The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 25, 2005, Page 9, Image 9
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GAME SCHEDULE
t> o SOFTBALL at Leadoff Classic, noon
ragCV BASEBALL vs. Niagara, 3 p.m.
Friday, February 25, 2005 WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. Texas A&M-CC, 1 p.m. Saturday
Gator trio to seek USC sweep
BY MIQUEL JACOBS
STAFF WRITER
David Lee, Matt Walsh and
Anthony Roberson. If conducting
a word association experiment,
these three names will show up on
any college basketball follower’s
list regarding the University of
Florida. For the last three years, the
trio has dominated the sport,
amassing 62 wins in two and a half
seasons.
Sunday afternoon’s nationally
televised date with the Gamecocks
might be the last time that Dave
Odom will have to plan for the
trio.
As the group of players to help
guide Florida to its first No. 1
ranking ever, senior Lee and
juniors Walsh and Roberson are 5
0 against the Gamecocks. The only
team that has held them in check
has been the Kentucky Wildcats,
the only conference team to hold
an undefeated record against the
All-SEC performers. However, the
trio is still in the race to claim its
first SEC East championship but
must win its next two games and
the season finale against the
Wildcats. While the Gators have
traditionally folded towards the
end of past seasons, the personnel
is available to continue this
season’s strong push, as all three
players rank in the top 20 of
numerous statistical categories in
conference.
Lee, a forward, has matured into
an NBA-caliber player this season.
For the second consecutive season,
he has been placed on the Wooden
Award Watch List, an award that
goes to the nation’s best player. A
two-time All-SEC player, Lee
contributed 13.3 points and 8.3
rebounds per game, one of the few
high-caliber players averaging close
to a double-double. With 19
double-doubles in his career, nine
of those have come this season,
including a 10-rebound, 18-point
performance against Carolina.
Understandably, Florida is 13-5
all-time when Lee posts a double
double, something that his
tremendous skill and body frame
allow to occur more than
occasionally.
“I think David has grown as a
player, and his confidence is high
right now,” Florida coach Billy
♦ Please see TRIO, page 10
NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK
Florida junior guard Matt Walsh looks to pass the ball inside in
Florida’s eight-point win over USC in January in Gainesville.
Carolina facing must-win situation
■ Gamecocks prepare
to play host to Florida
in crucial SEC game
By BRIAN DAVIS
THE GAMECOCK
The USC men’s basketball team
will play the most important game
of the season Sunday.
Yes, the spectacular and vividly
memorable defeat over then No.
3 Kentucky was the team’s most
significant game at the time.
But there is nothing more
imperative to postseason play
than a win Sunday, as USC plays
host to the Florida Gators on
CBS in a hotly contested
matchup
After a 19-point, truly
devastating l°ss at the hands of
Cinderella NCAA title contender
No. 16 Alabama, the Gamecocks
went on to fight from a 25-point
deficit only to lose by eight to a
struggling Tennessee team
Wednesday, i ne loss in Knoxville
marked the Gamecocks first set of
consecutive losses all season.
To maintain any hope of an
NCAA Tournament bid, the
Gamecocks must win in a
compelling fashion, displaying
their abilities once more to the
tournament committee.
Despite the loss to Alabama,
other teams are indirectly
assisting USC s late push at an
invitation. After their defeat, the
Wildcats bounced back by
dismantling a confused but
talented Mississippi State team in
front of a national audience, as
UK was featured on ESPN’s latest
College GameDay for NCAA
basketball.
This season, the Gators (17-7,
9-4 SEC) are 3-3 on the road in
conference, a compelling statistic
for a high-caliber SEC team. These
losses came to powers No. 5
Kentucky, Mississippi State and
LSU. Of their overall losses, some
interesting defeats can be tossed
into the pile as well, however,
including losses to both in-state
rivals Florida State and Miami in
important rivalry showdowns.
Florida coach Billy Donovan, a
younger, formidable coach who
has led the Gators to an NCAA
title game, is insistent on the
Gators learning how to win games,
presumably in later, more intense
situations.
“We have to find other ways to
win the game. We’re closer to that
than we were a year ago, which is
encouraging,” Donovan ' said
before the Vanderbilt game
Wednesday.
This season, one thing has been
almost entirely essential for
Florida 'victories —the trio.
Florida is led by junior guard and
All-SEC candidate Anthony
Roberson, junior shooting guard
Matt Walsh and senior forward
David Lee. The trio has combined
for more than 50 percent of the
Gators’ scoring, at more than 46
points per contest.
In its last two losses at
Kentucky and LSU, the team’s
trio has performed quite well,
shooting 51 percent from the
field. However, as the Gators
continue to face more of the SEC’s
elite teams and more specifically,
their defenses, the rest of the team
has struggled desperately to
produce.
In losses to Mississippi State,
Kentucky and LSU, the rest of the
team has combined for a mere 52
points.
Some of Florida’s earlier losses
were primarily the result of poor
shot selection from Walsh in
particular, as well as Roberson, in a
26-shot output in a loss against
Tennessee. In preparation for the
Gators’ contest with Vanderbilt,
Donovan seemed concerned with
the team’s shot selection at LSU.
“The biggest thing for me from
the 3-point line is the shot
selection and teaching (the players)
what a good shot is,” Donovan
said. “We took some quick ones
against LSU that (the percentage)
wasn’t high that they would be
good.”
With pressure defense
confronting them at LSU, and in
losses at Kentucky and Mississippi
State, the Gators can certainly
expect it from Dave Odom’s USC
team. While the style was not
successful against No. 16 Alabama,
USC forced then No. 3 Kentucky
into 21 turnovers at the Colonial
Center last week.
♦ Please see BASKETBALL, page 10
NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK
Senior forward Carlos Powell goes up for a layup against Florida’s Al Horford in the teams’ matchup
earlier this season. The Gamecocks will play host to the Gators at 2 p.m. Sunday in Columbia.
Air Jordans
bring back
memories of
His Aimess
20th anniversary of
m Nike shoe line
warrants look at Mike’s
greatness
If anyone ever deserved to have
their own signature shoe, it’s
Michael Jordan. And seeing as he
is the greatest basketball player to
ever walk the earth, and as this
□ year marics uie
2 0th
anniversary of
the inaugural
Air Jordan
shoe, I
thought it
appropriate to
take a look
back at my
personal
McCarthy favorites in
Mike’s shoe
THRID-YEAR line, explain
PRINT , r
JOURNALISM w n a t
STUDENT separates
those
particular
boots from the rest and
unabashedly lose myself for a
moment in the uncanny abilities
of my boyhood idol.
The reminiscing begins in
1986. I was barely 2 years old and
had come to be the proud owner
of my first pair of Jordans, albeit
made for toddlers. They were
two-toned, red-and-black high
tops with Nike’s standard swoosh
logo. When I think of these shoes,
I envision a young, explosive
Mike crossing up Larry Bird
about eight times before casually
stepping back to knock down a
15-foot jumpshot. It was the
beginning of an era of scoring
dominance for Mike, who
averaged a little better than 34.5
points per game in four seasons
between 1986 and 1990.
rast rorwara to rvvz — ail
Jordan fanatics should know what
I’m talking about when I say there
were holes in the tongue of these
Air Jordans. My mother said they
were the ugliest shoes she’d ever
seen. I begged to differ. In a word
— sweetness. They also had a
plastic arc mounted at the top of
the back of the shoe — also
aesthetically badass and a
convenient substitute for a
shoehorn (because everyone uses
shoehorns — NOT!).
These are the kicks Mike wore
when he switched hands mid-air
while driving to the basket against
the Los Angeles Lakers in the
1991-92 NBA Finals.
However, for me, Mike’s best
moment in these Jordans was
against the New York Knicks, in
what, in my opinion, is the one of
the most powerful dunks of all
time. In a regular-season game,
Mike shook a Knick defender
somewhere around the 3-point arc
and sped toward the basket. Patrick
Ewing — perhaps considering
whether his will Was stronger than
Mike’s — jumped and threw his
right arm up to block the dunk.
Mike was not to be denied, as is
usually the case. When their bodies
♦ Please see MCCARTHY, page 10
Baseball to try for third consecutive series sweep
CHARLIE DAVENPORT/THE GAMECOCK
% I
Junior shortstop SteVen Tolleson is congratulated by third-base
coach Jim Toman after hitting a home run in last weekend's series.
By ALEX RILEY
STAFF WRITER
The No.5 Gamecock baseball
team (6-0) enter this weekend’s
series against a struggling Niagara
(0-3) looking to claim their third
consecutive series sweep of the
season.
USC has dominated its
opponents so far, but on two
different facets. The Gamecocks’
opening two games against
Longwood were a nothing short of
masterful pitching, as the USC
pitching staff held Longwood to
two runs on 13 hits and did not
yield a walk during those first two
games.
Senior Aaron Rawl earned SEC
pitcher of the week honors for his
work on opening day, holding
Longwood to one run on four
hits, w striking out five.
Game tvfo saw the trio of Zac
McCamie, Brent Marsh and
Andrew Cruse combine for a
single run on nine hits, with 11
strikeouts.
The next three games were all
about offense, as Carolina
exploded to produce 49 runs on 53
in a span of three games, one
against Longwood (13-3) and tfvo
against Radford (20-0, 16-4).
USC’s last game went back to
its old ways, as the Gamecocks
struggled to hit the ball but
managed to win on the strength of
their pitching staff. Carolina’s
Cruse and Conor Lalor combined
for one run on four hits, with
seven strikeouts to win, 7-4.
Niagara comes into today’s
game with an 0-3 record after
losing three straight games to the
East Tennessee State Buccaneers
by one run in the final inning of
play. The New York based
Purple Eagles are in^the Metro
Atlantic Athletic Conference
where they finished 27-27 overall
and 16-9 in conference play last
season.
The Gamecock’s performance
thus far has been dominating, and
that overpowering factor could
becoming stronger as USC gets six
players added back to the roster
this weekend.
After accepting a game of
complimentary golf at a midlands
course, USC suspended senior third
basemen Steve Pearce and pitchers
Cliff Donald, Arik Hempy, Jason
Fletcher, Andy Lambert and Tim
McCarty. After serving their six
game suspensions, all will return to
the lineup for the weekend, giving
USC more depth in the bullpen, as
well as a power hitter and solid
fielder in Pearce.
Carolina is looking to juniors
Steven Tolleson and Michael
Campbell to continue their hot
starts to the season. Tolleson is on
a six-game hitting streak to start
the year and is still batting over
.500 with a .538 average. The
junior shortstop has already hit
three doubles and two triples on
the year.
Campbell is also off to a blazing
start, as he has 11 hits in 24 at-bats
for a .524 average to start the
season and has multiple hits in all
the games this season, except last
Sunday in which he had no official
at-bats.
“I’m excited to have them
back,” Tanner said. “Our pitching
depth was a little compromised in
the first two series.”
“Its in the past,” Pearce said.
“I’m just looking forward to
playing ball.”
USC will send Rawl to the
mound for Friday’s 3 p.m. start,
while McCamie will start Saturday
at 1:30 p.m., and Lalor will be
Sunday’s starter at 1:30 p.m.
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Comments on this story? E-mail
eamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu _