By FITSNews || The University of South Carolina men’s basketball team wrapped up a disappointing 2009-10 regular season on a high note Saturday – upsetting No. 13 Vanderbilt in Nashville.
Three-time All-SEC point guard Devan Downey hit a clutch three-pointer with just under two minutes left in the game to put USC ahead 72-69, and the Gamecocks held on for a 77-73 victory over the Commodores.
The win broke a six-game losing streak, and evened USC’s overall record at 15-15 (6-10 SEC).
Barring a miracle in the Southeastern Conference Tournament next week, South Carolina will miss both the NCAA and NIT tournaments this year – a letdown for second year head coach Darrin Horn. A year ago, Horn led USC to a share of the SEC East title and an NIT appearance, and Gamecock fans expected big things from this year’s squad.
Injuries to key players, however – including a season-ending knee injury to senior forward Dominique Archie back in November – crippled USC’s hopes.
One bright spot?
USC’s thrilling upset of then-No. 1 Kentucky in Columbia, S.C. in January – one of just two losses the Wildcats suffered all season.
South Carolina has made the NCAA tournament just eight times in program history (most recently in 2004), but has played in the NIT in three of the last five seasons – winning the tournament in 2005 and 2006.
Pic: Travis Bell, Sideline Carolina
By just another person March 6, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Sic,
They will make the NIT if they win 1 game in the SEC tourney. as long as they are .500 and above, they will get in.
By Joebo March 6, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Playing for pride, with your back against the wall. Well done, gentlemen, well done.
By Steve V March 6, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Surprise Surprise…the sun shines on a dog’s ass every once in a while. After the Georgia debacle, I said they wouldn’t win another game this season. They finally manned up and played like they had a pair.
By george felton March 7, 2010 at 2:53 am
6wins in the sec, in the east- the toughest division of any conference in the nation, especially this year. a buzzer beater loss at florida. a blown 10 point lead at georgia with 5 minutes and change. a blown 14 point lead to alabama. right there, those 3 games and this team, with devan downey and nobody else consistently, could easily have had 9 sec wins. thats almost absurd that that team really should be 9-7 in the sec. are you f@*@ing kidding me? plus the fact that this team had no inside presence all year and probably gave up as much as 15-20 points a game in layups and dunks in the post game and in transition ON OFFENSE AND DEFENSE. i wont even mention losing holmes since he got kicked off the team, but dominique archie was going to have a great season: through 5 games he was shooting 45% from 3,he was the best all round defender and rebounder, the tip of the spear on the full court press, the most athletic player on the team, and the best finisher at the rim. plus he was a fifth year senior. still this team beat the no.1 team in the nation, shouldve swept florida and georgia, and beat one the best vandy teams in a long time to deny them a co-sec regular season title at their place on senior day. they played bad against the states of mississippi and tennessee. and arkansas and alabama were toss ups that they lost. and in the end beating kentucky ranked no.1 is way better than losing a first round ncaa tournament game or even winning the whole nit. it will definitely help with recruiting. o yeah!! and we could still run the table and win the goddamn sec tournament. if ramon galloway, lakeem, and muldrow all play their best basketball of the season and with devan downey ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. as long as we don’t have to play tennessee or mississippi state we’ll be ok.
By CNSYD March 7, 2010 at 11:13 am
george felton, if a frog had wings he wouldn’t bump his ass on the ground.
By OhNoNotAgain March 7, 2010 at 6:56 pm
To have a winning record overall, they have to win at least two games in the tournament.
If they somehow take it all the way, they get in the NCAA.
But they have to win at least two to get an invite to the Not Invited Tourney. And that’s a long shot.