History against them

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, March 22, 2005 | 9:02 a.m.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The UNLV men's basketball team will try to make sure that history doesn't repeat itself here tonight.

It was just three years ago that the Rebels opened the National Invitation Tournament with an exciting 96-91 home win against Arizona State. Marcus Banks and company were then sent to South Carolina for a second-roudn game and their season came to an abrupt end with a 75-65 loss to the Gamecocks.

This year the Rebels (17-13) once again opened NIT play with an impressive 89-78 win against Arizona State on Thursday night at the Thomas & Mack Center. And under hauntingly familiar circumstances, they find themselves back here for a nationally televised second-round game against the Gamecocks (16-13) at the Colonial Center.

"They're very successful at home," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said, noting South Carolina's impressive 14-3 home mark including a 6-2 record in Southeastern Conference games. "They're very, very athletic and aggressive. They're a good basketball team."

How good?

Well, in South Carolina's only other appearance on ESPN this year, the Gamecocks stunned No. 3 Kentucky, 73-61, on Feb. 15.

"That pretty much speaks for itself," Rebels senior point guard Jerel Blassingame said. "They've beaten a top five team in the country. If they can beat them, we'll definitely need to bring our 'A' game."

The Gamecocks are led by 6-foot-7 senior forward Carlos Powell, who is averaging a team-high 16.2 points and 6.4 rebounds and is shooting 56 percent from the floor. He has also scored in double figures in 27 of his team's 29 games this season and was a second-team all-SEC pick.

Considering the first team all-SEC forwards are likely first-round NBA picks Lawrence Roberts of Mississippi State, Brandon Bass of LSU and Chuck Hayes of Kentucky, Powell finds himself in good company.

"He's a good mid-range shooter and scorer inside," Kruger said. "He's very athletic and strong. He's a tough guy to stop."

Kruger said forward senior Odartey Blankson and junior center Louis Amundson will take turns guarding Powell.

Brandon Wallace, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, is another talented front court player with whom the Rebels will have to contend. Wallace had four blocked shots in the Gamecocks' first-round NIT win against Miami and has 50 for the season.

The one Achilles' heel that stands out for the Gamecocks is poor free throw shooting. In fact, if South Carolina was even a decent foul shooting squad, it likely would have been invited to the NCAA tournament.

The Gamecocks are hitting a pitiful 62 percent of their free throws (UNLV is shooting a solid 70 percent), which was the difference in a number of close losses this year.

South Carolina made just 6 of 17 free throws (35 percent) in a 66-65 home loss to Florida on Feb. 27. The Gamecocks were 5-of-12 (42 percent) in an 80-72 loss at Tennessee the game before that. And they were 9-of-14 (64 percent) in a 74-71 home loss to Auburn, a team UNLV defeated, 91-87, in overtime this season on the road.

Still, the Rebels know history doesn't favor them here tonight, where fourth-year Gamecocks coach Dave Odom is a remarkable 34-2 in non-conference games.

"It's always tough to play there," said Kruger, who is familar with Columbia from his days as the head coach at Florida. "They've always had good teams there and their crowds are always very good, too. It's going to be a challenge for us."