College Hoops Player of the Day for Monday, January 4, 2010
Junior guard Andrew Goudelock poured in 24 points, and the unheralded Charleston Cougars upset #9 North Carolina, in overtime, 82-79.
The team's leading scorer, Goudelock hit on half of his 20 attempts from the field, including going 4-for-8 from 3-point range. Playing almost the entire game without a rest - 43 minutes - Goudelock scored the final 8 points of the regulation, including a 28-foot 3-pointer that sent the game into overtime. He led four other Cougars in double figures as the 8-6 Cougars pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season, holding #9 North Carolina to 38% shooting, even though being outrebounded, 56-36, by the taller Tar Heels. Interestingly, all of Charleston's losses have come on the road, while they have yet to be beaten in six games on their home court under coach Bobby Cremins, who is no stranger to North Carolina, having guided the Georgia Tech program for 19 years, from 1981-2000. After a five-year absence from coaching, this is Cremins' 4th season as head coach at the College of Charleston.
North Carolina was playing without forward Marcus Ginyard, who missed his third straight game with an ankle injury. The Tar Heels dropped to 11-4 on the season. They open a usually-grueling ACC schedule on January 10, when they host Virginia Tech. Charleston is 3-0 in the South division of the Southern conference.
NOTABLE: The Pitt Panthers keep rolling along, despite having lost most of their starting lineup from a year ago to graduation. After slamming Syracuse on Saturday, handing the Orangemen their first loss of the season, the Panthers traveled to Cincinnati and topped the Bearcats on Monday night, 74-71, as Ashton Gibbs led the scoring with 19 points. Pittsburgh is now 13-2 overall and 3-0 in the Big East. The voters rewarded them on Monday with the #23 ranking in the latest poll.