South Carolina, Ball State battle for trip to New York

Posted 6:52AM on Thursday 21st March 2002 ( 23 years ago )

COLUMBIA, S.C. - When South Carolina plays Ball State on Thursday for a chance to go to the NIT final four, it really should be the last game in the Frank McGuire Arena. The 34-year-old Carolina Coliseum has been on borrowed time the past week as the men's and women's teams have hosted postseason tournament play. But win or lose, Thursday's National Invitation Tournament matchup against the Cardinals will be the last. And it will pit two teams who saw high hopes for the season not quite pan out. Ball State (23-11) earned an early reputation as giant-killer with wins against Kansas, then No. 4, and UCLA, then No. 3, at this season's Maui Invitational. The Cardinals failed to pull off the sweep and lost to then-top-ranked Duke 83-71 in the championship game. ``The only thing we know about them is what we saw in Maui,'' South Carolina senior guard Aaron Lucas said. ``They are a very talented team that shoots the ball extremely well. They have a great talent on the perimeter, a great inside player, and that's the only thing we really remember.'' Meanwhile, South Carolina (20-14) watched its NCAA tournament dreams dissolve in close losses in the Southeastern Conference especially the last three games of the regular season. While those were tough to take, head coach Dave Odom said, they may have marked a turning point. ``I think being able to overcome that week where we lost three games - the Auburn, Georgia, Mississippi State game at home - I think was kind of turning point for us,'' he said. ``It's a point where your team either comes together and moves on with great intensity and great intent or your fold up your tents and go home and wait until next year, and our team chose not to do that.'' The Gamecocks' intensity showed against Kentucky in the SEC tournament second round when a stifling defense led to a 70-57 South Carolina victory. South Carolina lost the next game to eventual tournament runner-up Alabama but had the game in reach with seconds to go. Ball State and South Carolina are playing some of the best ball of their seasons in the NIT, Odom said. Ball State's NIT run began in the Open Round with a 98-92 win against South Florida and followed with a 76-54 win against St. Joseph's to get to the round of 16. The Cardinals hit a barrage of 3-pointers (14-of-26) for a 75-65 victory at Louisiana State on Tuesday. Thursday's game will be the Cardinals' third straight road game. ``We feel like a minor league baseball team right now,'' head coach Tim Buckley said Wednesday as his team road a bus to practice. ``We just want to make sure we've got clean clothes.'' Buckley said his team would do most of its work in walkthroughs Wednesday and practice about an hour. He doesn't want to wear out his bread-and-butter outside shooters. For the season, Ball State hit 293 3-pointers, a school and Mid-American Conference single-season record. ``It's been a situation where we got guys who can really shoot the basketball,'' Buckley said. The Cardinals hit a school-record 16 3-pointers against Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis on Dec. 15 and made 15 long-range shots against Eastern Michigan on Feb. 2. Twice this season, the team has hit 14 3-pointers: on Nov. 30 against Elon and Tuesday against LSU. ``The 3s were just falling,'' said Chris Williams, who hit 6-of-11 3-pointers Tuesday on his way to scoring 25 points for the Cardinals. ``We were getting open looks and just knocked them down.'' South Carolina wasn't knocking down the 3s Tuesday against UNLV. Top 3-point shooter Jamel Bradley was 1-of-7 from long range in the first half. He did find his shot in the second half when he hit three in a row that helped the Gamecocks pull away from the Running Rebels and win 75-65. South Carolina started its NIT run with a 73-67 win at Virginia.

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