ESPN Men's Basketball

NEW ORLEANS -- Of Alabama's seven conference losses, the unquestionable lowlight had to be a 56-54 upset at the hands of last-place South Carolina. The Crimson Tide got revenge for that January setback on Thursday at the SEC tournament, but Thursday's 63-57 win didn't come without a fight. The win offset a disappointing nine-point loss to Ole Miss to close the regular season, but a dogfight with the conference's worst team doesn't exactly inspire confidence. The Gamecocks' season comes to a merciful close after they endured three separate SEC losing streaks of four, five and six games, respectively.

Alabama appeared to be cruising when the game went to halftime. The Tide led by 11 and had the statistical edge in nearly every category, particularly a team shooting percentage of 52. But by riding their 3-point shooting, the Gamecocks surged back into contention. Alabama pushed the lead to as much as 10 points in the second half, but South Carolina connected on 8 of 24 3-pointers to keep things close.

The Gamecocks made a run at the lead with 7:30 remaining, when Brenton Williams sank consecutive 3-pointers, tying the score at 51.

Turning point: The teams battled down the stretch, with Alabama's lead hovering at four points or fewer throughout the final six minutes. A beautiful layup from Bruce Ellington, who broke Bama's hearts in the teams' first meeting, cut the lead to two points with just more than a minute remaining. With the game entering its final minute, the Tide's Andrew Steele found Trevor Lacey at the top of the arc. Lacey picked quite a time to hit Alabama's only 3-pointer of the afternoon, as he connected to give the Tide a five-point lead with 45 seconds left.

Key player: Lacey saw the court for only 17 minutes against the Gamecocks, but that was all the time he needed to lead all scorers with 15 points. The freshman found most of his production in the lane, as he cut through the South Carolina defense for three baskets, and worked his way to the free throw line six times. But when the Crimson Tide needed a basket, Lacey delivered from outside with his clinching 3-pointer.

Key stat: 82.8. The Crimson Tide took a whopping 29 trips to the free throw line against the Gamecocks, connecting on 24. South Carolina had a measly six attempts.

Miscellaneous: JaMychal Green showed why Alabama struggled so much during his four-game absence in February as a result of a suspension. Green played 33 minutes for the Crimson Tide and finished with 12 points, 7 boards and 2 blocks. Green's thunderous block on R.J. Slawson at the 12-minute mark of the second half was perhaps the highlight of the game until Lacey's big shot.

What's next: Alabama has a rematch with No. 4 seed Florida at 2:30 p.m. The Gators downed the Tide 61-52 on Valentine's Day -- although Alabama was missing Green at the time. South Carolina concludes its season with a 10-21 record. The only question remaining for the Gamecocks is whether coach Darrin Horn will keep his job.

South Carolina guard Bruce Ellington's college football debut went so well in the Gamecocks' 56-37 win against East Carolina on Saturday that his presence on the team is causing opponents to take notice on their scouting reports.

Before the SEC opener against South Carolina, Georgia football coach Mark Richt noted in his news conference today that the Gamecocks want to get the ball into Ellington's hands.

"He's a very multitalented kid," Richt said.

No kidding. After a year away from football spent toward leading South Carolina in scoring in basketball, Ellington accounted for 73 all-purpose yards, lined up in the wildcat formation, and even made two tackles on special teams and had a kick return of more than 50 yards called back due to a penalty. He rushed for 18 yards on two carries, with both runs setting up touchdowns and drawing raves from coach Steve Spurrier for the former high school quarterback who was a finalist for the Mr. Football award in South Carolina.

"We want to get him in there two or three times a game in the wildcat," Spurrier told The Post and Courier. "We need to get him the ball more."

Ellington also has spent time practicing as a receiver, according to ESPN.com SEC writer Edward Aschoff.

Per NCAA rules, he wasn’t allowed to participate in spring football practice, but returned from the summer with his playbook almost memorized, and while he hasn’t played football since high school Spurrier admired the 5-foot-9, 197-pound athlete's quickness and called him "a natural."

According to the Associated Press, Ellington's dual sport goals are fine with basketball coach Darrin Horn, who saw his starting point guard fight through a bruised calf last season when the Gamecocks won 14 games on the court.

"This is not a football-basketball thing," Horn said. "It's a Bruce Ellington thing and we're going to support him."

South Carolina point guard Bruce Ellington is what football recruiters call an "athlete." In other words, he can do a lot of things.

As a basketball player, the 5-foot-9 Ellington started every game as a freshman and led the Gamecocks in scoring, averaging a team-leading 12.8 points. He also led the team in assists, made 3-pointers and minutes played.

This year, Ellington has decided to play football as well and presumably won't be returning to basketball until after the end of the season. He's a 197-pound wide receiver and has the high school credentials that make many believe he can make an impact on the gridiron.

At Berkeley High in Moncks Corner, S.C., he was a finalist for the state's Mr. Football award after piling up 2,878 all-purpose yards and 23 touchdowns as a quarterback while helping the team win a state title. In that game, he rushed for 191 yards and four touchdowns.

Now all he has to do is adjust to the speed of the game, according to The Post and Courier.

Veteran cornerback Stephon Gilmore had jokingly warned Ellington all summer that he was "coming for him" once camp opened. Ellington somehow forgot those tongue-in-cheek threats -- until Gilmore decleated Ellington late in the first practice Wednesday, bumping him at the line of scrimmage.

"He wasn't expecting it," [receivers coach Steve] Spurrier Jr. said. "I thought it was great."

...

"I'm ready for it to happen," said Ellington, who could ask his cousin, Clemson running back Andre Ellington, for tips on taking and avoiding contact. "When it happens, it happens. I just know I didn't get hit too much in high school."

South Carolina desperately needs him on the court as well, so coach Darrin Horn has to be hoping for as few bumps and bruises as possible to his top player.

The Gamecocks finished last in the SEC East a year ago with a 14-16 record. Horn brought in top-100 recruits in Anthony Gill and Damien Leonard, and there will be at least some pressure on Horn for them to perform.

Until Ellington returns, the Gamecocks will need players to step forward. They can also hope that their preseason top-25 football team plays in a bowl game as soon as possible.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- When Kentucky’s John Calipari scolded his young basketball team for its sloppy play in the final minutes of Saturday night’s 67-58 victory at South Carolina, he was reminded of how young the Wildcats really are.

“The reason it got a little hairy was because we didn’t understand we could still lose the game,” Calipari said. “They’re not veteran enough.”

The Wildcats led 61-45 with less than 3 1/2 minutes to go. But then South Carolina, which entered the game tied for the SEC East lead at 3-1, scored 11 straight points to make it 61-56 with 1:16 left, with the Gamecocks’ final three points coming on foul shots after freshman Doron Lamb fouled Eric Smith on a 3-pointer.

The Wildcats finally pulled away by making 6 of 8 foul shots in the final 50.7 seconds.

“You can’t make the errors we made down the stretch,” Calipari said.

Fouling Smith on a 3-pointer wasn’t the only cardinal sin the Wildcats committed in the closing minutes.

“We shot two shots with a minute to go,” Calipari said.

“Why would you do that?” Calipari asked his players in the locker room after the game.

Their response: “Well, I was open.”

“No kidding,” Calipari told them. “They want you to shoot.”

The Wildcats’ youth and inexperience were evident in their first two SEC road losses: 77-70 at Georgia on Jan. 8 and 68-66 at Alabama on Tuesday night.

In their most recent defeat, the Wildcats fell behind 37-30 at the half and then the Tide opened the second half with a 15-2 run. When the Cats finally decided they were going to play hard enough to win, it was too late.

“We’re getting better,” Calipari said. “We’re maybe a little bit different of a team than I thought. We might be more of an execution team that has to grind it out more than I would like, but if that’s how we have to play, that’s how we’ll play.”

A year ago, the Wildcats were equally as young, but often relied on the God-given abilities of freshmen John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins to run opponents off the floor.

UK’s freshman class of point guard Brandon Knight, forward Terrence Jones and Lamb is really good. Knight and Jones might end up becoming NBA lottery picks this spring. But Knight isn’t as good as Wall was the previous season, and Jones isn’t nearly as good as Cousins.

And Patrick Patterson isn’t here to help mold this UK team together, either.

“Listen: They want to please me and I’m hard on them,” Calipari said.

Calipari seemed to be getting through on Saturday night, and he didn’t even have to scream profanities to do it.

After allowing the accuracy-deficient Crimson Tide to make 7 of 14 3-pointers four days earlier, the Wildcats locked down the Gamecocks from the start. South Carolina shot 32 percent in the first half and 33.3 percent in the game. The Gamecocks went 3-for-18 on 3-pointers.

“We really wanted to keep them out of the lane and rebound,” said junior guard Darius Miller, who scored 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting. “We wanted to force them into tough shots.”

Junior guard DeAndre Liggins led the defensive charge, hounding Carolina point guard Bruce Ellington throughout the game. Ellington played only eight minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, and then picked up his fourth foul on a technical when he flipped a basketball at Liggins in frustration.

“That was mostly DeAndre,” Miller said. “He did a great job and always does a great job locking down the other team’s best player. He always locks them down.”

Calipari also implored Miller to be more involved on offense.

“I just want him to be aggressive,” Calipari said. “He doesn’t have to make every shot. I just want him to be aggressive because I think he’s that good. Today he looked like one of the best players in our league.”

And once again, the Wildcats looked like perhaps the best team in the SEC, whatever that means this season.

“I’m trying to figure out the team,” Calipari said. “I still haven’t figured it out.”

1. Memphis coach Josh Pastner is earning his salary, going through the most trying season of his young career. And that includes a season on the staff of Arizona interim coach Kevin O'Neill, who took over after Lute Olson's health problems caused him to take a leave of absence. Pastner was supposed to cruise to the Conference USA title with one of the nation's top-three recruiting classes. That hasn't happened. The players on the roster, both returnees and newcomers, have challenged him more than imagined. Will Barton's eligibility was an issue in the summer, but he was cleared and all seemed calm. Then Jelan Kendrick didn't adhere to the standards of the team, and Pastner decided to jettison him (he eventually transferred to Ole Miss). Angel Garcia decided he needed to make some cash and went back to Spain prior to the conference season. Losses in the “up” games against Kansas, Georgetown and Tennessee piled up before a stunning loss at SMU. To add to Pastner's misery, after the loss to the Mustangs last Wednesday, his top returning player, Wesley Witherspoon, who had already missed a few games with an injury, opted to be insubordinate. Witherspoon reportedly grabbed the microphone on the team bus and proceeded to mock a member of the coaching staff. So Pastner had to suspend Witherspoon. To his credit, he didn't flinch or cave in to play a valued player. He's now empowered by the result -- the Tigers beat upstart Marshall without Witherspoon. Memphis might have to win the conference tournament in El Paso to get a bid, and if so it will be well-earned.

2. If Tony Bennett could ever catch a break at Virginia and have his whole team available, the ACC might see quite a turnaround. The Cavaliers are playing without their best player, Mike Scott, who is out for the year with an ankle injury. But the Cavs had North Carolina on the ropes before losing at home and then pushed Duke for more than half of its game Saturday before the Blue Devils flipped a switch and rolled. Virginia will be a pest the rest of this season but once they're whole, the Cavs will be a factor in a league that is going through a transitional period, save Duke. Remember, this Virginia team won at Minnesota and at Virginia Tech.

3. The SEC is the toughest conference to predict. Kentucky has been the most consistent team but after that forget it. Georgia has won games it was supposed to win and lost the ones, like at Vanderbilt, which you would assume it would on the road. Tennessee is all over the map, playing in a constant state of chaos. Florida? The Gators looked like a possible SEC East champ, winning in overtime at Tennessee and then once again were flat at home -- this time losing to South Carolina. The Gators have already lost three home games to Ohio State, Jacksonville and South Carolina, making a trip to Gainesville less intimidating. Vanderbilt has had multiple chances to close out teams but failed, most recently at South Carolina and Tennessee -- two games it had a significant lead in. The Gamecocks were awful at home against Boston College, yet Sam Muldrow and Bruce Ellington have been stars in wins over Vandy at home in overtime and then at Florida. Ole Miss fancied itself a possible at-large berth team at the start of the week and then got beat by rival Mississippi State and Georgia, both at home. Mississippi State finally got the output from Renardo Sidney (24 points) and Dee Bost (25) that Rick Stansbury had been hoping for in that win over Ole Miss. But it's too late to consider the Bulldogs for an at-large candidacy.

4. It's a shame that Minnesota won't have a complete roster this season. The Golden Gophers had a real shot to win the Big Ten had they avoided controversy. The injury to Mo Walker was unavoidable, but he would have provided plenty of beef to a solid inside game. He had five fouls to toss at Jared Sullinger of Ohio State but didn't get the chance. Devoe Joseph's apparent selfish play of wanting more shots, according to the Gophers' staff, hurts this team's offensive versatility even if it might help in the locker room. And it's unfortunate that Trevor Mbakwe has put himself into trouble again. Even though the Facebook message was harmless in its verbiage, there was still a restraining order about contacting the woman in question. Mbakwe was released from his brief jail stint earlier in the week and returned to help the Gophers beat Purdue in a thrilling affair. But the image damage was done and he will now have to work to get it back. The Gophers nearly won at Ohio State without Joseph and Walker. Nearly every Gopher game is close. And there are plenty to go. But this team probably won't reach its full potential of what was projected in the preseason due to the myriad of distractions.

5. Check the standings a third of the way through the Sun Belt and you'll see that the recycled coaches are going through a bit of a renaissance. The East division is led by Florida Atlantic's Mike Jarvis at 6-0 with Florida International's Isiah Thomas in second place at 3-2. Atop the West is Denver at 5-0 led by the coach Joe Scott. Arkansas State is second at 4-2 behind John Brady. Jarvis went to the Elite Eight at St. John's, Brady to the Final Four at LSU, Thomas was an NBA coach/GM for multiple teams and Scott was once the chosen one at his alma mater Princeton. Yet the obscurity of the Sun Belt is providing cover for these coaches all vying for a return to the NCAA tournament.

When even the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks are eliminating the reigning Super Bowl Champs in the first round of the playoffs, you know it's been a crazy day.

Such was the case in college hoops Saturday, too. When you play 139 games in one day, there are always going to be wild finishes, unexpected results and upsets. But this was something else entirely. Seven ranked teams lost to unranked teams. To wit:

(There was also a genuine thriller, UConn's 82-81 overtime win at Texas. My postgame analysis on that classic can be found here.)

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Ron Chenoy/US PRESSWIREColorado's Alec Burks scored 36 points and had eight rebounds in an upset of Missouri.
• Colorado 89, No. 8 Missouri 76. It's never easy to win on the road, sure, and you can argue that Colorado is the perfect team (great guards, no big men) to match up with Missouri's guard-heavy style, but considering Mizzou's consistently impressive play to date -- and Colorado's blowout loss to Harvard, among other questionable results -- this still counts as a major upset. Alec Burks played like the future NBA lottery pick he's slated to be, scoring a career-high 36 points on 12-of-19 from the field, 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and 9-of-11 from the free-throw line.
• West Virginia 65, No. 13 Georgetown 59. According to the AP recap at that link, Bob Huggins has begun giving his players pop quizzes before games, making them come up to the chalkboard and diagram plays to test whether or not they've been paying attention. Apparently, they have. Either that or Georgetown's guards, who played phenomenally in the Hoyas' nonconference schedule, continued their shooting woes from outside. Georgetown's offense is pretty simple: Austin Freeman, Chris Wright and Jason Clark get open looks and make them. At least, that was the case when Georgetown was stacking up nonconference wins against tough opponents (ODU, Missouri, and so on) during November and December. The Big East has been less kind, and Georgetown is now 1-3 in the league with a questionable home loss on its résumé.
• Penn State 66, No. 19 Michigan State 62. I'm not sure this was a court-storm-worthy effort from Penn State (not that it stopped Nittany Lions fans from basking in the moment), but it certainly fits the day's upset-heavy theme. Penn State guard Talor Battle, who struggled from the field all day, sealed the win with a leaning jumper that put Penn State up by three with 18 seconds remaining. The loss does even greater damage to Michigan State, which was already looking shaky and is now a long shot to win the Big Ten and an even longer shot to get a favorable NCAA tournament seed in March.
• Oklahoma State 76, No. 17 Kansas State 62. I'm not sure this counts as an upset. After all, Kansas State is still missing forward Curtis Kelly due to suspension, and the Wildcats have struggled to score throughout ... well, now that I think about it, pretty much the entire year. But you get the point: The Wildcats are still in a major swoon, one of those will-they-figure-it-out-in-time rough patches that every program has to confront from time to time. The problem for K-State is that the time to figure this stuff out -- whether we're talking about the team's offense, Jacob Pullen's adjustment to the point guard spot or intangible stuff like leadership -- is starting to run out.
• Georgia 77, No. 11 Kentucky 70. No offense to the AP -- I'm a huge fan, guys! -- but the use of the word "stun" in the aforelinked headline is a little bit questionable. Georgia, in addition to being at home, is also a pretty good team. The Bulldogs' only two losses this season came in double overtime to Notre Dame and by seven points to Temple all the way back in November at the Old Spice Classic. Otherwise, this Bulldogs squad has been playing just fine, thanks. Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie remain underrated; Thompkins scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Leslie put on his trademark dunk show on the way to his 15-and-eight afternoon. Good win for Georgia, but this one is probably about as much of an upset as Kansas State-Oklahoma State. Which is to say, not much of an upset at all.
• Houston 76, No. 18 UCF 71. It was only a matter of time until UCF -- which came into Saturday having won their last two games (over Princeton and Marshall) in sketchy fashion -- lost. Still, few would have predicted this game being the one that cost the Knights their undefeated record. Without the second-half run that put them within striking distance of the Cougars late, this could have been much worse; Houston led by as many as 17 in the first half. Marcus Jordan, who has become a star in UCF's undefeated run, went 3-for-9 from the field and ended up with 10 points.
• South Carolina 83, No. 24 Vanderbilt 75. Vandy has been one of the best 10 or 20 defensive teams in the nation thus far this season, but you wouldn't have known it today. South Carolina had four players reach double figures in scoring, including freshman point guard Bruce Ellington, who probably deserves to be considered among the 10 or so best newcomers in the nation. Ellington had 24 points, seven boards and four assists in the win. It's hard to say whether this is a genuine upset on the Michigan State-Penn State side of the spectrum, or just another case of a good team succumbing to a conference opponent on the road i.e. Kentucky and Kansas State, but either way, it's a big win for the Gamecocks.
• Arkansas 68, Tennessee 65. This is nothing new with the Volunteers, of course. Tennessee seems uniquely capable of beating ranked teams but uniquely unable of getting up for games so-so opponents. Tennessee's last game? A blowout of No. 22 Memphis. Arkansas' last game? A 33-point loss at Texas. Yes, Bruce Pearl was sitting out the first game of his SEC-mandated eight-game league suspension. Still, there's no reason why Tennessee should lose to Arkansas. UT is now 3-0 against ranked teams and 7-5 against unranked teams. Another baffling chapter in the already mind-blowing 2010-11 Vols' story.

Five observations from this past week:

1. Ohio State's Jared Sullinger has had the most impressive freshman performance. Sullinger scored 40 points and grabbed 13 boards in a win over IUPUI. He made 12 field goals and converted 16 free throws in the game. In the two road wins in the state of Florida -- over the Gators and Seminoles -- Sullinger was a force with double-doubles in both games. If Ohio State is to get to the Final Four, it will be because they have one of the top frontcourt scorers.

2. The Mountain West is going to be a sensational four-team race. San Diego State has the look of a potential second weekend NCAA tournament team. The Aztecs are off to a sensational start, regardless of venue. BYU dismantled Arizona and remains undefeated as well. UNLV did lose at Louisville over the weekend, but the Runnin’ Rebels had been impressive up to that point with wins over Wisconsin and Virginia Tech. And New Mexico has only one loss (at Cal).

3. St. John's has the look of an NIT team. Steve Lavin is recruiting at a national level and the buzz is real with the Red Storm in Queens and in the city. But losses to St. Bonaventure at home and at Fordham don’t bode well for an NCAA bid. Former coach Norm Roberts had St. John's as a gritty bunch but they were still an unskilled crew that played hard to stay in games. The skills haven't dramatically changed and it’s going to be hard for this group to win enough games to be in contention for a berth.

4. Two hidden gems that must be recognized are South Carolina freshman point Bruce Ellington and Iowa State junior Scott Christopherson. South Carolina coach Darrin Horn said at SEC media day that he had a worthy replacement for Devan Downey. He raved about Ellington's ability to be a scorer and a lead guard. Ellington was just that in two huge wins for the Gamecocks. He scored 14 points in a victory over rival Clemson and then 18 in a win over nearby Wofford. He did have six turnovers in each game, but still led the one-loss Gamecocks to two key wins. Christopherson led Fred Hoiberg’s Iowa State Cyclones to a huge win over rival Iowa with 30 points in Iowa City. Christopherson played all 40 minutes and made seven 3s Friday night. He had already scored 29 in a win over Drake. The Cyclones are a surprising 8-2 so far under Hoiberg.

5. The Pac-10 is once again going to have trouble getting multiple bids. Washington went to Texas A&M and lost on David Loubeau’s block of an Isaiah Thomas shot. This was UW’s first true road game. Arizona has had two chances away from home and missed so far, losing to Kansas in Las Vegas and BYU in Salt Lake City. USC did have the home win over Texas, but has already lost to Rider, TCU and Bradley. UCLA doesn’t have anything to show yet. Washington State has the look of a possible NCAA team after beating Gonzaga at home, but the Cougars will need to do something on the road. Expect the Huskies to grab one of the bids and after that it’s wide open to see who can land the second and third bids, assuming the Pac-10 goes that deep in March. But for the second straight season, don't be surprised if the Mountain West has more bids than the Pac-10.