1996–97 South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball team

1996–97 South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball
1996–97 South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball
SEC regular season champions
NCAA tournament, round of 64
Conference	Southeastern Conference
	East
Ranking
Coaches	No. 14
AP	No. 6
Record	24–8 (15–1 SEC)
Head coach	Eddie Fogler (4th season);
Home arena	Carolina Coliseum
	Seasons ← 1995–96 1997–98 →

1996–97 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
East
No. 6 South Carolina	15	–	1	.938	24	–	8	.750
No. 5 Kentucky†	13	–	3	.813	35	–	5	.875
No. 17 Georgia	10	–	6	.625	24	–	9	.727
Vanderbilt	9	–	7	.563	19	–	12	.613
Florida	5	–	11	.313	13	–	17	.433
Tennessee	4	–	12	.250	11	–	16	.407
West
Ole Miss	11	–	5	.688	20	–	9	.690
Arkansas	8	–	8	.500	18	–	14	.563
Auburn	6	–	10	.375	16	–	15	.516
Alabama	6	–	10	.375	17	–	14	.548
Mississippi State	6	–	10	.375	12	–	18	.400
LSU	3	–	13	.188	10	–	20	.333

† 1997 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1996–97 South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball team represented the University of South Carolina as a member of the Southeastern Conference during the 1996–97 men's college basketball season. The team was led by head coach Eddie Fogler and played their home games at Carolina Coliseum in Columbia, South Carolina. The team finished first in the SEC regular season standings and received an at-large bid to the 1997 NCAA tournament as No. 2 seed in the East region. The Gamecocks lost to 15 seed Coppin State in the first round to finish the season with a record of 24–8 (15–1 SEC).

Roster[edit]

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
G	10	BJ McKie	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	Irmo, South Carolina

Head coach

Eddie Fogler

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

^[1]

Schedule and results[edit]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Nov 25, 1996*		vs. Virginia Maui Invitational	L 70–93	0–1	Lahaina Civic Center Lahaina, Hawaii
Nov 26, 1996		at Chaminade Maui Invitational	W 64–55	1–1	Lahaina Civic Center Lahaina, Hawaii
Nov 27, 1996*		vs. LSU Maui Invitational	W 74–68	2–1	Lahaina Civic Center Lahaina, Hawaii
Dec 2, 1996*		Wofford	W 64–41	3–1	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Dec 6, 1996*		at UNC Charlotte	W 75–60	4–1	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, North Carolina
Dec 7, 1996*		at No. 14 North Carolina	L 75–86	4–2	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, North Carolina
Dec 17, 1996*		No. 8 Clemson	L 39–58	4–3	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Dec 19, 1996*		UNC Asheville	L 74–80	4–4	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Dec 21, 1996*		South Carolina State	W 79–60	5–4	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Dec 28, 1996*		Charleston Southern	L 81–85	5–5	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Dec 30, 1996*		Furman	W 100–62	6–5	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Jan 4, 1997*		Auburn	W 66–56	7–5 (1–0)	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Jan 8, 1997		Tennessee	W 73–41	8–5 (2–0)	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Jan 11, 1997		at Mississippi State	W 73–65	9–5 (3–0)	Humphrey Coliseum Starkville, Mississippi
Jan 15, 1997		at Florida	W 80–79	10–5 (4–0)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Jan 18, 1997		No. 21 Georgia	W 82–71	11–5 (5–0)	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Jan 22, 1997		at Alabama	W 62–60	12–5 (6–0)	Coleman Coliseum Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Jan 25, 1997 1:00 p.m., JP Sports		Ole Miss	W 86–63	13–5 (7–0)	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Jan 29, 1997	No. 25	at Vanderbilt	W 65–64	14–5 (8–0)	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, Tennessee
Feb 1, 1997	No. 25	at LSU	W 80–65	15–5 (9–0)	Maravich Assembly Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Feb 4, 1997	No. 19	No. 3 Kentucky	W 84–79 ^OT	16–5 (10–0)	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Feb 8, 1997	No. 19	Florida	W 76–68	17–5 (11–0)	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Feb 12, 1997	No. 12	at Georgia	L 74–77	17–6 (11–1)	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Feb 15, 1997*	No. 12	at No. 8 Cincinnati	W 97–83	18–6	Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, Ohio
Feb 18, 1997	No. 9	Arkansas	W 78–65	19–6 (12–1)	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Feb 20, 1997*	No. 9	at The Citadel	W 85–55	20–6	McAlister Field House Charleston, South Carolina
Feb 22, 1997	No. 9	at Tennessee	W 69–58	21–6 (13–1)	Thompson-Boling Arena Knoxville, Tennessee
Feb 26, 1997	No. 6	Vanderbilt	W 74–53	22–6 (14–1)	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Mar 2, 1997	No. 6	at No. 3 Kentucky	W 72–66	23–6 (15–1)	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
SEC Tournament
Mar 7, 1997* JP Sports	(E1) No. 4	vs. (W4) Alabama Quarterfinals	W 72–61	24–6	Memphis Pyramid Memphis, Tennessee
Mar 8, 1997* JP Sports	(E1) No. 4	vs. (E3) No. 24 Georgia Semifinals	L 63–78	24–7	Memphis Pyramid Memphis, Tennessee
NCAA Tournament
Mar 14, 1997* CBS	(2 E) No. 6	vs. (15 E) Coppin State First round	L 65–78	24–8	Civic Arena Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Eastern Time.

^[2]^[3]

Rankings[edit]

References[edit]

^ "1996-97 South Carolina Gamecocks Roster and Stats". Sports-reference.com. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
^ "1996-97 South Carolina Gamecocks Schedule". sports-reference.com. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
^ "2019-20 South Carolina Men's Basketball Records & History" (PDF). University of South Carolina Athletics. Retrieved June 13, 2020.

[1] "1996-97 South Carolina Gamecocks Roster and Stats". Sports-reference.com. Retrieved June 13, 2020.

[2] "1996-97 South Carolina Gamecocks Schedule". sports-reference.com. Retrieved June 13, 2020.

[3] "2019-20 South Carolina Men's Basketball Records & History" (PDF). University of South Carolina Athletics. Retrieved June 13, 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball
Venues	College Hall (1908-1912) Carolina Gymnasium (1912-1927) Carolina Fieldhouse (1927–1968) Carolina Coliseum (1968–2002) Colonial Life Arena (2002–present)
Rivalries	Clemson
Culture & lore	Cocky "The Fighting Gamecocks Lead the Way" Garnet Army 2017–18 corruption scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics