The Stuff of Legends (Recap of Ole Miss v. South Carolina)

For about a decade, from 1966 to 1976, there was no more popular and successful sport on the campus of the University of South Carolina than the men's basketball team.  During that time period, the Gamecocks made the postseason six out of seven years.  The only time they didn't make the postseason in that span, the 1969-70 team went 14-0 in the ACC regular season and lost in the ACC Tournament championship game to North Carolina State in double overtime.

This weekend, South Carolina Athletics had a "Legends Weekend", mainly in part to celebrate the era of the late Frank McGuire, the all time leader in coaching wins for the Gamecocks with 283.  Many former players of McGuire, including Hall of Famer Alex English, longtime NBA guard Brian Winters, longtime NBA player and coach Mike Dunleavy, former Indiana Pacer and NBA first round pick Kevin Joyce were on hand for the legends weekend.

McGuire started his coaching career at St. John's after playing for the Red Storm.  He led the Johnnies to the Final Four in 1952.  Then he was hired by North Carolina to take over their program and in 1957, his undefeated Tar Heels won the National Championship, in a bit of later irony over Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain 54-53.   McGuire and Bobby Knight share the all time record for most wins without a loss at 32-0.   He stayed with North Carolina until 1961, when severe NCAA recruiting violations resulted in his resignation.  Dean Smith, McGuire's assistant coach, was named the new coach of the Tar Heels and we all know what happened from there.

McGuire would then coach the 1961-62 season in the NBA with the Philadelphia Warriors, led by Chamberlain. It would be under McGuire, the coach that defeated him for the 1957 NCAA Championship, that Chamberlain set the all time season average for points per game, averaging 50.4 points per game.

South Carolina, at that time in the ACC, then hired McGuire in 1962 to be the Gamecocks head coach. McGuire would take South Carolina to the NIT in his fifth season there. He then had an undefeated regular season championship in 1969-70 before losing the ACC Championship game in double overtime.  Amazingly back then, only one team from each conference made it to the NCAA Tournament, so the 25-3 Gamecocks not only didn't make the NCAA Tournament, they didn't make the NIT either.

McGuire finally led South Carolina to an ACC championship in 1970-1971, their final season in the ACC.  They would make the Sweet 16 that season.   The Gamecocks became an independent for several years, supposedly freeing themselves from apparently a repressive ACC.  In their first two seasons as an independent, the Gamecocks also made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, giving McGuire three seasons in a row with that accomplishment.  His 1973-74 team also made the NCAA Tournament, giving McGuire four NCAA Tournament successive seasons.

After the 73-74 season, McGuire's teams would make two NIT appearances.  He would have fourteen straight winning seasons up to his retirement in 1980.  As previously noted, McGuire would end up with 283 career wins for the Gamecocks, by far the most wins ever by a USC men's basketball head coach.   For all his accomplishments in basketball, he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1977 and to the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

McGuire was known for recruiting New York City metro area players and bringing them down to Columbia. Among them was Winters and Joyce, both from Archbishop Malloy in Jamaica, Queens, John Roche from LaSalle Academy in New York City, Tom Riker from St Dominic's in Oyster Bay, New York and Dunleavy from Nazareth Regional in Brooklyn.  McGuire also recruited Larry Brown from Long Beach in Long Island and Billy Cunningham from Brooklyn to play for him at North Carolina.

McGuire also did well to bring local talent to the Gamecocks, like Columbia native English and Casey Manning from Dillon, South Carolina.  Manning has been the radio analyst for Gamecocks' basketball broadcasts since 1994.  Manning also happens to be a local judge in South Carolina.

After his retirement in 1980, McGuire remained in Columbia, South Carolina until his death in 1994.  Several coaches came after McGuire, including Eddie Fogler and Dave Odom, both who were very successful in the previous positions respectively at Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.  Fogler took the Gamecocks to two NCAA Tournament appearances, Odom to one NCAA Tournament appearance and two NIT championships.

However, in the nearly thirty four years since McGuire retired, South Carolina has made a total of four NCAA Tournament appearances, the same number McGuire led the Gamecocks to in his tenure.  And the Gamecocks have had a losing record in six of the past seasons.

One of the main focus points of the Legends Weekend has been stressing the point of going from one "Frank M", Frank McGuire, to another "Frank M", Frank Martin.   Martin was hired away from Kansas State last season to restore the South Carolina glory days under McGuire.  In his first season, Martin suffered his first losing season ever as a head coach.  But in Frank McGuire's first two seasons at South Carolina, his teams had losing records.

In his second season, Martin has a very young team.  Entering the season, the Gamecocks only had two seniors, and one of them, Bruce Ellington, left after a few games to make himself eligible for the NFL draft. That left senior guard Brenton Williams along with junior transfer Tyrone Johnson, three sophomores and seven freshmen,   To make matters worse, Johnson fractured his foot in their most recent game vs. Texas A&M and is out indefinitely.

With such a young team, as a result, the Gamecocks have struggled.  Entering their game against Ole Miss, South Carolina was 7-9 and 0-3 in the SEC.  The main problem has been scoring and shooting the ball. The Gamecocks were at the bottom of the SEC in field goal percentage and assist to turnover ratio.  Their scoring margin is .8, which is last in the SEC as well.

Their opponent on Saturday was the Ole Miss Rebels, featuring the mercurial Marshall Henderson.  The Rebels came into the game 11-5 and 2-1 in the SEC.  Henderson, the team's leading scorer at nineteen plus points per game, may get all the attention, but he is hardly the Rebels' only good player.  Junior guard Jarvis Summers has been absolutely terrific, averaging eighteen points per game while shooting fifty one percent from the field, including fifty three percent from beyond the arc.  That's not a misprint.  He shoots hits fifty three percent of his three pointers.   Thus South Carolina had a large task facing the forty second highest scoring team in the country.

The South Carolina Athletic department did a really good job of advertising the Legends Weekend, including an autograph session with legends such as Alex English, Brian Winters and Mike Dunleavy before the game.  Also the first five thousand in attendance got a commemorative Frank McGuire placard along with a commemorative South Carolina Gamecocks Football placard, as the football team was being honored at halftime for their great season.

Thus when Matthew and I got to the game right as the doors opened at 3:00 PM, we were already in a long line waiting to go into the turnstiles.  It was a huge crowd, over 14,000 in attendance, easily the largest crowd for a game this season.  We decided to try to wait on line for autographs, but as you can see from the photo, it was a very, very long line and we never got a chance for autographs.

Before the game started, their was a ceremony honoring all the basketball legends that attended.  The biggest cheers were for the 1970's and 1960's players, since South Carolina had their best teams during that time.  Winters, Dunleavy and English got the biggest cheers from the crowd.  A student even had a giant Frank McGuire head to go along with the other giant heads in the student section.

The game started with the Rebels coming out strong in the first five and a half minutes. Henderson contributed a three pointer during this time while an Aaron Jones dunk gave Ole Miss a 12-4 lead.  Martin had seen enough after the Jones' dunk and called a timeout.

Off the timeout, Jaylen Shaw went to work for the Gamecocks. He would score all nine of South Carolina's points over the next five plus minutes.   He was part of the Gamecocks 18-6 run over the span of seven minutes.  A Michael Carrera dunk gave South Carolina a 22-18 lead.  The Gamecock crowd roared like it probably did in the old days of the Carolina Coliseum under McGuire.

After Ole Miss cut the lead down to three 24-21, South Carolina went on a 13-4 spurt over the next three plus minutes with freshman guard Sindarius Thornwell scoring five of those points.  Desmond Ringer hit two free throws to give the Gamecocks their largest lead, twelve points at 37-25.  But the Rebels' Anthony Perez, a constant thorn in the Gamecocks' side all game, hit a jumper to cut the lead to ten at the half.

At halftime, the football team was honored for their third straight 11-2 season.  Coach Steve Spurrier spoke and got his annual dig in at Clemson.  Jadeveon Clowney and Bruce Ellington, who received two huge BRUUUUCE cheers, spoke as well.  You can play the video to watch the halftime celebration.

In the first half, Brenton Williams and company did a really good job in holding Henderson to three points in the first twenty minutes.  Henderson was only one of eight from the field in the first half and looked very flustered.   But you can only keep a good scorer down for so long.

After Thornwell hit two free throws to put the Gamecocks back up twelve, 39-27 the Rebels responded with a 15-2 barrage over the next four plus minutes.  Of course, Henderson was in the middle of that run, scoring seven points in the span.  A Martavious Newby jumper put Ole Miss up one, 42-41.

Over the next several possessions, the Gamecocks and Rebels traded the lead several times. Thornwell buried a three to put the Gamecocks back up two, 44-42.  Summers responded with an old fashioned three point play to the Rebels back up one, 45-44.  After another Thornwell three pointer put South Carolina back up two, 47-45, Henderson buried a three pointer to give Ole Miss a 48-47 lead.

Laimonas Chatkevicius, who might have had his best offensive game of the season, put the Gamecocks back up one, 49-48, but Perez hit a jumper again to put the Rebels back up 50-49.  After Chatkevicus hit another shot to put South Carolina up 51-50, Henderson hit two free throws to put Ole Miss up 52-51 with about twelve minutes left in the game.

The game had been another foul fest, which thanks to the NCAA rules, I had seen several times this season.  Both teams combined for fifty six fouls and seventy three foul shot attempts on the game.  But when you have ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FOUR teams, or basically half of all NCAA Division I Men's Basketball teams averaging twenty fouls or more per game, this is what you're going to get on a nightly basis.  Lots of questionable ticky tack fouls that wouldn't have been called last season, lots of stoppages in play and a lot of angry fans, especially in my section.

As a result, games often come down to now free throw shooting.  And in the second half, the Gamecocks missed more than their share of free throws.  After Henderson had hit his two free throws to put the Rebels up 52-51, Thornwell had a chance at the charity stripe to put the Gamecocks back up one.  But he missed both free throws.  After Perez nailed two free throws to put the Rebels up three, Thornwell did respond with a three pointer to tie the game at fifty four.

The teams would go back and forth over the next couple of minutes.  Summers put the Rebels up 60-58 with two free throws.  Thornwell had a chance to tie the game with two free throws, but only hit one of two as the Gamecocks were down one, 60-59.

Around this time my iPhone battery ran low and I couldn't give Twitter updates the rest of the game. Just my luck as Thornwell's made free throw was the start of a 8-1 mini spurt by South Carolina as Duane Notice hit a jumper to put the Gamecocks up 66-61 with four and a half minutes left.

The problem was that the Gamecocks missed SIX free throws, including the front end of a one and one by Carrera, during this spurt that could have put them up easily by double digits.  Thornwell missed two, Demetrius Henry missed two and Duane Notice and Carrera each missed one.

In a close game against a good team like Ole Miss, you can't give away easy scoring opportunities like that and expect to win.  The Rebels made the Gamecocks pay with a 10-2 spurt over two and a half minutes. Ole Miss made all four of their free throw attempts during that span and a Perez three pointer off a missed assignment by Mindaugas Kacinas (which resulted in Martin "teaching lesson") gave the Rebels a 71-68 lead.

Another key factor in the game was the off shooting day by Williams for the Gamecocks.  He would miss all ten of his field goal attempts on the day, including a potential game tying three point attempt that would have tied the game.  Summers would hit two free throws with just under a minute left and the Rebels had now outscored the Gamecocks 12-2 in the past three and a half minutes to go up 73-68.

But the Gamecocks would rally, with a lot of help from the Rebels.  While Henderson and LaDarius White only hit two of their four free throw attempts, Carrera and Thornwell would hit three of their four free throw attempts to cut the Rebels' lead to four 75-71 with twenty five seconds left.  With a chance to put the game away, Summers missed both of his free throws to give the Gamecocks a little life with twelve seconds left.

Then inexplicably, Ole Miss' DaMarco Cox fouled Williams on a three point attempt with six seconds left.  Williams hit the first two free throws, which setup an interesting decision by Martin.  Should Williams miss the final free throw and setup a possible offensive rebound and a potential game tying or winning shot, or have Williams hit the third free throw and hope they can steal the inbounds pass?

Martin wisely chose the latter and setup his defense.  Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy had Henderson inbound the ball. But he could not get off a pass and called timeout.  After both teams traded timeouts, Henderson again struggled to inbound the ball and fired an errant pass to midcourt.  Williams grabbed the ball for South Carolina and appeared to call timeout with 5.8 seconds left but didn't get the timeout.  He dribbled up the court and the ball bounced off a Rebel out of bounds with 1.8 seconds left.  They got the ball to Thornwell, their best scorer but his off balance three hit the front of the rim as the buzzer sounded.  Ole Miss survived with a 75-74 win.

Simply put the Gamecocks' loss came down to a lack of shooting.  Despite ten more offensive rebounds and eleven more shot attempts, the Gamecocks only hit one more field goal than the Rebels, 22-21, and shot only thirty six percent from the field.  South Carolina also struggled from the free throw line in the second half, missing ten of twenty four free throw attempts while Ole Miss was twenty one of twenty six from the charity stripe in the second half.

Thornwell led all scorers with twenty four points and had a double double on the night as he added eleven rebounds.  Chatkevicius was the only other Gamecock in double figures scoring with twelve points. Williams added nine points, all from the line as he was a perfect nine for nine. Williams has missed only one free throw the entire season.  Shaw added all his nine points in that early first half run but didn't score the rest of the game. The Gamecocks fell to 7-10 and 0-4 in the SEC.

The Rebels showed much better scoring balance as Perez led Ole Miss with twenty two points. Summers and Henderson each had nineteen points.  Henderson scored sixteen second half points and was booed every time he got the ball during the game.  The Rebels are now 12-5 overall and 3-1 in the SEC

It was a tough, tough loss for Coach Martin and the Gamecocks.  But they showed they could hang with the defending SEC Tournament champions, a team that made it to the third round of the NCAA Tournament last season.  South Carolina needs to shoot better from the field and the line and they are probably a scoring wing and dominant defensive post player away from contending in the SEC.

But in front of a very large crowd, they provided a ray of hope that perhaps this Frank M can recapture the winning ways of the previous Frank M.  If so, 14,000 plus crowds will become the norm instead of the exception at Colonial Life Arena.   Or as Steve Spurrier said it best at halftime, hopefully the football team will have the basketball team at halftime of their game real soon.

Frank McGuire would have approved of that.

Without Ellington, Gamecocks Struggle in Win over Bulldogs (Recap of SC State vs. South Carolina)

Bruce Ellington came to the University of South Carolina on a basketball scholarship.  After his first season with the Gamecocks, Ellington decided that he wanted to play football as well.  So for each of the past three seasons, he would play football for Steve Spurrier and then play for the basketball team, first under Darrin Horn, then under Frank Martin.

Including three games this season, Ellington averaged eleven points per game as a starting guard for South Carolina over his four seasons.  But over the past two football seasons, Ellington became a star wide receiver for the Gamecocks.  In their Capital One Bowl win over Wisconsin, he had six catches for one hundred and forty yards and two touchdowns.  He even threw for a third touchdown to Connor Shaw in South Carolina's 34-24 win.

Despite his amazing two sport prowess, it had become evident that Ellington's future was in football, not basketball.  Ellington had forty nine catches for eight hundred yards and eight touchdowns this season. He has been timed running a 4.34 in the 40 yard dash.  In the bowl win over the Badgers, Ellington's basketball skills came into play as he showed great hands in tipping and ultimately catching what appeared to be an overthrown pass by Shaw on a huge fourth down and seven play for a twenty two yard completion and a first down.  The Gamecocks ultimately scored a touchdown on that drive by Ellington, on another twenty two yard pass from Shaw.

Having season tickets this season to Gamecocks' football, I can tell you, as many others would attest, that Ellington has shown all football season the knack for getting open and making the big catch.  He is clutch as a wide receiver can be in college football.  Ellington is definitely someone you will see on TV on Sunday afternoons.

So with all that in mind, the senior Ellington declared for the NFL draft on Friday morning, which effectively ended his college basketball career.  Martin was very understanding of Ellington's decision stating in an article by David Cloninger on Go Gamecocks.Com, "Whatever he does, he’s got a friend for life in me. The commitment that he’s made to this program is unparalleled, at least in my time here.”

With Ellington now solely concentrating on his NFL draft position, several of the Gamecock guards now were going to play more and needed to step up their game.  They had an immediate first test on Friday night as South Carolina welcomed South Carolina State to the Colonial Life Arena.

My wife dropped my older son Matthew off with me at work at the University so that I didn't have to go home and pick him up for the game.  After finding "The Thirsty Fellow" to be too crowded, we walked over to the arena.  Shortly before I left work, the director of IT who works for me, who knew I was going to the game, noted that it was going to be a cold night to walk to the arena.  I noted to him that it wasn't as cold or blizzard like as it was on Friday in New York, where I had just come back from Christmas vacation.

Now a quick note - It seems I may have ruffled a few feathers here in South Carolina with my article "The Things I Miss This Time of Season", where I noted that some of the things that I miss are the close proximity of NYC basketball games as opposed to longer drives in South Carolina, as well as the camaraderie I had at Hofstra.  It was not my intention at all to be negative about my experience in South Carolina.

Now having lived in South Carolina for a year and five months, there are several things I don't miss about New York.  First, no snow, certainly not any blizzards in South Carolina.  Second, it's much less colder here.  Though I lived on Long Island for forty six years and my family is from western Pennsylvania, I hate cold winters.   Also, I don't miss the stressful pace, the taxes and "The Fast and Furious" drivers in New York.  Here in Columbia, I really like my job, I like the slower pace and definitely much less taxes, along with a ten month baseball season (Matthew REALLY likes that).  Finally, the people here are very friendly and if anything, the drivers are too slow. It's been a much welcome change.

Now back to the article.  When I first saw Matthew, I noticed he was wearing his Bruce Ellington basketball jersey over a long sleeve shirt.  Ellington became Matthew's favorite player during last season. During our walk, I told Matthew the bad news that Ellington would be no longer playing basketball.  He understood, having seen Ellington in person with me for a couple of football games this season as well as watching him on television.  Later on in the arena, after we grabbed our dinner at the concession stand and ate at our seats.  Matt asked me if #4, Tyrone Johnson was still on the team.  I laughed and said "Yes."  Matt had his new favorite player in the junior transfer from Villanova.

The Gamecocks were hosting a Bulldogs team that nearly had an identical record, 4-8, as they did last season when they faced South Carolina around the same time (4-9).  The Bulldogs only lost by eleven last year and returned two of their best players, forward Matthew Hezekiah, who had a double double against the Gamecocks last season with twenty four points and fourteen rebounds, along with forward Darryl Palmer.  SC State is coming off a two game sweep of Coastal Carolina this season, winning its last game on the road over the Chanticleers 68-58.

Before last night, the last South Carolina home game I saw before heading up to New York for Christmas vacation was the Gamecocks' loss to USC Upstate, after they had blown a 32-16 first half lead.  The Gamecocks were 2-5 after that loss and appeared to be struggling with their identity.  Since then, South Carolina has played far better.  They won two out of three games at the Diamond Head Classic, defeating two NCAA Tournament teams from last season, St Mary's and Akron.  Then facing the Zips again at home, the Gamecocks destroyed them, winning by thirty three, 78-45.  They followed that up by pounding Marshall 92-65.  In their last four wins, the Gamecocks have shot nearly forty eight percent from the field and nearly forty seven percent from beyond the arc.

The Gamecocks' resurgence can be attributed to several things.  One, Brenton Williams has come alive. Williams, South Carolina's leading scorer from last season, struggled at the outset of the season. In five of his first eight games, he failed to score in double digits.  In fact, in three of those games, he didn't even score a point. Going into Friday night, Williams had scored in double figures in each of his last four games, averaging
seventeen points per game and hitting a ridiculous thirteen of twenty five shots from beyond the arc.

Another key player during this stretch has been freshman guard Duane Notice.  Notice has emerged as the starter at point guard as Johnson now comes off the bench. After failing to score in double figures in his first seven games, Notice entered Friday night scoring in double digits in four of the last five games.  More importantly, Notice has had six assists in each of his last two games.

Unfortunately, there were not a lot of people out Friday night to see the revitalized Gamecocks.  Colonial Life was very empty on the evening, with an announced attendance of 7,500, but it seemed less than that.  Whether it was still a hangover from winning the Capital One Bowl or too many people stayed up the night before enjoying seeing perennial SEC football powerhouse Alabama get upset by Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, the crowd seemed subdued at the start of the game. There was only what amounted to a polite golf clap by the fans in my section during starting lineup introductions.

The Gamecocks started out quickly with Williams and Notice each hitting a jumper followed by Notice hitting one of two free throws for a 5-0 lead.  The Bulldogs responded, scoring four of the next five points to cut the lead to two, 6-4.  But Notice and Williams each hit a three pointer to put South Carolina up 12-4.  But SC State again would cut the lead, scoring the next four points to make it 12-8.

The Gamecocks responded with a 15-7 spurt. Demetrius Henry scored four straight points to start the run.  Then Laimonas Chatkevicius scored three straight baskets to end the run, the last of which put South Carolina up 27-15 with 8:28 left in the half.

The Gamecocks' lead would stay in the eleven to thirteen point range for nearly the next seven minutes.  Williams would extend the lead to fifteen on a three pointer to put South Carolina up 44-29 with ninety seconds left in the half.  But some teams can't stand prosperity and the Gamecocks allowed the Bulldogs to score two baskets before the half to cut the lead to eleven 44-33 at the half.

Long before the game started, we were one of the few people in our seats and someone from the South Carolina Athletics marketing department came up to us asking Matthew if he would like to be in the regular halftime trivia game shown on the big scoreboard.  The game consists of naming as many items in a specified category, like NBA teams, musical acts etc. within 15 seconds (or maybe it's ten, I forget).  Then a recording of a Gamecocks player asked the same question is played.  Whoever gets more is the winner.

Having seen the game before, Matthew, being somewhat shy, turned down the offer, afraid that he might know enough items in the category (they don't let you know until the trivia game starts).  I tried to convince him to do it and that there was nothing to lose.  But Matthew refused and the marketing person went and found someone else.  It turned out the category was "superheroes".  Matthew rolled his eyes when that was announced, due to his love of superhero cartoons.

The start of the second half ended much like the first. Theron Stephens buried two three pointers in a row for the Bulldogs to cut the lead to five, 44-39.  After two Henry baskets and two Sindarius Thornwell free throws extended the Gamecocks' lead back to eight, 50-42, SC State responded with an 8-1 spurt to cut the lead to one, 51-50.   As my friend Ian McCormick, who joined us in the second half, had noted at halftime, the Gamecocks had let the Bulldogs hang around.  Now they were paying for it.

South Carolina did score seven of the next nine points.  Two Johnson free throws with under ten minutes left put the Gamecocks up 58-52.  However, emboldened by their fans behind the bench, SC State went on a 8-2 spurt.  A Devon joint dunk tied the game at sixty with seven minutes left.

It was here that the Colonial Life crowd woke up.  Whether it was seeing the Bulldogs' fans emphatically cheer on their team in what had been a quiet arena or whether they wanted their team to continue on their winning ways, the Gamecocks' fans got loud and got into the game.  South Carolina responded by scoring eight of the next nine points.  A Thornwell three pointer started the run and Williams capped it with a layup and one to put South Carolina up to stay 68-61 with 5:17 left.

What made this run impressive was that Williams was not just shooting three pointers, which he does very well.  In the second half, Williams used a shot fake and his quickness several times which allowed him to get driving layups to the basket.  On Friday night, he was a scorer, not just a shooter.

Despite Hezekiah scoring the last twelve Bulldogs points, SC State would get no closer than five points the rest of the way and South Carolina would win 82-75.  The Gamecocks are now 7-6 heading into SEC conference play.

Williams led four Gamecocks' scorers in double figures and all scorers with nineteen points as he was six of seven from the field, two of three from beyond the arc and once again, a perfect five for five from the free throw line.  Williams is a perfect thirty for thirty from the line this season.

Johnson came off the Gamecocks' bench to add seventeen points, Notice had thirteen points and Henry had his first career double double with ten points and eleven rebounds.  South Carolina shot exactly fifty percent from the field and was seven of fifteen from beyond the arc.

Hezekiah led the Bulldogs with eighteen points.  Stephens added fifteen points and Palmer had ten points for SC State.  The Bulldogs had seventeen offensive rebounds.

Frank Martin was not pleased with his team's effort, noting "We got totally outplayed. We had no business winning today. I think the only reason we won today was we had played well coming into this game, so we felt that we should win."

Martin knows that his team can't afford to sleepwalk in SEC conference play.  However, his team is shooting the ball much better than the beginning of the season and has embraced driving to the basket more.  Plus the emergence of Notice and the reemergence of Williams has sparked the Gamecocks.

Losing Ellington for the rest of the season hurts, but he was in his final year of eligibility for the basketball team.  This team is now truly in the hands of players like Notice, Johnson, Thornwell, Henry and Williams. What they make of the rest of the season is entirely up to them.

Gamecocks' Struggles Continue (Recap of USC Upstate vs. South Carolina)

After their eighteen point loss to Manhattan at home Tuesday night, which was their second double digit loss in a row, you thought things could not get worse for South Carolina.  Then yesterday afternoon, word came out that Michael Carrera was suspended for the afternoon game vs. USC Upstate, due to a "post-game altercation".  Carrera had just finally got going for the Gamecocks, scoring ten points in the second half vs. the Jaspers.  The Carrera suspension turned out to be a harbinger for the game against the Spartans.

South Carolina definitely knew their opponent was capable of winning on the road.  USC Upstate won their first game of the season at Virginia Tech 64-63.  The 5-5 Spartans also had neutral site wins over Niagara and Western Carolina.  They lost only by nine points at Tennessee.  Plus the Spartans had three players that averaged in double figures; Torrey Craig, Ty Greene and Ricardo Glenn, who combined average nearly forty five points and fifteen rebounds per game.

Perhaps Frank Martin thought his team might better respond to the Manhattan loss if they were the road team. So he had his Gamecocks dress in road black while USC Upstate wore the home whites.

The road uniforms did not bring any luck early in the contest as it seemed that there was a giant lid on both baskets.  After six plus minutes, USC Upstate was only up 5-4.   Each team missed on nine of their first eleven shots.   The Gamecocks also had three turnovers in the span of forty seconds.

Finally, South Carolina got going on a three pointer by Sindarius Thornwell.  It was the start of a 13-1 run for the Gamecocks.  A Laimonas Chatkevicius tip in put South Carolina up 17-6.  During that stretch, Chatkevicius, Thornwell and Duane Notice combined for all thirteen points.

After a couple of Craig free throws cut the lead to nine, the Gamecocks responded with another spurt.  South Carolina buried three shots from beyond the arc in a five and a half minute period, with Brenton Williams hitting two three pointers.  Mindaugas Kacinas hit one of two free throws to cap the 16-8 run as the Gamecocks went up 33-16 with 4:51 left in the half.

Just then I was about to type the following tweet on @gmoore21566 - "I know USC Upstate won at Virginia Tech.  But based on the first 15 minutes, I cannot see how they did."   And it was due in large part to the Spartans horrible shot selection.   Greene, the Spartans' second leading scorer missed all four of his three point attempts.  Craig was taking wild shots, which obviously were also not falling.

But still I thought better of sending the tweet because a) basketball is a game of runs and b) South Carolina has shown a propensity to go into a major scoring funk and give up early leads (see Manhattan).

I was so glad I held off on that tweet.   Over the last four minutes, the Spartans went on a 17-4 run.  Ricardo Glenn was getting easy looks inside for layups while Craig, Fred Miller and Karim Mawuenyega nailed three pointers.   Meanwhile, the Gamecocks missed nine of their eleven shots during that period of time and Thornwell added two turnovers to boot.  South Carolina stumbled to the half only up four, 37-33.

There were two underlying problems brewing for the Gamecocks at halftime.  First, the South Carolina bigs had foul trouble. Desmond Ringer and Demetrius Henry each picked up two quick fouls and Chatkevicius picked up three fouls.  With Carrera already out, the Gamecocks had only one forward not in foul trouble, Kacinas and he was the smallest of all their forwards.

Second, the Spartans were only down four, despite not getting any production from their second leading scorer.  Greene, who came into the game averaging fifteen points per game, was scoreless in the first twenty minutes.  Glenn, who had ten first half points and Craig with nine, made up for the lack of production from Greene, who seemingly graduated from the John Starks School of Shooting ("If you miss several times, no matter how ugly, keep on shooting").

The Gamecocks started out well in the second half with Ellington burying a three to put his team up seven.  Later, Tyrone Johnson added two free throws to extend the South Carolina lead to eight, 42-34 with fifteen minutes left in the game.  It looked like that maybe Frank Martin's team had weathered the Spartans' big run.

But then in the span of minute, Henry picked up two fouls, giving him four on the game.  Then Ringer, who had already picked up his third foul two minutes into the second half,  picked up his fourth foul with a little under thirteen minutes left. Chatkevicius would pick up his fourth foul four minutes later.  Outside of Kacinas, the whole Gamecock front court was in serious foul trouble.

And the Spartans took advantage, going on a 12-3 run over the next four minutes.  Greene started the scoring, hitting his first basket of the game, a three pointer.  The rest of the USC Upstate points were scored on layups.  A ShunQuez Stephens layup put the Spartans up 46-45.

The Gamecocks regained the lead on a Thornwell jumper, then two Johnson free throws put them up three, 49-46.  The Spartans answered with a Mawuenyega three and a free throw each by Miller and Stephens to go up 51-49.  Williams and Thornwell responded with three free throws and the Gamecocks were back up one, 52-51 with seven and a half minutes left.

But the Spartans three leading scorers on the season, Craig, Greene and Glenn would combine forces to put the game away for USC Upstate.  Glenn, having his way inside with all the Gamecock foul trouble, hit a layup to put the Spartans up to stay, 53-52.  It was the start of a 10-2 spurt that ended with an emphatic Craig putback dunk with a little under five minutes left to give USC Upstate a 61-54 lead.

The Gamecocks tried to rally, cutting the deficit to two, 63-61 on an Ellington three pointer with a little over three minutes left.  But Greene responded with a three pointer of his own to put the Spartans up five.  After Thornwell hit another jumper to cut the lead to three, the Gamecocks forced a turnover.  With a chance to tie the game, Ellington missed an open corner three.

The Spartans would not score on their next possession and two Johnson free throws got the lead down to one, 66-65 with 1:21 left.  But the Gamecocks again could not stop the Spartans from scoring inside.  Miller hit a layup and one, then hit the foul shot to put USC Upstate up four, 69-65.   The Gamecocks had three chances to cut into the Spartans lead, but they missed on all three of their shots behind the arc.

When Miller broke free on an inbounds play for a dunk, that sealed the game for USC Upstate, who went on to win 74-68 to give the Gamecocks their second home non-conference loss in a row.  The Gamecocks only lost one non conference home game all last season.

Glenn was a force inside for the Spartans.  He had a double double, scoring 21 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and added five assists.  He shot eight of twelve from the floor as the Gamecocks had no answer for him.  Craig added thirteen points. Miller and Greene each had ten points, with all of Greene's points coming in the second half.

Thornwell led the Gamecocks with nineteen points, Johnson added eleven and Ellington and Williams each had eight points.  The four players combined to shoot an ugly 14 of 46, including 7 of 27 from beyond the arc. South Carolina shot thirty three percent from the field and also committed twenty four fouls, two days after committing twenty three fouls vs. Manhattan.

My friend Ian McCormick, known as HPUFAN on Twitter, sat with me during the second half.  He appropriately tweeted  in the second half  "If you can't handle Upstate's big men, just wait for SEC play."  And that summed up the game yesterday.  The Gamecocks big men could not handle Glenn, who coming into yesterday's contest had only been averaging six rebounds per game.

Having watched Martin's team the past two seasons, the Gamecocks remind me somewhat of Tom Pecora's team in his second season at Hofstra.  His Hofstra teams went a combined 19-40 and in fact he had less wins in his second season, eight, than his first, eleven.  But it was a young team and in his third season, the turnaround began with fourteen wins and an above .500 record in conference. Then in the next three seasons, Hofstra won a combined sixty nine games and made three straight NITs.

Of course the ultimate goal is to make the NCAA Tournament, not the NIT.  But the main goal is to turn the program around.  Dawn Staley's teams won a combined twenty four games the first two seasons.  Look at where the Gamecock Women's Basketball team is now.

Martin and the Gamecock fan base will need to be patient.  As John Hiatt might say, sometimes it's "A slow turnin.  But you come about."

Fouls, Free Throws and Jaspers - Oh My! (Recap of Manhattan vs. South Carolina)

A lot has been made of the new NCAA rules concerning fouls now being called on hand checks as well as the change in what is a charge as opposed to a block.  Fouls are up considerably in Division I basketball.  As of today, one hundred and seventy four teams are averaging twenty fouls or more per game.  Last season, only twenty nine teams averaged twenty fouls per game or more.  That's a difference of ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE teams.

I had noted this in a previous article two weeks ago.  The number of teams that are averaging twenty or more fouls per game has not changed.  Most teams on average have now played ten games, which is nearly one third of the season.  So the idea that teams will adjust to the new rules (see Jay Bilas), well, that's not happened yet.  Not by a Dominick Mejia three point attempt (that one was for Dan Crain).

One of those coaches struggling to adapt to the rules is Manhattan coach Steve Masiello.  He was quoted recently as agreeing with Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo about the "three yards and a cloud of dust" offense Izzo believes his Spartans should play now;

"Tom Izzo said it best. I believe his quote, I don't want to misquote him, but he said after the Barclays Center games that he's going to just tell his players to drive in, create contact, throw the basketball up and worry about foul shooting, because it's taking away defensive advantages for schemes and scouting purposes. I have to learn the rules better and try to do a better job, and I'll do that. If you ask me how I feel, just take Tom Izzo's article, whatever he said, I agree. Steve Masiello agrees with Coach Izzo."

Manhattan averages five more fouls per game than they did last season; twenty six fouls this season compared to twenty one last season.  Yet the Jaspers have so far overcome the new rules/additional fouls and entered last night's game vs. South Carolina with a 7-2 record.  A lot of that has to do with the return of redshirt senior guard George Beamon, who came into the game averaging 20.7 points per game.   Beamon received a medical redshirt for his fifth season after he was injured for most of last season.

Meanwhile, the Gamecocks had not played a game in eleven days since their twenty seven point drubbing on the road at the hands of Oklahoma State.   What made matters worse for Coach Frank Martin is that his young team, which consists of seven freshmen and three sophomores, had only played five games so far this season, the second fewest in Division I basketball.

The Gamecocks came out strong as they jumped out to an early 10-4 lead, as Bruce Ellington scored five quick points for South Carolina.  The Gamecocks didn't seem rusty at all at the beginning of the game, hitting four of their first five shots.

But the Jaspers responded with an 8-0 spurt, due in large part to forcing three Gamecocks' turnovers in that span. Rich Williams and Michael Alvarado each had three point plays to help put Manhattan up 12-10.  The Jaspers would extend the lead to four, 18-14 with about twelve and a half minutes left in the first half.

The Gamecocks would respond with a 7-0 run as guard Tyrone Johnson would score five of those points, including a free throw after an intentional foul was called on Emmy Andujar.  The Gamecocks would go up 21-18.   After Beamon tied the game with a three pointer, Johnson hit another two free throws to put South Carolina back up 23-21.

During this time, the fouls were mounting up for Manhattan.  In the first seven and a half minutes, the Jaspers already had eight fouls.  Rich Williams would pick up three fouls in the first half alone.  And with seven minutes left in the half, Beamon picked up his second foul and went to the bench with the game tied at twenty eight.

Just when Gamecock fans thought their team could take advantage of Beamon's absence on the court, the foul situation turned in favor of the Jaspers.   Manhattan would score their next eight points all on free throws; four from Donovan Kates and four from Alvarado.  Shane Richards would then bury a three pointer and Alvarado put the icing on a 11-2 run with a dunk to put the Jaspers up 41-30 with three and a half minutes left.

During this three and a half minute period, South Carolina went ice cold from the field as well as from the free throw line.  The Gamecocks only hit one of six field goal attempts and missed on three straight free throws before Tyrone Johnson hit the second of two free throws to cut the lead to ten 41-31.

Manhattan would actually extend the lead to thirteen before taking an eleven point lead into halftime, 45-34.  Alvarado picked up the scoring burden for the Jaspers with fourteen points, as well as adding three assists in the first half.  The Jaspers outscored the Gamecocks 17-6 over the last seven minutes of the first half with Beamon on the bench during that time.  Twelve of those seventeen Manhattan points came courtesy of the free throw line.

Rich Williams started the second half with a layup to put Manhattan up thirteen, 47-34.  South Carolina responded by scoring seven straight points to cut the lead to six, 47-41.  After Alvarado hit one of two free throws, Sindarius Thornwell hit two free throws to cut the deficit to five, 48-43.  The  Jaspers continued to be plagued by fouls, committing six in the first four and a half minutes into the second half, with Williams picking up his fourth foul during this time.  It looked like the Gamecocks were going to rally all the way back with help from the charity stripe.

But Manhattan was undeterred by their foul situation.  The Jaspers would score the next seven straight points as Alvarado buried a three, Andujar would add two free throws and an assist on Beamon's layup.  Masiello's club was back up twelve, 55-43 with 13:46 left.

South Carolina would not quit as Carrera and Thornwell combined to score all of South Carolina's points in a Gamecock 10-3 spurt to cut the deficit to five again, 58-53 with eleven and half minutes left in the game.  Carrera (10 points second half) and Thornwell (14 points second half) both came on strong in the second half after a quiet first half for each of them (Carrera and Thornwell combined for three points in the first half).

But two free throws by Kates and a three by Beamon put Manhattan back up by double digits, 63-53.  South Carolina would get within eight twice, the second time 65-57 with nine and a half minutes left in the game on a jumper by Carrera.

But what Carrera gave the Gamecocks, he would take away on the next possession, fouling Beamon on a three point field goal attempt.  Beamon calmly sank all three free throws to put the Jaspers back up by double digits, 68-57.  South Carolina would get no closer the rest of the contest, or more appropriately, the foul fest, as Manhattan won going away 86-68.

There were FIFTY THREE fouls called in the game, thirty on Manhattan, twenty three on South Carolina.  Two players fouled out; Ashton Pankey for the Jaspers, Mindaugas Kacinas for the Gamecocks.  A combined six other players on both sides had four fouls each.   Much of the eighteen point margin came from the free throw line.  Manhattan only had one more free throw attempt than South Carolina, 39 to 38.  But the Jaspers shot an excellent 34 of 39 from the line (eighty seven percent) while the Gamecocks were only 22 of 38 from the charity stripe (fifty eight percent).

The Jaspers excelled on the defensive end with eleven steals and nine blocks.  Beamon had four steals and Pankey and Rhamel Brown each had four blocks for Manhattan.  What helped the Jaspers deal with the fouls was their bench strength, as nine players were on the floor for at least eleven minutes.  In fact, starter Rich Williams only played seven minutes due to foul trouble.  He made the most of those seven minutes with nine points.

Beamon led all scorers with twenty five points.  He had eighteen points in the second half, two of which came on a really sweet floater that would have made Loren Stokes proud.  Beamon also had five rebounds to go with his twenty five points and four steals.  Alvarado made a great Pippen to Beamon's Jordan with twenty points and six assists.

Thornwell led the Gamecocks with seventeen points.  Johnson added twelve points, eleven of which came in the first half.  Carrera added ten points for South Carolina.  Brenton Williams, the team's leading scorer from last season, only played six minutes and was held scoreless.

Manhattan plays one more non conference game this Saturday vs. Buffalo at the Barclays Center before going back into MAAC conference play.  Meanwhile, South Carolina has a quick turnaround with a 4:00 PM game at home on Thursday at home before traveling to Hawaii to play three games in the Diamond Head Classic, with their first game against St Mary's on December 22.

Here's hoping that both teams start adjusting more to the free throw rules.  Fifty three fouls and fifty six points on free throws are two numbers that you don't often see in a basketball game.   And that's just too much stoppage in play for a game that prides itself on end to end action.