Gamecocks stop short-handed Cincy
Tre’ Kelley’s nine-point outburst early in the second half and go-ahead basket in the final minute led South Carolina to a 65-62 victory Thursday night over a Cincinnati team that had two starters declared ineligible just hours before its National Invitational Tournament quarterfinal game.
Kelley finished with 21 points and Tarence Kinsey had 18 for South Carolina (21-15), which will play Louisville in Tuesday night’s semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York. Old Dominion plays Michigan in the other semifinal.
The Gamecocks are trying to become the first team to win consecutive NIT championships since St. John’s in 1943 and 1944.
Eric Hicks led the short-handed Bearcats (21-13) with 22 points.
A Cincinnati spokesman, citing an NCAA ruling, declined to say why seniors James White and Jihad Muhammad were declared ineligible. Cincinnati had nine players in uniform.
White, a 6-foot-7 swing player from Washington, was the Bearcats’ leading scorer at 16 points a game. Muhammad, a 5-11 guard from Plainfield, N.J., averaged 11 points and was Cincinnati’s top 3-point shooting threat.
•Former Cincinnati assistant Mick Cronin took over the Bearcats’ program Thursday night, shortly after the team’s loss. Also, Bearcats interim coach Andy Kennedy – beaten out by Cronin for the Cincinnati job – was hired by Mississippi. Cronin, who has been head coach at Murray State the past three seasons, will be introduced at a news conference today, the university said.
Weber State hires Rahe
Weber State hired Randy Rahe to replace Joe Cravens as basketball coach, the Ogden, Utah, school announced.
Rahe has been an assistant coach at Utah for the past two years. Before that, he was an assistant at Utah State.
Weber State announced last month that Cravens, formerly at the University of Idaho, would be relieved of his coaching duties after two consecutive losing seasons.
Weber State finished with a 10-17 record (4-10 Big Sky Conference).
Huggins meets KSU fans
Bob Huggins is apologizing to no one. “I don’t think I’m a bad guy,” he deadpanned.
Several hundred people who streamed into Bramlage Coliseum at Manhattan, Kan., for Huggins’ introductory news conference laughed, then stood and applauded, bringing a wry smile to the face of Kansas State’s new basketball coach.
The 52-year-old Huggins, who turned the Cincinnati Bearcats into a national power during 16 sometimes-stormy years, signed a five-year contract.
Although one of the most successful active coaches, Huggins was out of work for a year after Cincinnati president Nancy Zimpher refused to extend his four-year contract rollover following his arrest and conviction for drunken driving in 2004.