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WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Miss. State, 1:30 p.m. Friday PONTArT TN MEN’S TENNIS at Miss. State, 2 p.m. Friday UUi' 1 u u MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Vanderbilt, 5 p.m. Saturday Story ideas? Questions? Comments?.. BASEBALL vs. Clemson, 1:30 p.m. Sunday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com WOMEN’S BASKETBALL at Ole Miss, 3 p.m. Sunday Gamecocks rout Kentucky ___-1_ HL *5 -- - M-MLi-- — — — —^ ™ ■ PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCI Head coach Susan Walvlus, far left, and Gamecocks, from left, Linda Hoglund, Petra UJhelyl and Jocelyn Penn pose during Senior Night festivities Thursday before USC played Kentucky. created. Soon after crushing his oppo nent, Tyson admitted he fought Etienne because he “always needs more money.” The bottom line is: Money makes Mike Tyson’s sur real world go around, and he’s go ing to need more of it. Tyson made $5 million for Saturday’s “fight,” part of which will go to his ex □ wife, who will re ceive $6.5 million from Tyson’s fu ture purses. Despite what Mike says now, don’t be surprised to see Lewis-Tyson II this . . June if the price is LeW 3 right. Don’t be sur prised to see Harding-Tyson if a deal with Lewis doesn’t work out. After painting his face and de grading himself for cash, all Mike Tyson needs is a big, red nose to ♦ NOLL, SEE PAGE 9 thered talk of a re match with world champion Lennox Lewis, who dominated Tyson their title fight last June. Soon af ter flooring Etienne, Tyson ad mitted that he’s “not ready to fight Lennox Lewis at this time.” The truth is that Tyson won’t be ready to fight Lennox Lewis or any other champions ever again. In the two weeks before Tyson made a joke of Etienne, Tyson was busy making a joke of him self. Just days before the “fight,” Tyson repeatedly skipped work outs, raising questions about his preparedness. Around 10 days be fore the “fight,” Tyson got a large tattoo on his face, with plans to tattoo his whole face in the near future. Tyson explained, “I didn’t like the way my face was look ing.” Less than a week before the “fight," Tyson reported that he had bronchitis, which caused him to pull out of the match before re entering 24 hours later. Tyson has more fun with bronchitis than most people do, as he told ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap that during his sickness he gave a lap dance to a Las Vegas stripper. Tyson, who was holding his toddler son in his arms, then told a confused Schaap, “I like to do what I want to do.” Mike doing what he wants is nothing new, and apparently, what he wants to do is to become a one-man sideshow. Fighting on the undercard before Tyson Etienne was former figure skater Tonya Harding, adding to the cir cus atmosphere that Tyson had JASON NOLL GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM The years have taken a beating on “Iron Mike.” 1987 was a big year for Mike Tyson. After he became boxing’s youngest-ever undisputed heavy - weight champion, the classic game “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!” was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. If only Tyson’s success as a champi onship boxer could have paral leled his success as a video game character. “Punch-Out’s” players battle an assortment of Cold War-era ethnic stereotypes to earn a final fight against Kid Dynamite him self, Mike Tyson. Contrasted with the band of ge netic freaks with personality dis orders that filled “Punch-Out’s" roster, Tyson was the “normal” one in the game. Apparently, a lot can change in 16 years. Tyson’s 49-sec- - ond knockout of Clifford Etienne last Saturday fur Tyson is not the fighter he used to be “Vanderbilt is a very capable team. It will be a real challenge to get back up and play them.” ERNIE NESTOR USC MEN'S BASKETBALL ASSISTANT COACH pable of getting one. “It’s going to be a high-energy game. Vanderbilt is a very capa ble team. It will be a real chal lenge to get back up and play them,” he said. The game’s outcome is impor tant this year as far as prepara tion for the SEC Tournament is concerned. South Carolina can not reach the fourth seed in the East unless they win and Tennessee loses. The winner of to morrow night’s game, however, will likely be in the driver’s seat to finish out the season as the fifth seed. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com ing streak, which started one game before the last time these two teams met. Vandy shoots .445 per game, which is about two per cent better than the Gamecocks’ shooting. Junior forward Matt Freije is the Commodores leading scorer, averaging 17.8 points per game. In Wednesday’s loss to Arkansas, Freije managed to put up 15 points. Thornton is second on the team in scoring, putting up 12.8 per game. USC holds somewhat of a home-court advantage as they have posted a 10-3 home record this season. Vanderbilt, on the other hand, has yet to win a road game. They have gone 0-9 in away games this season. Neither team has shown a real talent to put pressure on the other team’s scor ers as Vandy and USC rank 11th and 12th in the SEC in field goal percentage defense. Coach Nestor knows that de spite the Commodore^ winless road record, they are stni very ca ing from two losses from very good basketball teams,” Nestor said. “We couldn’t shoot from the perimeter at all against Georgia, and then we couldn’t do anything at Florida. We didn’t answer the bell at all against those teams.” Senior point guard Chuck Eidson has been the team’s most ef fective all-around player. Eidson av erages 11.5 points Eidson per game and is second in the conference in free throw percentage as well as steals. Powell is leading the team in points per game, averaging 12.7 points. Senior center Tony Kitchings has shot the best of all the Gamecocks, posting a .477 shooting percentage. He has also been averaging 5.5 rebounds per contest. The Commodores currently find themselves in a six-game los earlier this month, the Gamecocks came home with an 84-72 victory and their first and only road win of the season. In the game, Carlos Powell led USC in scoring with 16 points. Vanderbilt’s Brian Thornton put up a team-high 22. Despite their poor overall standing, the Gamecocks have been playing better in recent weeks. In light of Tuesday night’s loss to Florida, USC has still won four of its past six contests. Against the Gators, Rolando Howell led the team in points with 16 and with six re bounds. USC assistant coach Ernie Nestor thinks the Gamecocks are very capable of picking back up the type of play that will be criti- Nestor cal this late in thb seasot. “Our basketball team is reel VRNDWlt Vanderbilt at USC 5 p.m. Saturday Carolina Center — -=^==^= BY CHRIS FOY TDK CAME COCK Staying out of last place will probably be the theme going into tomorrow afternoon’s match-up between the South Carolina Gamecocks (11-13; 4-9 SEC) and the Vanderbilt Commodores GO 14; 3-10). In the Southeastern Conference’s East Division, USC and Vanderbilt rank fifth and sixth respectively. In the entire conference, they both fall under ninth overall. When both teams faced off Gamecocks set to battle the Commodores PHOTO BY CANDI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOCK Bryan Triplett, right, and Michael Campbell will help lead the Gamecocks against archrlval Clemson this weekend. Matt Campbell, who have a com bined 2.32 ERA and four wins. “I think our pitching is coming along real well now," sophomore Kevin Melillo said. The Gamecocks have also been performing well at the plate. Led by Melillo and Nick Gardiner, the team is batting .336 on the season. Melillo is still bat ting .500 on the season with two homers. Gardiner is batting .429 on the season and has six RBIs. Junior standout Landon Powell leads the team in RBIs with 11 and is batting .386 going into this weekend. “We’re starting to put the ball in play more offensively. We’re playing station-to-station baseball more. We’re bunting; we’re hit ting and running; we’re doing what we need to do to get guys across the plate,” Melillo said. On other side of the plate, Clemson (2-2) will turn to its main producer this season, Michael Johnson. One of the only returners from their CWS team last season, Johnson is sec ond on the team behind Garrick Evans in batting average, but leads the team in RBIs and home runs. ♦ BASEBALL, SEE PAGE 9 in-state rivalries. “I got a good taste of it too,” se nior Justin Harris said. “I’m from Florida, where Florida-Florida State is a big rivalry. But when I got here last year, I experienced something a little bit more excit ing. I guess, also playing in it too, I never knew how much the ri valry was between Clemson and Carolina.” After USC took both games against Clemson in the CWS last year, many players on this sea son’s squad think Clemson will be coming out to avenge last year’s losses. “I think they are going to be very motivated. They got a lot to prove after we beat them twice on national TV,” said sophomore pitcher Aaron Rawl. “They beat us a lot last year during the regu lar season, and then in the end of the year, we got them back. So I think they got a lot to prove com ing out. And they’re going to come out to get us.” Carolina (8-1) will be going into this weekend’s series riding a sev en-game winning streak, which includes a three-game sweep of Duquesne at home this past week end. The lOth-ranked team is run ning on the strength of their pitching in starters like Rawl and No. 19 Clemson at No. 10 USC 1:30 p.m. Sunday Sarge Frye Field BY SHAWN ROURK THE GAMECOCK Last season, many people got a taste of one of the biggest rival ries between two universities when USC and Clemson faced off in two games of the College World Series. This weekend, the two teams will renew their rivalry with a two-game series starting Saturday. “This is the kind of game where I think you have to be loose and relaxed. You got to have fun with it. This is one of the greatest games in college baseball, and you got to enjoy it,” said USC baseball head coach Ray Tanner. The “Battle of the Palmetto State” also had an impact on those .who came from states that also have nationally prominent USC, Tigers ready to resume rivalry The first half began with the Gamecocks jumping out to a quick 11-0 run. Kentucky scored its first basket on Sara Potts’ 3-pointer with 16:21 left in the first half. Carolina then went on a 10-3 run to take a 15-point lead with 10:00 to play in the half. Penn continued to get easy baskets down low and on fast breaks, ending the half with 17 points. By halftime, USC was in control with a 42-20 advantage. The second half was the same story for the Gamecocks, as they pounded the ball into Ujhelyi, who had 11 second-half points, and Olga Gritsaeva. The Gamecocks grabbed a 85-44 lead with 6:07 to play when Kelly Morrone hit a pair of free throws after Kentucky’s Jenerrie Evertte was charged with a technical foul. With Penn out of the game, USC kept on scoring, with Ujhelyi and Ciocan leading the charge. Carolina didn’t let up until the buzzer soutided, as it was out to play better than the 49-16 win it had in Lexington. “I’m really pleased with our team’s offensive mentality tonight,” Walvius said. “I thought we did a great job, and it’s the one thing we did not do when we went to Kentucky that our team was out to prove tonight. I think we came pretty close to putting 40 minutes together tonight.” Carolina will now look to Sunday night’s season finale on the road at Ole Miss (12-14,1-12). Tip-off is at 3 p.m. in Oxford, Miss. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com She tied the all-time SEC steals recordand will likely break the record before her career is up. “Her goal tonight was to get a triple-double. It was dis appointing because I felt like she was on track to get that,” USC head coach Susan Walvius said. “She knew what she needed to get, and that was her mindset. She’s been a great leader for our program and a big reason that we’ve had the success we’ve had.” Ujhelyi also had a big game, scoring 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds, while Cristina Ciocan chipped in 21 points, six as sists and six rebounds. The Gamecocks (20-6,8-5) shot 53.9 percent from the field and never trailed against the Wildcats. They forced 21 turnovers, which turned into 19 points, and stole the ball 14 times as they held Kentucky to 32.1-per cent shooting from the field. USC dominated in the paint, outscoring Kentucky 52-24 and won the battle pf the boards 45-24. Carolina also scored 24 points on the fast break, where the Wildcats were held scoreless. Kentucky was led offensively by Shambrica Jones’ 14 points and Se Se Helm’s 11 points and seven rebounds. The Wildcats hit only four of their 17 3-point attempts and were plagued with 24 fouls, with two players fouling out. court and did not return. She rolled her right ankle while being fouled on a fast-break layup and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game at Ole Miss. Penn had hoped tonight would give her the first triple-double of her career and almost accom plished that feat. Not only did she score over 30 points for the fourth time this season, but Penn also added eight rebounds and eight steals in a 13-for-17 shooting night. as fans, coaches and fellow play ers said goodbye to three USC se niors and celebrated their ca reers. Jocelyn Penn, Petra Ujhelyi and Linda Hoglund returned the farewell with a dominating 97-51 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats (11-14,4-9 SEC). Penn led all scorers with 35 points, but silenced the crowd when she went down with an an kle injury with 6:25 to go in the game. Penn was helped off the LI Kentucky 51 |^ ... I_—! BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK Emotions ran high last night