51-31 Wich St

Dayton at 8pm on ESPN! 

65-41 now.
Not Jair's finest night.

Omar Minaya's son starts for SC!  Mets/baseball fans will know who that is.  His son is 6'6, started as Freshman too, then got hurt last year. Now he's a 3rd year senior.

 

South Carolina Gamecocks

Date/Time: Sunday December 1st @ 2:00 PM at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, SC. Gotta wonder why their fanbase hasn't forced the school to change the name of the arena! I kid I kid.
Record Last Year: 16-16, 11-7 (T-4th in SEC)
Preseason Ranks: 69th (KenPom), 99th (Bart Torvik), 79th (Sports Illustrated), 86th (CBS)
Projected Record: 13-18, 6-12 (T-12th in SEC)
Postseason Last Year: None.
Coaching Record: Frank Martin, 129-106 in 7 seasons at South Carolina, including a final four appearance in 2016-17 and an NIT appearance the season before. Went 117-54 in 5 seasons at Kansas State before touching down in Columbia. During that span, he made the NCAA tournament in 4 of the 5 years (the other being an NIT appearance) and he won at least one game in the tournament each of those 4 years (he went to an elite eight in 2009-10). In short, the guy can coach.

All Time Record: 5-6, with the most recent meeting happening...should I really talk about it? Terry had 13 and DJ had 12 points in the game, but none of the starters shot above 40% from the field. Hopefully we perform much better this time around. It would be hard to do worse. The previous meeting before that was in 1993-94 when we defeated the Gamecocks 77-71. We were ranked #22 at that time. South Carolina has won 5 of the past 6 meetings overall. 

Offensive Efficiency: 120th (KenPom), 186th (Bart Torvik)
Defensive Efficiency: 78th (KenPom), 67th (Bart Torvik)
Tempo: 34th (KenPom), 39th (Bart Torvik)

Key Returning Players:
Anthony 'A.J.' Lawson (SO; Brampton, CAN) 13.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.9 apg; 41% FG, 36% 3-pt, 67% FT
      Last year against us: 19 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists; 7-9 FG, 2-3 3-pt, 3-7 FT in 31 minutes.

Keyshawn Bryant (SO; Winter Haven, FL) 9 ppg, 3.8 rpg; 45% FG, 21% 3-pt, 57% FT
      Last year against us: 8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists; 4-9 FG, 0-1 3-pt in 14 minutes.

Key Losses:
Chris Silva (Graduated and signed with Miami Heat; Libreville, GAB) 15.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.9 bpg; 51% FG, 50% 3-pt, 74% FT
Hassani Gravett (Graduated and signed with Orlando Magic; Douglasville, GA) 11.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.4 apg; 42% FG, 40% 3-pt, 77% FT (I believe he was later waived by the Magic)

Comments:
I believe this game wasn't on the original schedule for this season before JC became head coach. If this was the replacement for the Valparaiso game on the schedule, I would say this is definitely an upgrade. It is always beneficial to play a team from a power conference, no matter how strong they are expected to be. We have agreed to a 3 game series with the Gamecocks, so we will see them in the Smith Center in 2020-21 before returning once again to Columbia in 2021-22. 

The outlook for the Gamecocks this season isn't too bright in the SEC, but I thought similarly last season as well and SC proved me wrong by hanging with most of their rivals in conference. This season proves to be even more tough with the graduations of two of their leaders who both took their talents to the Sunshine State, and on paper it is clear that the Gamecocks have less talent than most of the SEC. Now I will say there has been a lot of parity this college basketball season (look no further than Evansville beating their conference mate Kentucky; a reason for me to once again mention via transitive property that we are better than the Wildcats!) so SC can probably win some games they shouldn't. However, they have had their share of disappointments during OOC season - falling to Stony Brook last year, and losing to Boston U this season (going back to the parity - BU managed to lose to UT Martin today, the worst defensive team in the country and overall a pretty lousy team in the OVC). But hey - SC got revenge on an awful Wyoming team after losing in Laramie last season (why would you play there to begin with???). As mentioned earlier though, Frank Martin is definitely one of the most under-appreciated and underrated coaches in the country. I feel like his name doesn't usually come up in such conversations, and given what he did in Manhattan as well goes overlooked. Taking SC to the final four is no easy feat. They will always have the reputation of being a football school first (even with having an uncharacteristically poor season on the gridiron this year).

Back to this season. South Carolina usually goes around 10-11 guys deep, which makes sense given the tempo they play. This is a team that likes to get out in transition and get shots closer to the hoop rather than operating in the halfcourt (they run the flex, a scheme I've never been very fond of as it compromises spacing). Our transition defense will be important in this one. Though Silva and Gravett are gone, there is one double figure scorer who still remains. That guy is Anthony 'A.J.' Lawson, who did a bit of everything against us last year. The Canadian can play multiple positions, and will be a mismatch on the offensive end. It will be interesting to see who we put on him during the game. He will without a doubt get his points (and put up a lot of shots on kind of meh efficiency), so limiting him will be the goal. He is a capable three point shooter, but like most of the Gamecocks he thrives in transition and getting to the hoop.

Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, the other key returner Bryant is sidelined with a knee injury for potentially a good part of the season. Fortunately, two guards have emerged as complimentary threats for the team: Jair Bolden and Jermaine Couisnard. Bolden (you may have heard of him) has greatly improved his efficiency shooting the ball since departing Foggy Bottom, and has also cut down on his turnovers. There is a clear explanation for the latter - he simply doesn't have the same pressure to be the primary creator/ball handler on offense, allowing him to play off the ball at times. Lawson, Bolden, and Couisnard all have the ability to handle the ball in the offense, with sometimes all three sharing the court. This can make the Gamecocks difficult to defend at times. However, shooting is largely missing from this team. Bolden and Couisnard (a fashion merchandising major - that's a concentration available in college??) are clearly the two best shooters from distance on the team, so they will likely see a lot of minutes by default this season.

Up front, minutes will likely be taken up by Estonian senior Maik-Kalev Kotsar, sophomore Alanzo Frink from well-established Roselle Catholic HS in New Jersey, and redshirt sophomore Justin Minaya. Kotsar operates exclusively in the paint, having yet to attempt a three on the season. He isn't an overly efficient player in the paint either, but most importantly serves as a guy who can clean up on the glass, leading the Gamecocks in rebounding so far. He also provides values defensively, ranking second on the team in both steals (1.5) and blocks (1.2) per game. Kotsar had 12 against us last season. Frink is perhaps the most efficient player offensively on the team, but provides less defensively. Minaya is probably more of a wing than a traditional big. He is the best passer and free throw shooter of the three, but has been a horribly inefficient shooter to begin the year, potentially still recovering from a suffered knee injury last season. At the very least, these three will provide good sources of rebounding for the Gamecocks (a trait really shared by the entire team), and they know their roles as complimentary options after the trio of guards.

The remainder of their rotation consists of 6-11 forward Wildens Leveque, freshman Jalyn McCreary, and freshmen guards Terrance 'T.J.' Moss and Trae Hannibal. Leveque has been in foul trouble the past couple games, but figures to see around 15-20 minutes of action. If he can stay on the floor, he has shown to be a good finisher so far this season. The same pretty much applies to the slightly shorter McCreary, who is just 3-14 from the line to begin the year (ouch). Moss has shown some potential as a passer, but both he and Hannibal have been ice cold shooting the ball. Moss did have a good outing against us last year, finishing in double figures with 3 made triples, but went down with a high ankle injury and it seems to have impacted his shooting thus far. If any of these guys add some scoring for SC, that is an added bonus, but most of their scoring will come from the aforementioned three guards and three forwards. Should there be any foul trouble up front, we could see senior Micaiah Henry, a transfer from Tennessee Tech, who comes from Cookeville with the reputation as a shot blocker.

In terms of game plan, offensively it will be about taking care of the ball. South Carolina ranks 63rd in steals per game, so the goal will be to prevent fastbreak points. Defensively, do we run their guys off the three point line? Maybe their guards, but overall this SC team is not very good at shooting from deep (replicating their poor shooting from last year's OOC season). Going into the UNI game, they were just 27% on their three point makes. I'd say we dare them to beat us from deep. We have been very generous with letting players get into the paint at will, and I don't want to bank on the Gamecocks missing from that close. It's also worth mentioning that SC is shooting just 60% from the free throw line. Couisnard hasn't missed on 7 attempts, but no one else of significance has shot 80+%. I think a hacking strategy could be useful depending on what happens in the game.

I'm not going into this one expecting us to win or keep it close (especially at their place), but I can't see I've been very impressed from what I've seen watching SC this season. With AT back, you never know - maybe we'll keep it closer than expected.

Predicted Score: South Carolina 73, GW 64. 17% chance to win (Bart Torvik). ESPN says we have a 19.9% chance to extend our win streak to 3.
 

Last edited by dmvpiranha (11/27/2019 10:58 pm)

We got a line for this one?

 

Pic from practice showed AT in shorts and jersey (not sweats).  Assuming that's a good sign.

Toro just shown in street clothes.  Hopefully he'll be back for the BU game.

Maceo Jack just a liiiiiiittle too far away from the hoop for that dunk attempt.

Make that 6 points and an assist for Bolden

Last season, we were down 49-8 to South Carolina with 4:13 left in the half.  We will have to get hot in the first half to be able to match that this season.   

This definitely looks like a repeat of last year's game, I just hope GW doesn't fall behind 49-8 again!! So far it's 11-2 and GW is having trouble getting off a decent shot attempt. Bolden looks like he's going to have his career-high. 

It's also interesting hearing former NBA star/South Carolina grad Alex English on the call