is a candidate for a starting position. Chad Walker and John Strickland both bring expe rience to the offensive line as well. Will the defense stop anyone on third down? Poor play on third down has been the bane of the defense for the last two seasons. It is something that defensive coordinator Charlie Strong and his coaches must con tinue to work on during the off season. Most of the younger play ers who saw significant time in 2002 will have more experience and hopefully more knowledge of a third-down defense. Other than having a quarterback who is com fortable passing the ball, this is probably the one area that will be a key for the Gamecocks next year. What will kickoffs and punts look like? With a horrible average on punt returns, finding a real breakaway threat that can field the ball is needed. Ryan Brewer is no longer around to do everything on special teams, so someone needs to step up. The Gamecocks need to get down the field quicker on kicks and stop causing penalties that ♦ QUESTIONS, SEE PAGE 8