TUESDAY SPORTS: Clemson, USC, Furman notch hoops wins

Up four with just 11 minutes to play, Clemson outscored VMI 32-6 the rest of the way in an 80-50 win over the Keydets at Littlejohn Coliseum on Monday. The Tigers finished the non-conference portion of the regular season with a 9-3 record. VMI dropped to 6-6 with the loss. Jordan Roper, who helped key the second half spurt for Clemson, led the Tigers with 19 points, matching his career-high.

______________________________________________________________________________

After scoring 78 points two days ago, South Carolina (6-6) followed Saturday’s performance with its best offensive showing of the season Monday night, defeating Marshall (5-8) 92-65 at Colonial Life Arena. The Gamecocks were led by Tyrone Johnson and Brenton Williams who each scored 18 points on the night.

______________________________________________________________________________

Stephen Croone scored 17 points to lead five Paladins in double figures as Furman closed out its non-conference schedule with a 75-65 victory over Big West Conference member UC Davis on Monday night at The Pavilion in Davis, Calif.

______________________________________________________________________________　

Southern set an NCAA basketball record by scoring the first 44 points in its game against Champion Baptist College Monday that it went on to win in a whopping 116-12 blowout. Southern broke the all-divisions record that used to be held by Seton Hall, which scored the first 34 points against Kean College in November 1998. However, they didn’t set a record for margin of victory. That’s held by Long Island University, which beat Medgar Evers 179-62 in November 1997.

______________________________________________________________________________　

As the South Carolina Gamecocks prepare for Wednesday afternoon’s Capital One Bowl game against Wisconsin, USC assistant Steve Spurrier Jr. told the statewide “SportsTalk” show Monday that he would be interested in the offensive coordinator vacancy at Duke. He said he has not been contacted about the post, but would listen if anyone from the school reached out to him.

______________________________________________________________________________

On Tuesday’s bowl schedule, Arizona will face Boston College at 12:30 PM in the Advocare V100 Bowl. Virginia Tech goes against #17 UCLA in the Sun Bowl at 2:00 PM. Mississippi State faces Rice in the Liberty Bowl at 4:00 PM, and #20 Texas A&M faces off against #22 Duke in the Chick-fil-A Bowl at 8:00 PM

______________________________________________________________________________

Five NFL coaches were out of work on Monday, fired less than 24 hours after the end of the regular season. Given the boot were: the Washington Redskins’ Mike Shanahan; the Detroit Lions’ Jim Schwartz; the Minnesota Vikings’ Leslie Frazier; and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Greg Schiano. Cleveland Browns coach Rob Chudzinski was shown the door on Sunday night.

______________________________________________________________________________

The NFL acknowledged Monday that referees missed a call in the San Diego Chargers-Kansas City Chiefs game a day earlier, saying the Chargers should have been penalized for an illegal formation on a missed 41-yard field goal attempt by the Chiefs’ Ryan Succop with four seconds left in regulation. San Diego lined up with seven men on one side of the snapper, one more than the rules allow, and the NFL said the penalty should have been called, moving the ball five yards closer to the end zone and giving Succop another attempt at the field goal. If he’d made the kick — which was a good bet from that distance — the Chiefs would have won, and that would have put the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs. Instead, the Chargers won in overtime and claimed the AFC’s final playoff spot. The NFL didn’t say whether the referee crew would be disciplined.