Win over Duke in 1965 helped USC, McGuire get things rolling

Jack Thompson never lacked for confidence, especially with a basketball in his hands. His quip about playing against better guards on every other street corner in Brooklyn than Duke’s star-studded backcourt defined his persona.

And now, on Dec. 6, 1965, Jack Thompson’s third college game and his first against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent would be against a high-powered Duke team that featured seven future pros -- including guards Bob Verga and Steve Vacendak -- and would finish the season in the Final Four.

Thompson prepared by crawling into his dormitory room bed and pulling the covers over his head on the afternoon of the game.

“I just didn’t want to get embarrassed,” he says now.

He wasn’t. And neither were the Gamecocks.

Rather, the Gamecocks -- with four sophomores among the seven who played that night -- took down the third-ranked Blue Devils 73-71 in a game that ranks in significance in school basketball history behind only the current team’s triumphs over Duke and Baylor in the NCAA tourney.

That 1965 win represented the real beginning of the Frank McGuire Era at Carolina and illustrated the Gamecocks could compete and succeed against the best. That’s the gravy.

More important, the victory achieved in the old snake-pit of a gym called Carolina Field House -- with its sunken court, a rail around the playing area and a seating capacity listed generously at 3,200 -- paved the way for funding to erect Carolina Coliseum.

Without the promise of Carolina Coliseum, do John Roche and Tom Owens and Tom Riker and Kevin Joyce come to Columbia? And without them, the school’s basketball legacy would be missing its most glorious chapters.

“It’s like the song from the ’70s, ‘Everything Old Is New Again,’ ” Thompson said in reflecting on his team’s triumph more than 50 years ago and the recent conquests that put the Gamecocks on the national stage Sunday in the NCAA tourney’s Elite Eight. “We did the same thing this team did; we took Duke out of its rhythm.” And the Gamecocks presented an encore performance against Baylor.

The present-day Gamecocks hang their hat on defense. Thompson and his crowd relied on what one reporter called a “make-it-up-as-you-go” offense. The results, and the consequences, are the same.

‘Beat Dook’ - Then and Now

Legendary coach Frank McGuire had taken command of the Carolina program for the 1964-65 season and the Gamecocks struggled to a forgettable 6-17 record that included only two ACC victories. Freshmen could not play on the varsity in those days and his first recruiting class -- Thompson, Skip Harlicka, Frank Standard and Skip Kickey -- waited in the wings.

They began 1965-66 with wins over Erskine and Furman -- and then came Duke.

“The (Field House) was crazy,” Harlicka, who lives in Raleigh, remembered.

“All during the freshman game, people were stomping and chanting ‘Beat Dook, Beat Dook, Beat Hell out of Dook,’ ” Thompson said. “The place has never been louder.”

Duke coach Vic Bubas said in pre-game analysis that he expected the Gamecocks to hold the ball against his all-star lineup in those days before a shot clock forced action, but Carolina came out running. Thompson, a magician with the ball who remains the standard against which USC point guards are measured, shredded the Blue Devils’ press and forced the visitors to retreat into a zone.

The Blue Devils led, but Carolina remained close, caught up on an Earl Lovelace basket with about 12 minutes to play. Duke surged again. The Gamecocks countered.

USC trailed by a point with a minute to play and Thompson had the ball on a break. Vacendak, voted the ACC player of the year at season’s end, met him. Thompson faked one way, darted the other and left the defender nailed to the floor. The move opened a gap for a pass to Al Salvadori at the rim. Salvadori converted a three-point play for a 71-69 lead.

Vacendak got Duke even, then Thompson and Vacendak met again. Different moves. Same result. This time, the defender went to the floor and Thompson whipped a pass to Standard for the winning points with about 20 seconds to play.

Harlicka had the ball near mid-court at the final horn, and suddenly the stands emptied and the crowd engulfed the court. Pictures show McGuire, Thompson and Harlicka getting rides off the floor on the shoulders of jubilant fans.

“Too much guard play,” Bubas summarized afterward. “Thompson and Harlicka did a great job for them. Their passing, shooting and playmaking were out of this world.”

Harlicka scored 19 points, and Thompson and Standard added 17 each. Salvadori. a junior, added 12, and center John Schroeder, the only senior, scored two. Kickey came off the bench for four and Lovelace for two. Thompson contributed nine assists.

“The last two or three times we had the ball, Jack just took over, and his last two moves were things of beauty,” Harlicka said. “After we scored (to take the final lead), they shot and there were six guys, three on each side, battling for the ball. Frank finally tapped it out to me and I threw the ball as high as I could into the stands.”

Harlicka looked back and called the victory “a remarkable experience.”

“I can’t say winning was unexpected, but we knew the odds were against us,” he said. “It’s kind of like the current team. We have a place in South Carolina basketball history, and this team does, too. Over the years, Duke and North Carolina have set the standard, and those are the teams you have to beat.”

The Gamecocks beat Duke both then and now, and the reaction is the same -- euphoria. Whacking Baylor adds to the joy.

“That feeling never gets old,” Harlicka said.

And Thompson is right on: Everything Old Is New Again.

This story was originally published March 25, 2017 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Win over Duke in 1965 helped USC, McGuire get things rolling."