The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 28, 2003, Page 8, Image 8
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.
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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.
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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