Unabated Sports

The hits just keep on coming: two UC starters have been ruled ineligible. Not only for tonight's game, but for the game(s) in Madison Square Garden if UC is fortunate enough to survive tonight. But the likelihood against that is pretty much staggering. Even the Big O was pretty crestfallen as he took his usual courtside seat. South Carolina has played very well as late. They made the SEC tournament final, beat Western Kentucky in Columbia and Florida State in Talahassee to get this far in the NIT. UC didn't play well but did enough to win against Minnesota earlier this week. They're going to have pull out all the stops to come away with a win tonight.

Say what you want about this undermanned team, they came out inspired. An early 11-5 lead was evidence of that. But that quickly vanished as SC hit a 3-pointer followed by four points on one possession. I don't know what it's been lately, but Eric Hicks has been taking at least one three per game. Fortunately, he's made a decent amount. The most recent restored UC's lead, 16-14. The crowd hit their loudest so far when the Cats went to 21 with a seven point lead. They were also pretty loud when recent starter Ronald Allen came down with a tough board and an excellent put-back.

Halftime arrived with a 33-27 Bearcat lead. Not bad for a team that most of us in this building felt had little to no chance of winning. The two guys who competed in the free throw competition both brandished "Hire Andy" signs as they went off the court. Those little buggers are everywhere tonight. There are shirts that support the "real" Coach K and a few claiming to be Kennedy's Krew. The first organized HIRE ANDY chant finally started with about 3 minutes to go in the half, but died quickly afterwards. When the coach returned to the floor, the entire crowd got behind this chant.

After another dance team-less halftime show, the Gamecocks seemed to have the early momentum cutting their defecit to 4. It looks like Allen accidently slugged an SC player in the mouth going for a rebound and there's a lot of blood. Not good. I get queasy around blood. I also get queasy when UC gives up a lead, like they did with 16:26 to go, 37-37. They gave it up completely when a bad Tilford pass got picked off for a fast break bucket. The some white guy buried one from deep to go up five, 37-42. The first spark of the second half began with a Hicks block who fed Downey on a fast break for a three-point play. Chadd Moore follwed that up with a nice lay-in of his own to tie the score. Mr. Basketball South Carolina tied it up when the school from his home state went back up.

The team really fell apart as the game got under 10 minutes to go. Someone named "Miller" came into the game and it became obvious that a lot of these subs were not ready for what they were asked to do and fill in for the regulars. Guys were out of position and physical exhaustion seemed to be setting in pretty early. Mental frustration was right there, too. With less than 5 minutes to go, South Carolina kept withstanding Bearcat runs. Until 2:15 to go, that is. The crowd was finally fueling this squad to tie things up at 59.

The Cats could not take advantage as SC was the one to jump ahead with a bucket. Cedric McGowan missed the top of a 1 and 1. UC was forced to foul with :30 to go. The Gamecocks broke the press and took a two possession lead. As UC faced defeat with that defecit and only 10 seconds to make it up, there were still some sporadic vocal support of the interim head coach. As the game was all but over, THANK YOU, ANDY rang out. As Eric Hicks came off the floor, there was a Standing O for UC's #2 all-time shot-blocker as he was subbed out. Another followed for Chadd Moore, the only other senior playing tonight. There would be one more meaningless long shot made but there would be no joy in Clifton, the mighty Bearcats did strike out.

In the post-game press conference, Devan Downey talked about how he was still proud of this team and the way they fought all season long. DD indicated he would stick around next year, regardless of who was the coach. He just hoped whoever was in charge would just give him players around him. I'll admit, it was hard to hear exactly what he was saying as you could hear the fans chanting HIRE ANDY even in the interview room in the back. When Coach Kennedy made it back to face the media, he was vaguely coy with his response about whether his future would be in red and black or somewhere else. He considered today the end of the Bob Huggins era at UC, ironically on the day he was announced as coach at another school. And as Andy Kennedy left the conference, he received a round of applause from the media who covered this amazing roller coaster of a season.