Tigers Too Much For Gamecocks (Recap of Missouri v. South Carolina)

Thursday night was a chance for South Carolina to get another home win and put a crimp in another SEC's team's plans of making the NCAA Tournament. A week ago, the Gamecocks knocked off Ole Miss, damaging the Rebels chances of making the Big Dance. Now South Carolina was hosting Missouri, a team they barely lost to in Columbia, Missouri in their first matchup of the season.

Speaking of Columbia, Missouri, a lot of Tigers' fans made the 870 mile trip and Colonial Life Arena had a fair share of yellow sprinkled throughout the stands. As for Gamecocks fans, whether it was the 9:00 PM start or the team's 3-11 record going into the game, thirty minutes before game time, the arena was quite empty. It would fill up around game time for an attendance of over 9,300.

The Tigers came out roaring in the first few minutes. Keion Bell and Jabari Brown combined for eleven points and three assists and Missouri went out to a 13-5 lead not even four minutes into the game. This was not surprising for a team that is twentieth in the country in scoring, averaging 76.7 points per game.

The under sixteen minute media timeout came in handy for the Gamecocks as they regrouped out of the break. Mindaugas Kacinas and Brian Richardson each buried a three pointer and South Carolina had cut the lead to two, 13-11. After Missouri extended the lead back to five, Brenton Williams would score five straight points on a three pointer and a jumper to tie the game at seventeen.

The Tigers would respond with a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to go up 26-17. But the Gamecocks returned fire, with Damien Leonard burying three 3 pointers during a 15-6 spurt over a span of three and a half minutes. Bruce Ellington's jumper tied the game at thirty two with five and a half minutes. The Gamecocks had hit on seven three pointers in the first fourteen and a half of minutes of the game and yet were only tied with the Tigers.

Once again Missouri responded outscoring South Carolina 13-6 the rest of the half as Bell scored five more points. Bell would have eighteen first half points, nearly seven more than his scoring average on the season. The Tigers would enter halftime up 45-38.

At the start of the second half, it was clear the plan for Missouri was to go into Alex Oriakhi inside, since South Carolina had no one big enough or athletic enough to cover him. The Tigers quickly went out on a 9-2 run over the first two and a half minutes. Brown's layup put Missouri up 54-40 with 17:30 left in the game. When Oriakhi hit on a three point play to put Missouri up 57-42, Oriakhi, Brown and Bell had combined for forty eight of the Tigers' fifty seven points.

During the first twenty minutes of the game, the Gamecocks were able to hang with the Tigers due in large part to their three point shooting. But in the first nine minutes of the second half, the Gamecocks missed on seven of their eight three point attempts. Meanwhile, the Tigers continued their offensive onslaught. Missouri, led by Oriakhi's dominance inside the paint, extended their run to 31-13 over eleven plus minutes. Tony Criswell's layup with a little under eleven minutes left in the game put the Tigers up 76-51.

By this time, a good number of South Carolina fans had made their way to the exits, much to the pleasure of the Missouri fans sitting behind me in Section 113. The only brief glimpse of hope was when Brian Richardson scored four straight points for the Gamecocks. This resulted in Mike Anderson calling timeout, furious in his team's brief defensive lapses.

South Carolina was only able to briefly cut the Missouri lead down to nineteen, 79-60 with 7:42 left. But the Tigers got the lead back up to twenty four, 87-63 on a Lawrence Bowers dunk with three and a half minutes left in the game. Around this time, the mass exodus of fans had begun.

With two and a half minutes left in the game, as I surveyed the arena, it looked exactly as it was thirty minutes before the start of the game. I stayed till the bitter end as Missouri downed South Carolina 90-68.

The Tigers relentless efficient offense shot seventy two percent in the second half and nearly seventy percent for the game (69.6%). They only attempted nine three pointers, but hit six of them. Missouri took ten less shots than South Carolina but hit on eight more shots than the Gamecocks. The Tigers were even efficient from the line, hitting twenty of twenty six shots.

Bell led all scorers with twenty four points, while Brown had twenty three points and Oriahki added eighteen. The three combined to shoot twenty two of twenty eight from the field and eighteen of twenty three from the free throw line. I can't remember the last time I saw three players combined be so dominant yet so efficient in their scoring.  Paul Pressey was scoreless but more importantly had nine assists. The Tigers are now 20-8 overall and 9-6 in the SEC.  That should probably be enough to at least get an at large bid.

South Carolina was led by Leonard, who had a career high twenty points coming off the bench. Richardson and Williams also came off the bench to score ten points each for the Gamecocks. Michael Carrera was the leading scorer for the starters with nine points.   The bench outscored the starters 49-19. After Coach Martin comparing his team's play against LSU to the zombies in "Night of the Living Dead", I wondered if he had any comment in the post game press conference on this night's potential zombie sequel.

I left Colonial Life Arena and made my way to the parking lot next to the construction for the new Moore Business School building.  It was apparent as I crossed Lincoln Street that most fans had already left. I was able to quickly get out of the parking lot and head back to Gervais Street for the trip home.

As I waited for the light to change on Park and Gervais Street, I was wondering why I was so bothered about not having to be stuck in traffic. Then I realized, I much rather wanted to see the Gamecocks win and battle cars out of the school parking lot then have a quick getaway. With only one home game left in the season, here's to hoping Coach Martin turning it around next season.

I actually look forward to regular traffic jams after Gamecocks' basketball games.

Carrera is Not Enough As Tennessee Overcomes South Carolina

"The State" is the main newspaper for Columbia, South Carolina. In their Sunday edition, they ran a feature story by Patrick Obley on South Carolina freshman Michael Carrera. It didn't take very long into the season for Carrera to become a fan favorite. As the State article notes, the freshman from Venezuela was not highly recruited. And yet, twenty two games in the season, he is the Gamecocks best player, averaging eleven points and seven rebounds per game.

Carrera is always hustling, relentless on the boards and occasionally will do the work of the towel boys and wipe the Colonial Life Arena court during a stoppage in play. He also has developed his game as the season has progressed. In his two previous games vs. Kentucky and Georgia, Carrera hit three of four 3 point field goal attempts. Prior to those two games, he had attempted four three pointers for the entire season.

Despite Carrera's emergence, the Gamecocks have struggled in conference. Entering Sunday's game, South Carolina was 2-7 in SEC play. The frustrating part for Gamecocks' fans was that outside of their road losses to Florida and Kentucky, South Carolina has been in every other SEC contest. They had a chance to rebound Sunday at home against a Tennessee team that was only a game in front of the Gamecocks in the standings.

Sunday was also a doubleheader day as the nationally ranked South Carolina women's team was hosting another nationally ranked team in Texas A&M. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the second game due to my son's first baseball league practice. Since I am an assistant coach, I had to be there, even if my family won't be down to South Carolina for another couple of weeks.

Having gone to most of the Gamecocks' home games this season, with the exception of Clemson, the visiting teams have not had much of a contingent of fans. On Sunday, Tennessee had perhaps the second best contingent I had seen on the season. And you can't miss Volunteer fans as they are dressed in the school's burnt orange color.

The USC pep band did their best to get the home fans pumped up before the game starting with "Jungle Boogie", "Holiday" and Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4". The last song is played by a lot of bands, but the USC band does a really good job and it helps that I love the song as well.

The game started out similar to South Carolina's battle with Georgia a week, as one player on each team did the bulk of the scoring early. In this case, it was Jarnell Stokes for Tennessee, who scored five of the Volunteers' first ten points. And once again, Carrera did the early heavy lifting for the Gamecocks, scoring seven of the team's first nine points.

The Gamecocks went out to a 19-16 lead on a free throw by Lakeem Jackson, who missed his second free throw. A couple of Tennessee fans were behind me and hadn't seen Jackson shoot his one handed free throws before. One fan thought Jackson had hurt his right hand, but I quickly noted that this is how Jackson shoots his free throws now and that 1 out of 2 is a very good percentage for him.

In a game where there was multiple lead changes and the score was close throughout, the Volunteers went on one of the few runs in the game. Over the next four plus minutes, Tennessee outscored South Carolina 12-2 run. Stokes capped the run with a tip in and the Volunteers led 28-21 with a little less than four minutes left in the half.

The Gamecocks' Eric Smith responded with his own 5-0 mini spurt with a jumper and a three pointer to make the score 28-26. But Stokes responded with two more baskets and the Volunteers went to halftime leading 32-29. Stokes had twelve first half points. Meanwhile Carrera kept the Gamecocks in the game with nine first half points.

The start of the second half continued with the Stokes and Carrera version of "Crossfire". Stokes scored the Volunteers first two second half points with a pair of free throws. Meanwhile Carrera scored four of the first six Gamecocks' points. His slam dunk off a nice dish from Bruce Ellington put South Carolina up 34-33 lead with about sixteen and a half minutes left in the game. This resulted in Tennessee Head Coach Cuonzo Martin to call timeout.

A Carrera jumper gave the Gamecocks a 39-36 lead. But the Volunteers responded with an 8-0 run. Stokes started it with two free throws and Trae Golden followed with two three point plays. Tennesee went up 44-39 with thirteen minutes left.

South Carolina responded with a 10-2 run over three plus minutes that brought the 10,000 fans in attendance to life. Brian Richardson picked up the scoring slack for the Gamecocks, with six points during the spurt. South Carolina went back up 49-46 with a little less than nine minutes left in the game.

However, South Carolina had no answer all game for Stokes, who just dominated the Gamecocks' frontcourt. Once again, Stokes was part of Tennessee's response, scoring three of the Volunteers' next four points to put them up 51-49.

Carrera and Richardson would combine for six of the next eight South Carolina points. Two Damien Leonard free throws put the Gamecocks up 57-55 with 3:46 left in the game. Once again, the fans at Colonial Life Arena were watching another close SEC game hoping their home team would hold on to the lead this time.

But a defensive breakdown on the perimeter led to a three pointer by Jordan McRae to put Tennessee back up one, 58-57 with 3:30 left. Coach Frank Martin called timeout to regroup the Gamecocks. However, Ellington couldn't hit a three pointer and Skylar McBee buried a three pointer to put the Volunteers up four, 61-57 with two minutes left.

After both teams failed to score on their next possessions, Ellington had a chance to cut the lead to two with two free throws with fifty three seconds left. But he only made one of two and the Gamecocks were forced to foul the rest of the way. The Volunteers hit five of their last six free throws while the Gamecocks managed only a three pointer by Richardson. Tennessee would go on to win 66-61.

Stokes led all scorers with twenty points, ten rebounds and four blocks. Golden added sixteen points, including shooting eight of ten from the free throw line. Tennessee was twenty seven of thirty seven from the line, hitting nine more free throws than South Carolina on the game.

Carrera had his fourth double double on the season with eighteen points and eleven rebounds. Brian Richardson had seventeen points and five rebounds. Carrera and Richardson combined to shoot twelve of twenty four from the field. The rest of the Gamecocks shot eight of twenty seven from the field.

Tennessee moved to 4-6 in SEC play while South Carolina dropped to a tie for last place with Mississippi State at 2-8. It was the Gamecocks fifth conference loss by seven points or less. It was also the seventh conference game where they had a lead in the second half. They have lost five of those games.

In "The State" article, Carrera talked about how he hates to lose. "That's what I am. I don't like to lose. I like to win. That's what I do".

The fans know how hard Carrera plays and that he will do anything to win, even clean the Colonial Life Arena court. As Coach Martin's recruiting brings in additional talent, Carrera's performance will pay off in wins.

Huge First Half Run Propels South Carolina to Big Win over Arkansas

Entering Saturday's contest vs. the Razorbacks, the Gamecocks were looking to get their first SEC home win of the season. More importantly, South Carolina was trying to stem the tide of close games they have played in conference all season. They had played five games, all decided by single digit margins. One game was decided in overtime, their sole conference win at the time over LSU. The Gamecocks had late second half leads in three games, only to lose all of those games - Mississippi State, Auburn and Missouri. And in the fifth game, South Carolina trailed Vanderbilt by two, 51-49 with a little more than a minute left before losing by seven points.
Their opponent, Arkansas, entered the game faring somewhat better, having won three of their first five conference games, all at home. In their three home SEC wins over Auburn, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, the Razorbacks average margin of victory was nineteen points. However in their two road losses to Ole Miss and Texas A&M, Arkansas lost each game by double digits. You figured maybe something had to give yesterday.

After a wonderful rendition of the national anthem by a local fourth grade school chorus, at the start of the game, it looked like the Gamecocks were the ones giving. The Razorbacks rolled out to a 15-3 lead in the first four and a half minutes, due in large part to junior guard Rickey Scott, who scored eight points in the run, three more than his season average. After Scott buried a three to put Arkansas up by twelve, South Carolina coach Frank Martin had no choice but to call timeout with 15:39 left in the first half.

Whatever he said in that timeout must have resonated with his team. Over the span of the next
five and half minutes, the Gamecocks went on a 13-0 run. South Carolina forced three turnovers in that span and when Michael Carrera hit a jumper to give the Gamecocks a 17-16 lead with ten minutes left, the nearly eleven thousand fans in attendance at Colonial Life Arena roared in approval.

When Arkansas regained the lead, 18-17 on a layup by the Razorbacks leading scorer on the season, B.J. Young, it seemed like we had another close SEC contest. It made sense, considering all the close games that the Gamecocks had played on the season.

But South Carolina was far from done. Over the next six plus minutes, the Gamecocks outscored the Razorbacks 19-2. They accomplished this with the three pointer, hitting four in that span, including two by Brian Richardson and one by Lakeem Jackson, his second on the season in three attempts. Jackson's jumper ended an overall 32-4 run by South Carolina and gave them a 35-19 lead. It was the second time in a calendar year that I had seen a 32-4 run.

Two three pointers by Bruce Ellington and Eric Smith, whose shot was basically a turnaround shot clock beating prayer, capped a 40-11 onslaught. South Carolina led at the half 43-26. Richardson already had thirteen points in the first half.

The question starting the second half was whether South Carolina could keep down one of the top twenty scoring teams in the country in Arkansas. Within a few minutes of the second half, the answer was yes. The Razorbacks went scoreless over a three minute period and the Gamecocks extended their lead slightly to twenty, 52-32.

Arkansas did have one spurt on them, mainly due to Marshawn Powell, who scored six straight points for the Razorbacks to cut the Gamecocks' lead to twelve, 55-43 with about ten and half minutes left in the game.

But from there, South Carolina responded with a 16-3 spurt over the next five and half minutes. Laimonas Chatekevicius layup capped the run and the Gamecocks were up 71-46 with five minutes left in the game. South Carolina would end up winning 75-54.

The Gamecocks held the Razorbacks to twenty four points under their season scoring average. Arkansas was held to thirty four percent from the field, including a horrid two of sixteen from beyond the arc. Young, who had been averaging over sixteen points per game, was held to seven points on three of twelve shooting. Powell, Arkansas' second leading scorer, led the Razorbacks with twenty two points and thirteen rebounds.

South Carolina shot a blistering fifty seven percent from the field including seven of twelve from beyond the arc. Richardson had a career high twenty points. Ellington added fourteen points and Jackson added eleven points and three assists. Ellington, Jackson and Richardson combined to shoot eighteen of twenty five from the field (seventy two percent).

There was a moment that stood out to me about midway through the second half with the game no longer in doubt.  Carrera was trapped at the wing trying to get the ball to Ellington. After several seconds, Carrera lost the ball. Martin immediately substituted for Carrera. While Carrera was leaving the court, his replacement left either a towel or a warmup shirt by the scorers' table. Martin grabbed the item and fired it down towards the bench. Right afterwards, Martin gave Carrera a talking to about the play, no doubt telling him what he should have done.


What it told me was that in the midst of the Gamecocks' most complete game of the season from both an offensive and defensive standpoint, Martin didn't want his players letting up at any moment. He knows that games like this will be rare in the competitive SEC. His players must be focused and make the right plays at the right time. With only four teams in conference over .500 at the moment, there is an opportunity for the Gamecocks to move up in the standings.

The Little Things Make the Difference (Recap of Auburn v. South Carolina)

Coming off a two point loss at Mississippi State in a game where they had a six point lead with five and a half minutes left, South Carolina looked to rebound  in their home conference opener.  The Gamecocks were hosting the Tigers of Auburn.  Auburn had won their first conference game of the season at home defeating LSU 68-63.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Columbia yesterday where it reached a record temperature of 81 degrees on January 12.  As I got out of my car in a parking lot across from the Colonial Life Arena, I could see the fans were taking full advantage of the weather.  Many of them were dressed in t-shirts and shorts. Having lived in New York for forty six years and been subjected to Northeast winters, an 80 degree day is a welcome change.

As I made my way to the arena, there were a lot of scalpers asking people if they needed tickets.  Without fail, everyone they asked, including me, said "No thanks".  Finally one of the scalpers blurted out to his friend "It's just football and baseball where they need tickets!" Given it's Frank Martin's first year coaching the team, the scalpers need a little patience.

I was at the arena an hour before game time, but there is a reward for being the early bird - giveaways.  Members of the Carolina Girls dance team were giving fans a free hat.  It was probably for the first whatever number of fans that came in to see the game.  The moral of the story is the early bird gets the worm, the parking space and the giveaways.

The fans by me seemed to be in good spirits. It was probably the weather, but I think it also had to do with it being the first conference home game.  With the exception of Clemson, the non conference home schedule was devoid of any big name teams.  So the 9,119 in attendance were looking forward to facing a familiar SEC foe.

And the South Carolina pep band was firing on all cylinders.  They first started with a song by Chicago, the ultimate brass rock band.   Then they played "September" by Earth Wind and Fire, another song perfect for a pep band.  Later on they played my favorite song of theirs, Blondie's "Call Me".  Years ago, when Deborah Harry co-wrote that song, I wonder if she realized that it would end up being played by pep bands.  Probably not.

At the start of the game, it was evident that this was going to be another nip and tuck SEC affair.  Bruce Ellington, the hero of the Outback Bowl, appropriately started the scoring with a jumper.  This resulted in a loud "BRUUUUCE" cheer from the fans.  But Shaquille Johnson buried a three pointer to put Auburn up 3-2.

And that was the theme for the first twenty minutes of the game.  South Carolina would take a lead. Auburn would take it right back. All that was missing was the pep band playing "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better".

A three pointer by Damien Leonard followed by an Ellington layup gave the Gamecocks a 20-14 lead.  But Auburn scored seven straight points capped by a Noel Johnson three to put Auburn back up one, 21-20.  Leonard responded with another three pointer to put South Carolina back out in front by two.  Johnson countered with another three pointer and Auburn was back up one, 24-23.

An 8-2 spurt by the Gamecocks capped by another Leonard three put South Carolina up five, 31-26 with five minutes left. With LaShay Page's Gamecock career over due to an academic eligibility  issue (Page was a graduate student at South Carolina, having transferred from Southern Miss for his fifth senior season), Leonard and Brian Richardson have been given larger roles for the Gamecocks.  The sophomore Leonard responded on Saturday with his biggest game of the season scoring seventeen points.

Auburn would again rally, outscoring South Carolina 11-4.  Frankie Sullivan's layup put the Tigers up 37-35.  But the Gamecocks would score four straight points as Bruce Ellington's jumper put South Carolina up 39-37. A Sullivan free throw cut the lead to one, 39-38.  The Gamecocks had a chance to go up more at the half but Brenton Williams left his layup just short on the rim.  It would be one of those missed opportunities that would come back to haunt South Carolina at the end.

At the start of the second half, Sullivan continued to be the hot hand for the Tigers.  He hit two consecutive three pointers to give Auburn their largest lead of the game, 46-42 with sixteen minutes left.  The scoring pace would slow down considerably with South Carolina outscoring Auburn 7-2 over the next nearly three and a half minutes.  A Lakeem Jackson jumper would put South Carolina back up one, 49-48.

The teams would trade baskets and free throws for the next three minutes. Eric Smith hit one of his two free throws to put South Carolina back up one, 56-55.  An Ellington jumper and another Leonard three would put the Gamecocks up four, 61-57.

Again, Auburn responded. Without two of their top leading scorers, Chris Denson and Jordan Price, due to injuries, other players have stepped up for the Tigers. After Rob Chubb hit a layup, Brian Greene Jr buried a three pointer to give the Tigers back the lead 62-61.

Once again, the teams traded leads for the next two minutes. Smith's second three pointer in a row gave South Carolina the lead 69-67 with four and a half minutes left.  But two free throws by Chubb and a jumper by Greene Jr. put Auburn back in front 71-69.

Auburn's Allen Payne basically intentionally fouled Jackson off a timeout.  Jackson, who's  horrifically bad free throw shooting is well known, had actually hit two earlier free throws much to the delight of the crowd.  But with a chance to tie, Jackson reverted to his 28 percent free throw shooting self, missing both.  Jackson would make up for it later by finding Ellington for an open jumper to tie the game at 71 with three minutes left.

But the difference in the game came down to the free throw line.  The South Carolina fans were quite upset by the officiating for the entire game.  Strangely though, it was Auburn's bench that was given the only warning of the game. Still, the Tigers had twelve more free throw attempts than the Gamecocks and hit seven more free throws.  Two free throws by Sullivan would put Auburn up two 73-71 with 2:41 left in the game.

The Gamecocks had several chances to tie or take the lead.  But Ellington and Carrera missed jumpers. Then after an Auburn turnover, Smith missed an open three with the shot clock winding down. Sullivan missed a jumper but Chubb got the offensive rebound and was fouled by Carrera, who fouled out of the game.

Chubb only hit one of two free throws to put Auburn up 74-71 with thirty five seconds left.  Richardson had a good look at a three pointer but missed.  However South Carolina got the rebound and called timeout with nine seconds left.  Ellington rushed a three with seven seconds left on the clock and missed.  Auburn dribbled out the clock and had a hard earned 74-71 win.

Ellington, who was coming off a rough nine turnover game against Mississippi State, bounced back nicely with eighteen points, five assists, two steals and only had two turnovers. Leonard had nine rebounds to go with his seventeen points, six of the rebounds came on the offensive end.  Smith added ten points on three three point field goals and Jackson added ten points and three assists. Carrera only played twenty four minutes and had six points, seven rebounds, five on the offensive end and five assists.

Sullivan led Auburn with seventeen points while Chubb had sixteen points and ten rebounds.  Greene Jr came off the bench with fourteen points as he hit all six of his field goal attempts.  The Tigers shot fifty eight percent from the field.  

The statistics were very close.  Both teams hit eight three pointers and South Carolina made two more field goals, twenty six, to Auburn's twenty four field goals.  But again the difference was at the line. Auburn was 18 of 28, while South Carolina was 11 of 16.

Martin had to be pleased with his teams improved ball handling on Saturday. Wednesday night, they had only ten assists and twenty turnovers.  On Saturday, they had twenty assists and fifteen turnovers. Still, it wasn't enough to turn back Auburn.

In a competitive SEC, the little things mount up.  The missed free throws by Jackson, an open layup that falls short right before the half, a rushed three point attempt with time left on the clock, Carrera in foul trouble and playing only twenty four minutes and points off turnovers (Auburn 8, South Carolina 2). In the end, they cost the Gamecocks the game.

Still, in a seemingly down year for the SEC, the Gamecocks have time to right the ship.  They just need to take care of the little things - more free throw opportunities, Carrera staying out of foul trouble and capitalizing on opportunities down the stretch.

I understand that fully.  In my haste to tweet the final score and leave to beat the traffic, I left that free hat at my seat.

You have to take care of the little things.

An Arena Grows in Brooklyn Part 2 (Recap of South Carolina vs. Manhattan)

Four months ago, I left my position at Hofstra for the University of South Carolina.  For twenty eight years of my life, I had spent most of my days on the campus located in Hempstead, New York.   Now I spend my work days on the campus located in Columbia, South Carolina.  I went from a mid major basketball school to the heart of the SEC, home of big time college football.  So it was ironic that on Saturday, I would be attending a tripleheader where my two worlds collided.  

In the first game, I proudly wore my Hofstra Basketball sweatshirt. My alma mater had played well for twenty minutes, only to see it be on the receiving end of a 20-0 run at the start of the second half before losing to Tulane.  But right before the tip-off of South Carolina vs. Manhattan, I took off my sweatshirt as I was wearing underneath a Gamecocks Basketball T-shirt.  I wasn't the only one in the Northeast CAA contingent wearing Garnet.  Mike Brodsky was proudly wearing USC athletic wear to support his friends at South Carolina.

Both Manhattan and South Carolina were missing their best players for the game.  The Jaspers' George Beamon has been battling injuries all season and sat out the game as Coach Steve Masiello wanted to get him ready for MAAC conference play. Meanwhile, Gamecocks' guard Bruce Ellington didn't make the trip as he was preparing with his fellow football teammates for the Outback Bowl on New Year's Day. 

Once again, I was sitting with Tieff, Mike Brodsky, Victoria Rossi and Alex Faust for this second game.  I was joined by Ray Curren, who was covering the third of four games for the Mid Majority on the day.  We were going to see a much closer game than the first game of the tripleheader.

South Carolina came out strong.  As I had seen already several times this season, other than Ellington, the Gamecocks' two other best players are Michael Carrera and Brenton Williams.  Williams nailed two three pointers, while Carrera added a three pointer and a layup as well. They combined for all of South Carolina's points early as the Gamecocks went up 11-3.  

But also as I had seen several times this season, the Gamecocks allow their opponents to stay in the game. The Jaspers responded with 18-7 run over the next six minutes.  Shane Richards hit his second of six three pointers on the day to put Manhattan up 21-18 with 10:19 left in the half.

Neither team would score for nearly three minutes until Lakeem Jackson hit a layup to bring South Carolina within a point, 21-20.  It would be part of a Gamecocks' 9-2 spurt capped by a layup by Carrera to put USC up 27-23.  After Manhattan rallied to tie the game at 27, the Gamecocks had another spurt as Brian Richardson nailed two three pointers and Carrera added a free throw to put South Carolina up 34-27.  They would enter the half up six, 36-30.

Carrera was already impressing our group as he had twelve points and six rebounds, which helped South Carolina to a 23-9 rebounding edge at halftime.  He is undersized as far as SEC forwards at six foot five inches.  But Carrera plays with the heart of a six foot nine kid and has a high basketball IQ.   

Someone at the Barclays Center has a twisted sense of humor.  At halftime, they posted the score but listed it with Hofstra and Tulane instead of South Carolina and Manhattan.  The scoreboard folks were rubbing salt into a fresh wound for Pride fans like me.

The second half saw South Carolina extend its lead to seven points, 38-31 on a Jackson layup.  But Manhattan responded with a 10-0 run.  Again, Richards was in the mix, nailing another three pointer.  The Jaspers led 41-38 with fourteen minutes left.

But the Gamecocks came back with a 10-0 run of their own.  South Carolina forced five Manhattan turnovers over a four minute span. Richardson scored five of those ten points and the Gamecocks were up 48-41 with ten and a half minutes left. 

The next several minutes became the Brenton Williams show.  Williams scored eight straight points, the last of which was a three pointer that gave the Gamecocks their first double digit lead of the game.  South Carolina was up 58-47 with five minutes left in the game.

The Gamecocks would go scoreless for the next two and a half minutes.  But Manhattan only managed four points during that span.  Williams assisted on a Jackson jumper and South Carolina was back up nine, 60-51 with just under two and a half minutes left in the game.

But Manhattan refused to quit.  Mohamed Koita and Richards each hit a three pointer and the lead was down to three, 60-57 with 1:21 left.  The Jaspers got the crowd back in the game. 

However the Jaspers turned the ball over on each of their next two possessions and would not score again. Richardson, Williams and Carrera, the three leading scorers on the day for the Gamecocks, would each hit one of two free throws.  It wasn't pretty, but it was effective for South Carolina, as they won 62-57.

Williams led South Carolina with seventeen points.  Carrera, whose only point in the second half came on that free throw, still had thirteen points and Richardson added twelve points.  Jackson just missed a double double with nine points and eleven rebounds.

Richards led all scorers with eighteen points on six of twelve shooting from beyond the arc.  Rhamel Brown just missed a double double with ten points and nine rebounds.  He would have easily had more points if he was better than two of ten from the free throw line. Donovan Kates, however, had a good day at the line as he was eight of ten, which helped him score thirteen points for the game.

It was the eighth win on the season for Head Coach Frank Martin, who at times on the sideline looked like he needed some Pepto Bismol.  His team gave him reason for an upset stomach with nineteen turnovers, but they still won.  In fact, they are only two wins away from matching last year's win total, ten.  The Gamecocks didn't win their tenth game last season until my birthday, February 15.  

And despite how fiery Martin is, it wasn't him that got the technical foul call.  Manhattan's Masiello got a technical in the second half, which contributed to that game changing 10-0 South Carolina run.  As for Masiello, he has to hope that George Beamon is ready for conference play.  Manhattan, the preseason favorite to win the MAAC, is only 3-7 so far this season.

I said my goodbyes to the Northeast CAA gang and Ray Curren, who was staying for the Seton Hall - LIU Brooklyn game for his canasta of hoops on the day.  Tieff and I made our way back to Atlantic Terminal, then said goodbye at Jamaica station as we each had separate trains to Bellmore and Hicksville respectively. 

I know what you're saying.  How could I pass up a third game of a basketball tripleheader?  After spending the rest of the evening looking at Christmas lights with my wife and two boys, I hope the picture to the left answers your question.  

Plus, the basketball season is still young.  I still had a game to see on Sunday with Iona hosting Norfolk State and there are plenty of more games left to see.  And oh yes, I am making plans to be at Barclays again in March for the Atlantic 10 Tournament. 

Also, after seeing your alma mater in the first game and then your new home team play the second game, that was a fitting end to my basketball day. Anything more would have been anticlimactic.

Besides, two is a nice even number, in basketball and in life. 

Gamecocks Use a Football Mentality to Defeat Dolphins (Recap of USC v. Jacksonville)

Sunday, South Carolina lost at home to Clemson.  It was their second straight loss after winning five of their six first games.   The Gamecocks needed a different approach to defeating the Dolphins of Jacksonville on Friday night.   And that approach would have made Steve Spurrier proud.

As you may know if you are one of my marines, aka the few, the proud, the readers of my site, I work for the University of South Carolina in an IT capacity at the School of Law.  It’s been a great nearly four months so far working there.

One of the things I immediately learned when I got to Columbia is that parking is by seniority.  And since I have no seniority, I park in what’s known as the Z lot.   Let’s put it this way, I get good exercise walking to my office every morning.

But one of the perks of parking in the Z lot is that it is right near the Colonial Life Arena.  So on weeknights, I can leave my car in the lot, not pay the $5 for game parking and walk to the arena.  However, since I had a good ninety minutes to kill on Friday night, I went to what has become my new pre game hangout, the Thirsty Fellow, located across from the arena.

As I sat at my table with my pint of Newcastle and waiting for my meal, I was reading the Friday edition of the Daily Gamecock, the local student school newspaper.  On the back of the paper in the Sports section were two good stories about the basketball team both written by Paulina Berkovich, Assistant Sports Editor at the Daily Gamecock.

Her second story concerned how Coach Martin was looking for more offensive production to become as he put it “bowl-eligible” (winning their sixth game on the season).  In Berkovich’s article, Martin used a football analogy to describe his team’s communication problems.  “Right now, offensively, I’ll call for our tailback to run in the hole between the right guard and the right tackle.  Our offensive line is blocking as if we’re going to run in the hole between the left guard and the right.”  Martin then went onto explain in Berkovich’s article that bad communication has lead to bad execution.

Well, if Martin decided in practice to let Bruce Ellington instruct the team on a few football drills, it must have resonated with his team. The Gamecocks looked like Steve Spurrier’s run and shoot offense from the get go. They were aggressive and moved the ball around much better than they had done in previous games, especially against Clemson.

Leading the way was Michael Carrera, whose nice outlet pass to a Lakeem Jackson for a layup and one would make the score 5-2.  Carrera was all over the court in the first half, blocking shots, taking charges, rebounding, scoring baskets and assisting on others.  Carrera even got to be part of the maintenance crew during the game.  Late in the first half, he was involved in a scrum for a loose ball with Jacksonville’s Javon Dawson.  Jump ball was called.  Dawson came out of the pile with the ball.  Meanwhile,  Carrera grabbed a towel and cleaned the now slippery court.  He got a hand from the 6,980 in attendance for his cleanliness.

South Carolina jumped out quickly to an 11-2 lead on a three pointer by Brian Richardson and had Jacksonville reeling.  Ninety seconds into the game, the Dolphins had already four fouls as they couldn’t handle the Gamecocks’ intensity on both ends of the court.  In the first eleven minutes, South Carolina had a double digit lead several times.  But the Dolphins though hung around, cutting the deficit back into the single digits.  With just about nine minutes left in the first half, Jacksonville was only trailing 29-21.

Enter the subject of Berkovich’s main article in the Daily Gamecock Friday sports section, Brenton Williams.  In her article, Berkovich wrote about how Williams, after the loss to Clemson, asked Coach Martin for game tapes of Martin’s former Kansas State guards.  Williams wanted to see how the Wildcats’ guards played so he could play that way.  He impressed Martin who said “I thought that was a pretty powerful statement.”

Later in that article on Williams, Martin noted that “one of Williams’ biggest strengths is that he cares and he wants to improve.”   Williams is the Gamecocks leading scorer, averaging 13.6 points per game and leads the team in three point and free throw percentages.  He has done all this coming off the bench, providing the team a much needed spark early in the season.

Having seen Williams play several times this season, I can tell you that I am impressed with his mental and physical resiliency.  In their first home game of the season, Williams was benched by Martin early on against Wisconsin Milwaukee.  He didn’t come back into the game until late in the second half but he kept his head in the game.  When he did enter the game, he rallied his team to overtime and in extra regulation was a free throw shooting machine in the win over the Panthers.

Williams showed his physical resiliency by coming back and playing the next game after the scary incident at St John’s where a Red Storm player landed on him, resulting in a neck injury and an overnight stay in the hospital.

Williams again gave the Gamecocks a spark when they needed it.  He buried two straight three pointers which extended South Carolina’s lead back to double digits as they led now 35-21.  Jacksonville would briefly get the lead down to twelve points.  But that’s as close as the Dolphins would get the rest of the way.

The Gamecocks would outscore the Dolphins 22-7 over the last nine minutes to take a 57-30 lead at the half.   Carrera and Brian Richardson were already in double figures in scoring at the half.  Richardson would end up having a perfect night from beyond the arc, hitting all four of his three point attempts.

Earlier in the half during a media timeout, I was looking up into the rafters at all the banners.  I noticed a couple of Metro Conference championship banners.   Back in its heyday from the seventies to the early nineties, the Metro Conference was one of the premier basketball conferences with Louisville, Memphis, Cincinnati and Virginia Tech among its several schools. South Carolina was in the Metro from 1983-1991 before it left for the SEC.   The Metro merged with the Great Midwest to form Conference USA in 1995.   Just goes to show that conference realignment is not a recent fad and has been around for a long time.

In the second half, the game, to be honest, got ugly.   South Carolina, who looked so good on offense the first twenty minutes of the game, struggled to score.  In the first nine minutes, the Gamecocks only scored eleven points and didn’t score a basket for nearly six minutes.   Unfortunately for Jacksonville, the Dolphins only scored twelve points in the first nine minutes shooting four of fourteen during that time.  With eleven minutes left in the game, the Gamecocks were up 68-42.

Tempers started flaring during this time of ugly basketball.  A melee ensued at the South Carolina basket after a hard flagrant foul by Jacksonville’s Brian Powell with about fifteen and a half minutes left in the game.  Both teams were assessed double technical fouls.    It was also the start of unusual free throw drought for Ellington, who was a seventy seven percent free throw shooter last season, who missed four consecutive free throws.  

South Carolina would still be up by twenty six points, 89-63 after Williams hit his fourth three pointer of the game with two minutes left.  Martin would empty his bench from there putting in his reserves.  Jacksonville would make a late run due in part to some sloppy play by Martin’s bench and make the final score 91-72.

The Gamecocks had four players score in double figures led by Carrera’s nineteen points .  He just missed a double double with nine rebounds and had two blocks.  Richardson had a season high sixteen points.  Ellington had twelve points as did Williams, who had all his come from three pointers, as he shot four of five from beyond the arc.  Laimonas Chatkevicius added nine points while Eric Smith had seven assists and only one turnover.  The Gamecocks shot fifty five percent from the field and were ten of sixteen from beyond the arc.

With the win, the Gamecocks became “bowl eligible” at 6-3.  Their reward is to play in the Barclays Bowl in Brooklyn on December 22 to take on Manhattan (OK, they are just playing at the Barclays Center on December 22. It's not a bowl game, though it is part of a tripleheader).  Before that, they have a home game with Appalachian State on December 19 with an unusual start time of 5:00 PM.

Guess I am leaving work a few minutes early to catch the start of the 5:00 PM game at the Colonial Life Arena.  Good thing I can walk there.