South Carolina Quietly Makes Way to Top of the SEC

By the end of the 1995-96 college basketball season, there was no doubt as to which conference was the best in the nation.

The Southeastern Conference not only had the national champion (Kentucky), but one other Final Four team (Mississippi State), two round-of-16 NCAA teams (Arkansas and Georgia) and five National Invitation Tournament participants. The SEC, excluding games between members, was 20-7 in the postseason, 16-3 in the NCAA.

Not since 1985, when the Big East had three teams in the Final Four, had a conference fared so well in the postseason.

While Kentucky--even with the loss of three players who were first-round NBA draft picks--was expected to contend again this season for the national championship, the SEC was expected to lose its dominant postseason grip.

Mississippi State and Georgia were in a major rebuilding mode with the loss of all five starters, while Arkansas returned only two and faced eligibility problems with others.

Kentucky continued its dominant ways until guard Derek Anderson, the conference’s leading scorer, suffered a season-ending knee injury.

The Wildcats, 17-2 and ranked third in the nation, are still formidable at this point in the season but must take a back seat to unranked South Carolina, the only unbeaten team in the SEC.

South Carolina, 13-5 overall and 7-0 in conference, increased its winning streak to eight games Saturday with a surprisingly easy 86-63 victory over Mississippi at Columbia, S.C. The Rebels (12-6, 4-4) have lost three of four games since beating Kentucky and making their first appearance in the national rankings.

The Gamecocks have not risen to lofty national heights since the early 1970s when legendary Frank McGuire was coaching, though last season’s 19-12 team seemed on the verge until poor play on the road (1-8) relegated it to NIT status.

South Carolina appears ready to move into the national rankings and the NCAA tournament despite embarrassing December losses at home to North Carolina Asheville and Charleston Southern of the Big Southern--one of the nation’s worst conferences.

Coach Eddie Fogler, who had a 142-40 record in previous stops at Wichita State and Vanderbilt, has one of the nation’s best guard tandems in senior Larry Davis, junior Melvin Watson and sophomore BJ McKie. They’re nicknamed “Triple Trouble” and showed why against Mississippi.

McKie, who last season broke four freshman records held by former NBA star Alex English, had 26 points and 11 rebounds. Davis, a transfer from North Carolina, had 20 points--the fifth time in six games he had reached that figure. Watson, who may have emerged as the SEC’s top point guard over Arkansas’ more-publicized Kareem Reid, had 10 points and set up three breakaway scores in a decisive 16-1 Gamecock run in the first half.

For all the explosiveness of the South Carolina guards, they are also the reason South Carolina is second to Kentucky in scoring defense (62 points a game) and field-goal percentage against (38.5%).

And they seem intent on keeping South Carolina one of the nation’s best-kept basketball secrets.

“Everyone is keeping the same intensity and focus,” Watson said after last week’s road victory at Alabama. “No one is saying anything about first place or how many games we won.”

No. 4 Wake Forest 61, Florida State 58--The Demon Deacons (15-1, 7-1) overcame a poor first half in which they missed 14 of 15 three-point shots and trailed by as many as 13 points in the Atlantic Coast Conference game at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Center Tim Duncan had his 25th consecutive game with double figures in points (22) and rebounds (10) along with nine blocked shots and six assists. Duncan had eight points in a 17-2 run that allowed the Demon Deacons to pull into a 28-28 tie at half. Two of Florida State’s big men, Corey Louis and Kirk Luchman fouled out trying to guard Duncan.

Florida State (11-5, 2-5) had two chances to tie the score in the final seconds but LaMarr Greer missed a baseline jumper with 3.9 seconds left and a 30-foot desperation shot at the buzzer.

Wake Forest’s last four games have been decided by 13 points.

No. 5 Utah 78, Rice 58--Forward Keith Van Horn made 10 of 15 shots and had 23 points in only 26 minutes for the Utes (13-2, 5-0) in the Western Athletic Conference game at Salt Lake City.

Center Michael Doleac had 20 points and 10 rebounds for Utah, which shot 60% and was credited with 26 assists.

Center Shaun Igo had 21 points for Rice (8-8, 2-4).

No. 8 Minnesota 91, Purdue 68--The Golden Gophers (18-2, 7-1) continued their dominant play at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, increased their Big Ten lead to two games over idle Iowa and ended a losing streak against the Boilermakers (9-8, 4-3) at seven games.

Minnesota is 9-0 at home and has won by an average of 29 points. The Golden Gophers are also 2-0 against Indiana and Purdue, which have won seven of the last 10 conference titles.

Minnesota got its usual strong play from guards Bobby Jackson (20 points and eight rebounds) and Eric Harris (17 points) and compiled a 39-22 rebounding advantage.

Purdue guard Chad Austin had a career-high 30 points but center Brad Miller, the team’s leading scorer at 14 points a game, had six points and took only two shots.

It also was a rare victory for Minnesota Coach Clem Haskins against Purdue’s Gene Keady, his mentor when the two coached at Western Kentucky in the ‘70s. Keady has beaten Haskins 17 of the 22 times they have met in the Big Ten--including all 10 games at Purdue.

No. 12 Villanova 84, No. 22 Boston College 66--The Wildcats (15-4, 6-3) defeated the Eagles (13-4, 7-2) for the seventh consecutive time in a Big East Conference game at Newton, Mass.

Guard Alvin Williams led Villanova with 23 points and had three three-point baskets in a 22-7 run that broke the game open in the first half. Center Jason Lawson and forward Tim Thomas had 21 and 19 points respectively.

Boston College, which has lost 11 consecutive games to nationally ranked opponents, shot 32% and missed 16 of 24 three-point shots.

Guard Scoonie Penn was three-for-18 shooting while leading scorer, forward Danya Abrams, took only seven shots in scoring a team-high 12 points.

No. 13 Michigan 74, Michigan State 61--At East Lansing, Mich., the Wolverines (14-5) won the first nonconference game between the rivals since the Spartans (11-5) were admitted to the Big Ten in 1950.

Since the addition of Penn State to the Big Ten, each school plays home-and-home against all but two conference opponents. This season’s Big Ten schedule called for Michigan and Michigan State to meet only once, but the schools decided to meet twice because it is almost a guaranteed sellout. Next Saturday’s game between the schools at Ann Arbor will count in conference standings.

Michigan’s three low-post players scored in double figures. Forward Maurice Taylor had 18 points before fouling out with eight minutes left, center Robert Traylor had 14 points and nine rebounds, and reserve forward Maceo Baston had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Guard Ray Weathers had 14 points for Michigan State, which shot 39%.

No. 14 Iowa State 64, No. 20 Texas Tech 61--Six-foot-11 center Kelvin Cato scored 18 points and blocked eight shots for the Cyclones (13-3, 4-2) in a Big 12 Conference game at Ames, Iowa.

Cato and forward Kenny Pratt effectively double-teamed Texas Tech 6-11 center Tony Battie, who made one of nine points and had three points--22 below his Big 12 average. Guard Corey Carr led Texas Tech (13-4, 5-2) with 26 points.

Pratt had 17 points and 10 rebounds while guard Dedric Willoughby, who had missed the last two games because of a hamstring injury, played all but the final 30 seconds and had 10 points.

The hustle of 6-foot guard Jacy Holloway in the final seconds preserved the three-point lead for Iowa State.

Holloway got the rebound after a Texas Tech’s Gracen Averil missed a free throw and drew a charge from Carr with 4.7 seconds left after teammate Brad Johnson missed a free throw.

After his inbounds pass glanced off Johnson, Holloway raced across the court, saved the ball from going out of bounds and got it to Pratt, who dribbled out the clock. Texas Tech Coach James Dickey hugged Holloway after the buzzer sounded.

No. 15 New Mexico 61, Texas El Paso 49--The Lobos (15-3, 4-2) had season lows in field goals made (16) and attempted (33) but still managed to extend the nation’s third-longest home-court winning streak to 21 games in the Western Athletic Conference game at Albuquerque.

Guard Charles Smith scored 15 of his game-high 17 points in the first half while guard David Gipson had nine of his 11 in the second half after Texas El Paso (8-8, 2-5) had reduced an 18-point deficit to five.

Duquesne 78, No. 16 Xavier of Ohio 70--Guard Tom Pipkins had a career-best 30 points, scoring 10 in the final four minutes for the Dukes (6-10, 2-6) in an Atlantic 10 Conference game at Cincinnati.

Xavier (13-3, 4-2) had come back from a 14-point deficit to take its only lead of the game at 67-65 with 2:12 left on Gary Lumpkins’ three-point basket. But Pipkins made a jumper and had a three-point play after Xavier guard Lenny Brown, who had a team-high 22 points, missed two free throws and had a turnover.

“We didn’t want to let it slip away and have another long, disappointing bus ride home,” said Pipkins, whose team had a pair of two-point defeats in losing its last four.

Duquesne made its first five three-point shots en route to a season-best 11 of 21.

No. 24 Tulsa 72, Brigham Young 56--The Golden Hurricane (15-4, 5-0) overcame poor shooting from its leading scorer, guard Shea Seals, in a Western Athletic Conference game at Provo, Utah.

Seals, averaging 21.2 points, made only three of 15 shots in leading Tulsa with 13 points.

Brigham Young (1-15, 0-6) had a 42-35 rebounding advantage, with 6-foot guard Matt Montague getting 10 to go with his team-high 14 points.

OTHER GAMES

Pittsburgh (10-9, 4-4) had six players score in double figures in an 89-71 victory over Georgetown (11-7, 4-6) at Landover, Md. Georgetown guard Victor Page had 29 points. . . . Providence (13-5, 5-3) was a 72-59 Big East Conference winner over St. John’s (9-8, 4-5) at New York though leading scorer Austin Croshere had a season-low four points on two-of-10 shots. He played only 25 minutes because of foul trouble. . . . Guards Carmelo Travieso and Edgar Padilla combined for 48 points and 12-of-22 three-point shooting as Massachusetts (10-9, 4-2) was a 78-66 winner over Temple (9-6, 3-3) in Philadelphia.

Guard Charles Jones, the nation’s leading scorer in 29.4 points a game, had 24 as Long Island (11-6, 8-1) was a 68-64 Northeast Conference winner over St. Francis, N.Y. (9-8, 4-5) in New York. . . . Freshman guard Donnie Carr, the nation’s second-leading scorer, had 16 points--10 below his average--as LaSalle (7-8, 2-3) was a 56-52 loser to George Washington (9-7, 4-3) in an Atlantic 10 game at Washington. . . . Center Adonal Foyle, the nation’s No. 3 scorer and No. 2 rebounder, had 36 points and 13 rebounds as Colgate (8-10, 5-0) was an 84-78 winner over Lehigh (1-17, 1-5) in a Patriot League game at Bethlehem, Pa.

Tulane (14-5, 5-0) increased its winning streak to nine with a 69-63 Conference USA victory over North Carolina Charlotte (12-6, 4-3) at New Orleans. Forward Rayshard had 17 points and 16 rebounds in picking up the slack for leading scorer Jerald Honeycutt, who fouled out with 12:16 left with only seven points. . . . Memphis (10-9), which defeated No. 6 Louisville on its home court Thursday, was a 51-48 loser to Alabama Birmingham (11-8, 2-4) in a Conference USA game at Birmingham, Ala.

Freshman guard Duany Duany had 20 points and made all five his three-point shots as Wisconsin (10-6, 3-4) was a 73-56 Big Ten Conference winner over Illinois (14-5, 4-3) at Champaign, Ill. The Badgers made nine of 10 three-point shots while the Illini was three of 33. . . . Northwestern (6-12, 1-6) had its biggest Big Ten margin of victory in 53 years in a 78-47 victory over Ohio State (7-9, 2-5) at Evanston, Ill. Northwestern’s previous biggest conference victory came against the University of Chicago, 77-20, in 1944.

Guard Bryce Drew had a season-high 38 points but Valparaiso (14-4, 7-1) couldn’t overcome 69% second-half shooting by Western Illinois in an 84-78 home-court loss in a Mid-Continent Conference game. Drew made 12 of 24 shots, including seven three-point baskets, and all seven of his free throws. . . . Guard Antonio Daniels scored 33 points to keep Bowling Green (14-5, 6-2) in a virtual three-way tie for the Mid-American Conference lead with Eastern Michigan and Miami of Ohio in an 86-76 victory at Toledo (9-7, 2-6). Daniels is the brother of Dayton center Chris Daniels, who died of heart failure last year.

Forward Bubba Wells, who scored 30 or more points in his first six games since coming back from having a rod inserted in his left leg before the season, had 27 points for Austin Peay (9-10, 6-3) in an 85-68 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Eastern Kentucky (4-13, 2-7) at Clarksville, Tenn. . . . Guard Nate Erdmann increased his career high for points for the third time in four games, getting 34 for Oklahoma (11-5, 3-3) in an 84-77 victory over Nebraska (11-7, 3-3) in a Big 12 Conference game at Norman, Okla. . . . Career-high scoring by forward HL Coleman (29 points) and guard Gregg Sawyer (22) lifted Wyoming (7-10, 3-3) to an 87-74 victory over Fresno State (12-8, 4-2) in a Western Athletic Conference game at Laramie, Wyo. Wyoming guard LaDrell Whitehead, the WAC’s leading scorer, is sidelined because of a dislocated left elbow.