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12 Game.Scheduie MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Mississippi State, 7:30 p.m. WOMEN’S GOLF at the Northrup Grumman . . I I Regional Challenge in Los Angeles, Calif, uontaci.US WOMEN’S BASKETBALL vs. Alabama, 7 p.m. Thursday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? BASEBALL vs. Charleston Southern, 3 p.m. Friday E-mail us at gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu SOFTBALL vs. Oklahoma in Tallahassee, Fla., noon Friday USC gets set for SEC showdown PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMECOCK Forward Kerbrell Brown guards Alabama’s Kennedy Winston. BY JOEL WALLACE TIIK (JA.MKCOCK The top dogs in the SEC are in town tonight to take on the 25th ranked USC men’s basketball team. The Gamecocks (19-4, 6-3 SEC) hope to rebound from Saturday’s heartbreaker at Kentucky in which they lost not only the game but also sole pos session of first place in the SEC East. Sixth-ranked Mississippi State (19-1,9-1 SEC) is one basket away from being undefeated. The only blemish on its otherwise perfect record is a one-point loss to Kentucky, something Gamecock fans can empathize with. Since that game, the Bulldogs have won six in a row, including five games by a margin of at least 10 points. MSU is led by forward-center Lawrence Roberts, whose impos ing 6-foot-9-inch frame could be a problem for the undersized Gamecocks. Roberts is averaging a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds per contest. The Bulldogs also have a pair of skilled, experienced guards in Timmy Bowers and Winsome Frazier, averaging 15.7 and 12.3 points per game, respectively. The Gamecocks have the friendly confines of the Colonial Center to look forward to, as the Carolina faithful have declared tonight Blackout Night. Similar to the Blackout at the USC-Florida football game in 2001, all Gamecock fans are encouraged to wear black from head to toe in or der to create a more intense atmo sphere. USC fans hope to have bet ter results this time around, as Florida put up offensive numbers more consistent with basketball than football, thumping the Gamecocks soundly by a score of 54-17. USC head coach Dave Odom was introduced to the idea last Thursday on his radio show. In an effort to promote school spirit among fans, Odom welcomed the notion, saying he supports any thing that creates unity. Mississippi State head coach Rick Sansbury, however, is famil iar with hostile environments and welcomes the challenge. “Like always on the road, it’s never easy,” Stansbury said. “We’re going on the road to play one of the most difficult teams in the league. We’ll be in a very dif ficult environment, but we’re look ing forward to playing the game.” The Gamecocks must avoid an emotional letdown following such a closely contested game against Kentucky, especially against a team with the Bulldogs’ creden tials. “Mississippi State doesn’t need any help, so what we need to do is shake the Kentucky loss as quick ly as we can,” Odom said. “Hopefully we have the reservoir of energy that we’ll need to win the basketball game Wednesday night. Mississippi State is at the top of the league; they are really an excellent basketball team.” Don’t expect a defensive strug gle like the one the Gamecocks had Saturday at Kentucky. The Bulldogs are third in the confer ence in scoring offense with 75.6 points each game, while the Gamecocks boast the No. 1 scor ing defense at 58.4 points per game. One weakness of the Bulldog squad is its lack of depth. With only six or seven players consis tently logging a large number of minutes, the Gamecocks should be able to use their depth to wear down MSU with a full-court press. “I think there’s no question; you can see we’re not playing very many people at all,” Stansbury said. “We have to continue to de velop. It’s one area I really feel we have to continue to find ways to put some people in that eighth and ninth spot.” Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Women’s basketball to tussle with Tide BY BRAD MOSELEY THE (MMECOCK The USC women’s basketball team (9-12, 0 8 SEC) is looking for its first conference win on Thursday as they take on Alabama. Alabama has a better conference record at 3-6 . and is 11-11 overall, but the Tide has yet to win on the road. The Gamecocks are looking to contribute to that streak. Alabama is coming off an 81-68 win over Vanderbilt that broke its previous six-game losing streak. The Gamecocks enter Thursday’s game after losing to Ole Miss and the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers. The Gamecocks had late surges in both of their last two games, hinting at the young riamocnrlfc’ ermwiner tnnahnPQC Alabama and USC last met in the first con ference game for both teams on Jan. 11. The Gamecocks led the Tide by 14 points in the first half, but the second half saw Alabama shoot 60 percent from the field and narrowly defeat USC, 74-71. The game went down to the wire and was finally decided by Alabama forward Lauren Hill who made two free throws with three sec onds remaining to give the Tide the win. The Gamecocks hope to bolster their defense and keep the Alabama shooters to a less enjoy able shooting percentage in the upcoming game. The Tide’s excellent shooting might have stemmed from the support of their home crowd, which all three of their SEC wins have come in front of. The Tide also enjoys a siz able advantage in experience with seven up perclassmen to the Gamecocks’ three. Senior guards Kelly Morrone and Cristina Ciocan led the Gamecocks with 17 points a piece in the first game against Bama and will play a key role if the Gamecocks are to upset Alabama in the rematch. The Gamecocks need to be conscious of ju nior guard Monique Bivins at all times. Bivins, the Tide’s leading scorer, was unstop pable in her last game, shooting for 23 against Vanderbilt. USC will also need to slow down Alabama’s bench, which previously outscored the Gamecock bench 38-20. The Gamecocks will look to improve on their poor rebound ing effort against Tennessee that most likely cost them that game. a <1 i i . n. . __1. _ r xi_i. ruiuinci ivcj tv Lite gcuuc vv xxx uc xaoi uican points. Alabama loves to shoot three-pointers, but if the shots aren’t falling for them tomor row, then the long rebounds could turn into many fast break opportunities for the Gamecocks. Morrone and Ciocan would likely be the beneficiaries of such opportunities. Ciocan, originally from Bucharest, Romania, will add to her South Carolina ca reer assists record Thursday that rests at 602 after Sunday’s loss. Ciocan needs only 44 more points this season to reach the 1,000 point plateau for her career. Needless to say, the Gamecocks would love to post their first win in the SEC for their home crowd before they leave to play away games against the fourth ranked Auburn Tigers and eighth-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs. The Gamecocks take on Alabama on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Colonial Center. The game will be televised on Comcast Sports Southeast. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu USC.baseball PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK Catcher Landon Powell swings at a pitch during a USC game last season. ■Baseball team steps up to bat against Charleston Southern BY BRIAN SAAL TIIKCAMKCOCK February is a big month for sports fans — Patriots fans cele brated Super Sunday; NASCAR is getting set for its first season under new sponsor Nextel; col lego'basketball conferences are getting ready to crown their champions; and we get to hear that beautiful ping off college baseball players’ aluminum bats. Baseball fever has been in full swing in Gamecock country since the last day in January when the first Baseball Bash scrimmage was held. The season looks bright lor the seventh-ranked USC baseball team after yet another terrific off season for head coach Ray Tanner, starting his eighth year as Carolina’s head coach. The Gamecocks were tied with North ♦ BASEBALL, SEE PAGE 13 PHtyO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK Guard Lauren Simms drives past an Ole Miss player in USC’s loss to the Rebels last Thursday. Valentine’s for NBA players Usually if there are sports on during Valentine's weekend, I am forced to somehow get my girl friend to sit down and share her chocolates while watching NBA and college basketball. The trick is to give her something that we both can like. I'm not usually a cheapskate when it comes to Valentine's Day either. But this year, I think that more than just my loved one deserves some g^AWN \°T\e .. , °n ROURK Valentine s Day. This being the *“«**“»' week leading up journalism to Valentine's student Day, I thought it appropriate to senu out valentines to some NBA players around the league because frankly, they need someone sticking up for them. Some of these guys have been straight hated-on in the past few days. The first valentine goes out to the entire Golden State Warriors team. This is a team that scored two points in the fourth quarter in one of its recent games. Two points. Me, the Wee Man from “Jackass,” Joe from “Family Guy” and any two of our copyeditors on this staff could amass.that point total against the Warriors. I understand bad nights for players. But for an entire team to have a bad night all at the same time, that is quite an amazing feat, one topped only by the Philadelphia Eagles who all seem to have a bad night at the same time, three years in a row. The next valentine goes out to Byron Scott, who just got the ax from Jason Kidd this past week. Don’t Kidd yourself either — Kidd was the one who made the decision to get rid of Scott. However, if you're a Nets fan, it's not all that bad; the Nets have won seven straight under the Ron Howard of the NBA, Lawrence Frank. The final valentine, and the kicker in all this, is the fact that LeBron James and Carmello Anthony were not voted onto this year's All-Star team. The NBA is all about selling its name on the stars on each of the teams. It has been this way since the days of Dr. J, onto Jordan and so on. James and Anthony are two of the leagues biggest stars on the court today, so why aren't they on the team? But I am not completely on Jamies' and Anthony's side on this. These two superstars showed why high school kids aren't mature enough to play profession^ sports. Both stars fired back at the NBA, saying that if they weren’t start ing, they weren't going to go to All Star Weekend. James and Anthony are rook ies and need to act like it. Just because you have a shoe deal and a bunch of Hummers doesn't mean you can make de mands to go to All-Star Weekend as a starter. I personally think they should have gotten voted on because of their skills, but you cannot act immaturely about it. You're a rookie, and rookies have to pay their dues. Besides, no mat ter how many times King James goes out onto the court, he's still not Jordan. On top ot things, why aren t ei ther of them going into the slam dunk contest? The whole All-Star weekend is for the fans. James and Anthony put on a slam dunk con test during most of their games sc far this season. I think it would great to have them in there. Heck, it might actually make me want to watch it this season. Plus, there's no way why Jason Richardson needs to win it a third year in a row. I doubt I'll be watching the All Star Weekend this year without James and Anthony; it just does n't seem all that flashy anymore. Maybe I can share some choco lates over that Adam Sandler movie — ijimm, now thereVa thought.