USC Report Card by 001

Boy was this an exciting game to grade. It was really a game of firsts for the Dawgs. It was the first time we won at the Colonial Center , the first time we have put up 3 free throws to send a game into overtime the first time that Carolina had lost to an SEC West team and it was the first time that Jarvis Varnado has taken a charge in his MSU career. But it was a great win, especially in the manner that we won the game. Three pressure packed free throws to get it into overtime and then losing Gordon 12 seconds into the overtime, with Varnado already on the bench. In comes Phil Turner off the bench and his first shot attempt is a made 3 pointer. Man, it doesn’t get anymore dramatic than that. Charles Rhodes played like the man he is and the man that all of us want to see every game. He had 24 points, 9 rebounds, 3 turnovers and 3 assists. Those kind of numbers help you win lots of games.
OFFENSE B
We struggled on offense, but in the end found a way to win the game. Overall, this was one of poorest shooting performances. We were 9 for 24 for 37.5% in the first half and 10 for 22 for 45.5% in the second half giving us 43.4% for the game. We were able to collect 9 points off of 10 offensive rebounds. What really hurt us were the 19 turnovers we had in this game. Our offense has to pick up for the remainder of the season.
DEFENSE A-
This was a key area for us winning this game. Our guys held Carolina to their lowest shooting percentage of the season at 30.8% and one of their lowest point totals of the season at 56 points in this game. They probably did the best job of defending Devan Downey (Bob Cousey Award finalist) that has been done on him all year. He played 43 minutes in this game and was held to 6 of 18 including 3 of 9 from 3 point range.
ASSIST TO TURNOVER RATIO D+
We fell down in this category again. We had 19 turnovers to 14 assists. Carolina picked up 26 points off of turnovers. That’s darn near half of their total points for the game. Carolina on the other hand had 11 turnovers and we only garnered 5 points off their turnovers. It is imperative that we protect the ball better from this point on.
REBOUNDING A
Again, we out rebounded our opponent 42 to 36. Mike Holmes for Carolina gathered in 13 rebounds in 27 minutes of play and was their main man. On the other sides of the coin, Vanado had 12 rebounds and Rhodes was one rebound shy of a double-double in the game. This is a category we need to keep going for success.
3 POINT SHOOTING C-
We only made 5 of 18 3 point shots in this game. However, in this category, there were two 3 pointers that stood out from the rest. First was the missed 3 by Hansbrough when he was fouled and then made the 3 points from the charity stripe to tie the game, and then Phil Turner’s 3 pointer. coming into the game cold in overtime, and knocking down a 3 pointer to put us up by 5 points.
FREE THROW SHOOTING A
Although the overall free throw shooting wasn’t all that good at 10 of 15 for 66.7%, it was Ben’s 3 at the end of regulation that helped us win the game. It’s hard to put a statement together about FT shooting for this team because in the morning shoot around and practice, they were hitting FTs as well as you ask them to do.
OFFICIATING B
I felt two of the officials, Tom Eades and Mike Thibodeaux called a pretty darn good game. However, Patrick Evans slammed us hard with his calls. His calling infuriated me to a large extent.
OVERALL B
With no intent to take away from our players, because they played a heck of a game in front of a large, vocal and hostile crowd, I personally have to attribute this loss by Carolina to Coach Dave Odom. With 7 seconds left in the game and holding a 3 point lead at 50 to 47, he should have had a player foul one of our guys before a shot was taken. Sure we were in the double bonus, but that would have still left us short even if we made the two. But I’m still proud of the toughness our guys showed in finding a way to win this one.