1971–72 South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball team

1971–72 South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball
1971–72 South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball
NCAA Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 6
Record	24–5
Head coach	Frank McGuire (8th season);
Home arena	Carolina Coliseum
	Seasons ← 1970–71 1972–73 →

The 1971–72 South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball team represented the University of South Carolina during the 1971–72 men's college basketball season. This was the first year in which South Carolina played as an Independent. South Carolina finished 6th in the AP Poll for the third year in a row.^[1]

Roster

Name	Position	Height	Year	Stats
Tom Riker	Forward	6–10	Senior	19.6 Pts, 10.4 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Kevin Joyce	Guard	6–2	Sophomore	18.3 Pts, 4.8 Reb, 4.1 Ast
Danny Traylor	Center	7–0	Junior	14.3 Pts, 10.7 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Rick Aydlett	Forward	6–7	Senior	9.8 Pts, 6.0 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Brian Winters	Guard	6–4	Sophomore	8.3 Pts, 2.8 Reb, 1.9 Ast
Bob Carver	Guard	6–2	Junior	7.2 Pts, 3.3 Reb, 2.6 Ast
Ed Peterson	Guard	6–4	Senior	4.3 Pts, 0.4 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Ricky Mousa	Forward	6–5	Junior	1.5 Pts, 1.9 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Casey Manning	Guard	6–3	Junior	1.7 Pts, 0.7 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Jimmy Powell	Guard	5–11	Junior	0.6 Pts, 0.0 Reb
Billy Grimes	Guard	6–5	Senior	0.7 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 0.1 Ast

^[2]

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
December 1	No. 12	at Auburn	W 84–63	1-0	Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum Birmingham, AL
December 10	No. 11	at Santa Clara	W 77–66	2-0	Santa Clara, CA
December 11	No. 11	vs. Cal	W 67-59	3-0
December 18	No. 3	Virginia Tech	W 77–76	4-0	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
December 23	No. 3	at Pitt	W 69–59	5-0	Fitzgerald Field House Pittsburgh, PA
December 27	No. 3	vs. Fairfield	W 87–69	6-0
December 28	No. 3	vs. Boston College	W 86–64	7-0
December 30	No. 3	at Villanova	L 76–77	7-1	Villanova Field House Philadelphia, PA
January 9	No. 4	No. 2 Marquette	L 71–72	7-2	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
January 12	No. 4	Manhattan	L 64–79	8-2	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
January 17	No. 4	St. Bonaventure	W 61–59	9-2	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
January 19	No. 5	Niagara	W 80–69	10-2	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
January 22	No. 5	vs. Iowa	L 85–91	10-3
January 27	No. 11	at Fordham	W 100–77	11-3	Madison Square Garden Manhattan, NY
January 29	No. 11	vs. No. 19 Northern Illinois	W 83–72	12-3
February 2	No. 8	Stetson	W 98–64	13-3	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
February 5	No. 8	at Clemson	W 62–58	14-3	Littlejohn Coliseum Clemson, SC
February 7	No. 8	DePaul	W 91–67	15-3	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
February 12	No. 9	Davidson	W 86–71	16-3	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
February 16	No. 7	UNLV	W 84–71	17-3	Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas, NV
February 19	No. 7	Houston	L 85–95	17-4	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
February 23	No. 9	Toledo	W 94–72	18-4	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
February 26	No. 9	vs. Davidson	W 88–82	19-4	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, NC
February 28	No. 9	Notre Dame	W 109–83	20-4	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
March 1	No. 8	Creighton	W 81–64	21-4	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
March 4	No. 8	Clemson	W 77–64	22-4	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, SC
March 11	No. 6	vs. Temple NCAA Tournament	W 53-51	23-4	William & Mary Hall Williamsburg, VA
March 16	No. 6	vs. No. 2 North Carolina NCAA Tournament	L 69-92	23-5	WVU Coliseum Morgantown, WV
March 18	No. 6	vs. No. 15 Villanova NCAA Tournament• Third Place Game	W 90-78	24-5
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

^[3]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	12	12	11	3	3	3	4	4	5	11	8	9	7	9	8	6	6
Coaches	13	13	8	3	3	3	4	4	4	8	6	6	4	7	6	4	5

^[4]

Gamecocks drafted into the NBA

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1972	1	8	Tom Riker	New York Knicks

^[5]

References

^ "1971-72 polls". sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
^ "1970-71 South Carolina Gamecock basketball roster". Sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
^ "1971-72 South Carolina Gamecocks Schedule". sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
^ "1971-72 polls". sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
^ "1972 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2018.

[1] "1971-72 polls". sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2018.

[2] "1970-71 South Carolina Gamecock basketball roster". Sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2018.

[3] "1971-72 South Carolina Gamecocks Schedule". sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2018.

[4] "1971-72 polls". sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2018.

[5] "1972 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2018.

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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	Gambling scandal 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 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics