Gamecocks Continue to Build on Their Season With a Win Over Drexel

If you live around or work in downtown Columbia, South Carolina, you know there is a lot of construction going on in the city.   Lots of new student housing is being built, along with a new law school.  Finally around the Colonial Life Arena, there is the Innovista Greene Street Corridor project, which looks to turn Greene Street into a more friendly area for pedestrians and bicyclists.

So it stands to reason that inside Colonial Life Arena, there's a lot of building going on as well, as in Frank Martin building a successful men's basketball program.  In Martin's first three seasons, the Gamecocks have slowly improved.  In 2012-13, they were 14-18 and 4-14 in the SEC. In 2013-14, the Gamecocks went 14-20 and 5-13 in the SEC, but they also knocked off Auburn and Arkansas to make the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.  Last season, South Carolina finished over .500 for the first time since the 2008-09 season.  The Gamecocks went 17-16 and 6-12 in the SEC.  They won two games again in the SEC Tournament before losing to Georgia in the SEC quarterfinals.

This season, Martin's Gamecocks are off to their best record since the 1970-71 team that made the NCAA Sweet Sixteen (back when it was incredibly difficult to make the NCAA Tournament).  That 1970 Gamecocks team was coached by the legendary Frank McGuire and had terrific players like John Roche, Tom Owens, Kevin Joyce and Tom Riker.

There are several reasons for the Gamecocks' terrific start.  One, balanced scoring.  They have five players averaging in double figures scoring; Mindaugas Kacinas 13.3 ppg, Laimonas Chatkevicius 13.0 ppg, Michael Carrera 12.2 ppg, Sindarius Thornwell 11.7 ppg and Duane Notice 11.6 ppg.  Second, they have depth.  The Gamecocks have added two terrific freshman in PJ Dozier and Chris Silva.   Throw in sophomore Marcus Stroman and you have eight players that average fifteen or more minutes per game.  Third, they have increased their average points per game by nineteen points from the previous season.  Entering the game against Drexel Tuesday night, South Carolina was averaging 84 points per game.

I had seen two of the Gamecocks' games on CBS Sports Network in the Paradise Jam; the 94-84 semifinal win over Hofstra and the 83-75 win over Tulsa.  In the ten point win over the Pride, despite Hofstra hitting a school record seventeen 3 pointers and shooting fifty percent from the field, South Carolina shot 54 percent from the field and had eighteen offensive rebounds, which led to eleven more field goal attempts than Hofstra.  The Gamecocks had shown much better ball movement in both their Paradise Jam games than I had seen any Martin coached team since he came to Columbia in 2012.

Drexel on the other hand had struggled entering the game on Tuesday night vs. South Carolina, having lost six of their first seven games.  In fact the Dragons only won their first game of the season in their previous game, a 66-53 win over LaSalle.  Outside of a nineteen point loss to UNC Asheville in the Great Alaska Shootout, Drexel had been within single digits in all of their other losses.

Under Bruiser Flint, the Dragons have been long known for a defensive style of game.  They try to slow the pace, work the clock on offense, play physical, rebound the ball and keep opponents within the sixty point range. To Colonial Athletic Conference fans, aka #CAAHoops fans, everywhere, they are known for rock fight basketball, often ugly to watch low scoring games.   In fact, the Dragons have not averaged seventy or more points per game since the 2004-05 season when Phil Goss, Sean Brooks and Dominick Mejia were leading Drexel.  Scott Bier has an excellent take on Dragons Speak what Drexel needs to do to adapt to the new NCAA rules.

The problem is with the new freedom of movement rules in the NCAA, unlike the Gamecocks, the Dragons seem to be set in their ways.  After last night's game. they average sixty eight points per game and are only shooting forty percent from the field and thirty two percent from beyond the arc.  And they are fouling like mad.  Their FTA/FGA defense is 350th in the nation at 59.6.

After I purchased a ticket at the ticket office in the lower level of Colonial Life Arena, I met up briefly with my good friend Mike Brodsky who flew down to see the game.   We caught up a bit and then I headed to my seat up in Section 104.   Not quite as good as my women's basketball season tickets, but a perfectly fine view for the game.   I also got to catch up with fellow former Mid Majority 800 Games Project writer and friend Ian McCormick, whose excellent photography work will come into play later in this article.

Unlike the crowd of 13,000 plus at Sunday's women's game, there was about 8500 fans in the seats on Tuesday night.   Mind you, USC is on winter break so seemingly the only students there was the band, the cheerleaders and the dance team.  Plus the men's team is not anywhere the #2 ranked women have been for the past several years so the fan base is slowly warming up to this team.

The game started out in classic Drexel CAA rockfight fashion.  It took only nine seconds for the Dragons to pick up their first foul and then another nine seconds later, they had their second foul, a foul of a three point attempt by Dozier.  Dozier then hit two out of three free throws, a harbinger of things to come, to start the scoring for the game.  South Carolina went out to an early 6-2 lead before Drexel scored the next seven points, including a Rashann London three pointer to go up 9-6. The Gamecocks responded to take back the lead 10-9 on, what else, two Thornwell free throws.

The game was briefly stopped after Rodney Williams was injured on a play by the announcers table.  Two Drexel teammates had to help a limping Williams off the court.   He would appear on the bench in the second half but not play again.

After Sammy Mojica buried one of his three 3-pointers on the night to put Drexel back up 12-10, the teams did not score a basket for the next two plus minutes  Mojica would hit a jumper to put Drexel up 14-10 with 11:38 left in the half.  Drexel would be up by many as six, 21-15 with 8:23 left in the half.

Up till then, the Gamecocks looked sluggish on offense, None of the crisp ball movement I had seen at the Paradise Jam on TV.  South Carolina had six turnovers in the first ten minutes of the game and only had nine field goal attempts.  They went to the free throw line thirteen times and only made seven of them.   The pace heavily favored Drexel and the fans in my section were none too pleased, especially with the officials.

Suddenly, the Gamecocks awoke, scoring eight straight points, capped by the six foot eleven Chatkevicius burying a three pointer to put South Carolina up 26-21, forcing an unhappy Bruiser Flint to call timeout with a little over five minutes left in the half.  Drexel would eventually get the deficit within one, 28-27, before South Carolina took a 32-28 lead at the half.

I happened to turnaround and sitting behind me was John Humphries and his son Stan.  John is one of my fellow board members at Trenholm Little League and as I was talking to John, I noticed Steve Stanton, former Trenholm Little League President and current Trenholm Little League
umpire.  So we all caught up on Little League and Women's basketball at halftime.  Pretty cool.

Whatever Frank Martin said to his team at halftime worked, because the Gamecocks sped up the pace immediately at the start of the second half.  Kacinas and Thornwell each nailed three pointers, both assisted by Dozier.  Then off a bad turnover by Terrell Allen, where he tried a behind the back pass in the lane with traffic, Dozier hit a layup and one.  Dozier hit the free throw for the old fashioned three point play and just like that, South Carolina was up thirteen, 41-28 with a little less than nineteen minutes left in the game.  Sadly my iPhone battery died in the middle of my tweet that I was about to send noting the run.

It went bad to worse for Drexel.  The Gamecocks ramped up the D and the Dragons ramped up the bad shot selection, despite South Carolina only scoring one more basket for the next several minutes.  Tavon Allen and Tyshawn Miles each chucked up a bad shot.  Mohamed Bah had chance to hit a couple of free throws at the line and badly missed.  Mojica missed an open look at a three.  The Dragons didn't score a basket for five minutes and twenty second until six foot seven Kazembe Abif, who reminds me of a lefthanded Greg Washington, buried a nice three pointer to make the score 43-31.

Unfortunately for Drexel, that's as close as they got the rest of the way.  South Carolina scored the next seven points to extend the lead to nineteen 50-31.  The Gamecocks showed much better ball movement with twelve assists in the second half after having only two in the first half.

There were two highlights in the second half, one on the offensive end for the Gamecocks and one for Drexel, which featured Bruiser Flint.   With about five minutes left in the game, Notice shot a three point jumper.  No one on the Dragons blocked the lane as Notice's shot bounced off the rim and the freshman Silva quickly ran the lane, leaped and in one motion one handed the rebound and slammed it back down for an emphatic dunk!  

Picture by Ian McCormick (@HPUfan on Twitter)

As for Bruiser, well midway through the second half, Bruiser got a little too far out of the coaches box arguing a call with a referee.  The referee stopped play and gave Bruiser a warning for being out of the coaches box.  Mike Brodsky appropriately tweeted the play, while Ian McCormick took this outstanding picture.

What was left was both teams emptying the benches as Ian McCormick, who joined me in the second half, noted for different reasons; South Carolina was emptying the bench to get some of their players minutes while Drexel was emptying their bench because they had so many players foul out, plus Rodney Williams was out for the rest of the game due to his first half injury. Austin Williams, Terrell Allen and Myles all fouled out.  Andrew Cartright, a six foot six freshman from Maine, who hadn't played all season, had to come in and played three minutes.  South Carolina would score forty seven second half points to win the game 79-54.

Once again, South Carolina had balanced scoring with five players with at least nine points.  Dozier led the Gamecocks with sixteen, Thornwell had thirteen, Carrera added ten points and Chatkevicius and Silva each had nine points.   With Drexel fouling so much, the Gamecocks had THIRTY NINE free throw attempts.  South Carolina needs to take advantage with that many free throw attempts, as they only hit on twenty two in the game.

Tavon Allen led all scorers with eighteen points for Drexel, but he was only six of eighteen from the field and his shot selection left a lot to be desired.  Mojica added thirteen and was three of six from beyond the arc.  Abif had nine points and honestly should have got the ball more.

South Carolina now has eight double digit margin of victory wins. Their only win not by double digits was the eight point championship victory over Tulsa in the Paradise Jam.  They haven't had the strongest of non conference schedules.  But that will pick up in the next few weeks as they play at Clemson, then vs. St John's and a home game vs. Memphis before SEC conference play starts.

As previously noted for Drexel, they seem to be still stuck in pre 2015-16 season mode of play.  Mike Brodsky heard the referees on several Drexel fouls noting "...hands on the waist", which the NCAA is really trying to cut down on with their freedom of movement rules.   The classic rock fight strategy of Drexel's past no longer holds up today.

The Dragons have not had a twenty game winning season since the the 2011-12 team nearly made the NCAA tournament with a 29-7 record (lost in NIT Quarterfinals to UMass).  In fact, two of the last three seasons, Drexel has had a losing record.  Bruiser may not need to change his style of dress, because he is a dapper dresser.  But if Bruiser doesn't adapt to the new style of play, he may have to take his wardrobe somewhere else after this season.

As for Frank Martin, a very sharp dresser in his own right, he's got his team moving in the right direction.  The ball movement is light years better than the last three seasons, the team has balanced scoring and depth.   A few more good wins, especially in conference and the Gamecocks Men's Basketball team will start drawing as well as the women's team.

That's something to build on.

Gamecocks Answer Lots of Questions By Beating Ospreys

The end of last season showed promise for South Carolina.  They won four out of their last six games, including a major upset win over eventual national runner-up Kentucky, plus two wins in the SEC Tournament, one of which likely ended Arkansas' hopes for a NCAA at large bid.   For a team that only went 5-13 in the SEC, the end of the season provided a glimmer of hope for the 2014-15 season.

That glimmer of hope looked more like a large ray of sunshine at Colonial Life Arena as the Gamecocks defeated the North Florida Ospreys 81-56 in the opening game of the college basketball season last night for both teams.  And that ray of sunshine was needed due to an unusually cold night in Columbia, South Carolina thanks to the Polar Vortex cold front.

The first question heading into last night for the Gamecocks was "Who is going to replace last season's leading scorer, Brenton Williams?"  Williams, who averaged just about fifteen points per game for the Gamecocks, graduated, leaving what appeared to be a gaping hole in the scoring column for South Carolina.

The answer after last night was "Everyone".

First, the start of the game showed how important Tyrone Johnson is to this South Carolina team. Johnson, who missed most of last season due to injury, came out of the gate quickly, hitting two quick layups as the Gamecocks would never trail in the game.   Johnson would have a solid night with twelve points, five rebounds, four assists and most importantly, zero turnovers.

The Ospreys would tie the game at 6-6.   But South Carolina would respond with a 19-4 run over the next six and a half minutes.  Duane Notice buried a three pointer to put the Gamecocks up 25-10 with 11:21 left in the half.  Notice would score eight points on the evening, one of nine players to have between six and twelve points on the evening.

It was at this point where the Gamecocks of early last season would have struggled with prosperity, not being able to put away a mid major team.   Against teams like Florida International (down three at half before winning) and USC Upstate (a six point loss), the Gamecocks would look good for a few minutes, then just unravel.

And when North Florida hit two three pointers in a row, the second by Trent Mackey, to cut the lead to nine, 25-16 with nine and a half minutes left in the half,  fans had to have this running through their mind "Are we going to see another USC Upstate game?"

The answer was an emphatic "NO!"

The Gamecocks would answer with a 13-0 run over the next six minutes.  Laimonas Chatkevicius would cap the scoring with two free throws to make the score 38-16. Chatkevicius did his part, chipping in with eleven points in only seventeen minutes of game action.

Finally, the biggest question Gamecocks' fans likely had entering last night was "How good is freshman Marcus Stroman"?

The answer...really good.

Stroman would play twenty five minutes last night, most of them at the point guard position for the Gamecocks.  He scored his first career basket on a sweet jumper during the first Gamecocks' run to make the score 20-8.  Stroman would then assist on the next two baskets.  Stroman would have six points and six assists on the night and just like Johnson, he also had zero turnovers.

But the stats didn't do Stroman justice.  Watching the game, he played like a steady senior, not a flashy frosh.  He showed his quickness when he had to, but he was more content running a smooth offense, an offense that actually moved really well without the ball.   Finally, he showed his defensive prowess, forcing a five second call on the Ospreys' best player, Dallas Moore, a talented sophomore guard who led all scorers last night with twenty one points.

The final stats showed the balance and depth South Carolina need to overcome the loss of a leading scorer.  As aforementioned, nine players had between six and twelve points on the night.  Johnson and Demetrius Henry were the leading scorers for South Carolina with twelve points each.  Nine players also played fifteen or more minutes.

It didn't matter that the second leading scorer from last season, Sindarius Thornwell had less than half his average from last season, scoring only six points.  The team as a whole shot fifty one percent from the field and seventy three percent from the line (19 of 26).   The Gamecocks out-rebounded the Ospreys 42-28 and had nineteen assists and only nine turnovers.

It was a very nice win to start the season.  The team was so solid that Frank Martin didn't seem to be all that upset as only Frank can be at times.  The true test will be when South Carolina hosts Baylor on Tuesday at Noon, part of the ESPN Twenty Four Hours of Hoops.

But if last night was any indicator, the Gamecocks have the answers to pass the test.

Gamecocks Go On the Offensive...Boards to Beat Commodores (Recap of Vandy v. USC)

Two weeks ago, a winter storm affected Georgia and South Carolina, causing massive traffic jams in Atlanta, accidents in South Carolina and school closures throughout both states, including shutting down USC for two days.  During that time, South Carolina won their first conference game, a twenty eight point drubbing of Texas A&M, a Thursday night home game that I attended.

Two weeks later, South Carolina was hit with another snow storm on Wednesday, one that dumped several inches of slow, sleet and even ice across the state.  It also caused massive power outages statewide and again closed schools state wide, including once again, the University of South Carolina.  In the span of two weeks, the University closed for four days and had a delayed opening on a fifth day.

The snowstorm also caused the postponement of the Wednesday night Vanderbilt-South Carolina game, which was rescheduled to Thursday at 4:00 PM.    By around 3:00 PM, the sun was out in Columbia and it was warm enough to melt the ice on the roads.  After venturing out to the local CVS to scout out road conditions, I decided to take the trip to Colonial Life Arena to watch the game.

The roads weren't bad at all, all things considering. There wasn't much traffic midday as most people had heeded the warnings to stay off the road, but enough people had made their way out to make the roads slushy.  When I got to Colonial Life Arena a half hour before game time, the parking lot I normally park in was pretty empty.  There were no parking attendants, so parking was free.  When I got to my seat, I would be the only person in my row for the game.  I actually moved down a couple of rows for the second half.

The announced crowd was 9,829, but that must have included pre-sold tickets, because the crowd was far less than the announced number.  As a result, you heard a lot more things than you normally would in a more full arena.  Then again, you can always hear Gamecocks Head Coach Frank Martin on the court, no matter how large the crowd.  Martin puts on a show with his facial expressions and outward honesty.  At one point during a stoppage in play, he yelled at Brenton Williams "Are you gonna guard the ball?!"

The Gamecocks had lost three straight entering the contest against the Commodores, losing two close games at Ole Miss and home to Auburn before getting pasted on the road vs. Tennessee.  Meanwhile, Vanderbilt had won four straight games in conference before losing a tough contest at home to Arkansas by two points.  The Commodores featured the reigning SEC player of the week in senior Rod Odom, a six foot nine forward from my old neck of the woods, Long Island, New York (Central Islip to be specific).  Odom scored twenty six points in a win vs. Tennessee and twenty two points in the close loss to Arkansas.

Vanderbilt won the tip and had three chances to score on the first possession due to two offensive rebounds.  But the Commodores couldn't score.  South Carolina scored the first basket on a Sindarius Thornwell jumper. Vanderbilt's James Siakam layup then tied the game at two.   The Gamecocks would outscore the Commodores 8-3 over the next 90 seconds.  Another Thornwell basket put South Carolina up 10-5.

Vanderbilt would hang around, thanks to their terrific freshman center Damian Jones.  Over the span of a minute, Jones would hit two baskets and block two shots. His layup put Vandy within one, 14-13.

Over the next six minutes, both teams would struggle from the field as they combined to only score fifteen points.  During this span, the Gamecocks were three of eleven from the field with three turnovers.  Meanwhile, the Commodores committed four turnovers in the span and only attempted three field goals.  The third field goal attempt, an Odom jumper, again cut the Gamecocks' lead to one, 22-21.  It was Odom's first basket of the game and his only basket of the half.

Williams would bury a three to put the Gamecocks up four, 25-21 with about four and a half minutes left in the half.  But that would be as large a lead that there would be the rest of the half.  Vandy would get the ball back with five seconds left in the half.  And after a timeout, Kyle Fuller went coast to coast off the inbounds pass for a layup to again cut the South Carolina lead to one, 28-27 at the half.

In the second half, after a Duane Notice jumper put the Gamecocks up three, 32-29, the Commodores scored the next four points.  After a Fuller jumper, Jones followed with a layup to give Vandy their first lead of the game 33-32.  Later Fuller would hit another jumper to put Vandy back up two, 38-36 with fifteen minutes left in the game.   It would be the Commodores' last lead in the game.

Thornwell would tie the game with two free throws.  Then Notice hit a three pointer off a Thornwell assist to put South Carolina up 41-38.  Thornwell would later hit a three pointer to put the Gamecocks up four, 44-40.  Odom would hit two free throws to cut the lead to two, 44-42 with a little over eleven minutes from there.  That's as close as the Commodores would get the rest of the way.

Over the next seven plus minutes, South Carolina went on a 14-3 run.  The Gamecocks clamped down on the Commodores, only allowing an Odom long distance three during the span.  What made the difference was the Gamecocks' tenaciousness on the offensive glass.  South Carolina would grab eight offensive rebounds during this span which would lead to many second chance opportunities.  In fact, during this run, ten of the Gamecocks' fourteen points would come off second chance opportunities.   Brian Steele, who is seeing more playing time due to his hustle, capped the spurt with a layup to put South Carolina up thirteen, 58-45 with four minutes left.

Vandy would not go away however, due in large part to Fuller.  The Commodores went on a 7-0 spurt and Fuller had a hand in all of the Commodores' points.  He first hit two free throws, then followed with a layup. He capped the run by assisting Odom on a three pointer to cut the Gamecocks' lead to six, 58-52.

But the Commodores got no further, thanks to Thornwell.  While doing a terrific job of holding Odom to only nine field goal attempts, he was scoring points as well.  Thornwell would score five straight South Carolina points to put the Gamecocks back up ten, 63-53 with fifty four seconds left.  He capped USC's scoring by hitting one of two free throws as the Gamecocks won their second game in the SEC 65-59.

South Carolina only shot thirty eight percent from the field.  But they had sixteen more field goal attempts than Vandy due to TWENTY SIX offensive rebounds, as the Gamecocks outrebounded the Commodores 45-31.   It was a team effort on the glass, as no Gamecock had more than seven rebounds (Mindaugas Kacinas).

Thornwell led the Gamecocks with nineteen points and also added six rebounds and six assists.  Williams added fourteen points and Notice had ten points.  Fuller led the Commodores and all scorers with twenty points.  Jones was terrific for Vandy with sixteen points, ten rebounds and seven blocks.  Odom had only ten points as he was held by Thornwell to three of nine shooting on the day.

During the post game interview with Gamecocks' radio play by play broadcaster Andy Demetra, Martin was pleased with his team's attention to detail, their rebounding effort and his help defense, which was much better than it was against Auburn.  He was particularly happy with Thornwell's defense on the much taller Odom.

During that interview, I don't remember Martin saying much about the team's luck with winter storms.  It will probably be the last storm for the season.  Temperatures will be up in the seventies early next week, with a forecast of the upper seventies by next weekend.

If the Gamecocks' can continue to rebound and play defense like they did on Thursday, perhaps they will get hot too.

No Help on D Means No Win for South Carolina (Recap of Auburn v. South Carolina)

Last Saturday, South Carolina was up 61-46 on Ole Miss with a little less than eleven minutes in the game.   The Rebels would go on a 29-10 run the rest of the way to again barely beat the Gamecocks 75-71.   Two weeks earlier, Ole Miss had rallied from a double digit halftime deficit to edge South Carolina 75-74.   After so painfully losing a close game for a second time to the team that won the SEC Tournament last season, Frank Martin's team looked to rebound against Auburn Wednesday night.

As Martin would say in his post game interview with Gamecocks Radio play by play announcer Andy Demetra, the game plan was simple; help out on defense against the Tigers one-two guard punch of Chris Denson and KT Harrell.  Denson and Harrell each score about twenty points a game and are Auburn's only two double digit scorers.

Duane Notice got the night started off right for the Gamecocks with a three pointer but Auburn would score the next five points.  Demetrius Henry would tie the game at five, the first of three ties there would be over the first six plus minutes.   Denson would break the last of the ties in that span with a three pointer to put Auburn up 18-15.  The Tigers would keep the lead for the next twenty one minutes in the game.

Despite what Martin had said was the game, the Gamecocks could not contain Denson and Harrell.  Though Auburn got help along the way from Tahj Shamsid-Deen and Allen Payne, it was the Tigers' two star guards who kept South Carolina at bay.  Denson had eight points in the first nine and a half minutes in the game and scored twelve in the first half.  Meanwhile, Harrell had ten first half points.

The only thing that kept the Gamecocks in the game in the first half was the continued torrid scoring of Brenton Williams.  Williams, who had thirty two points in the loss last Saturday to the Rebels, would score eleven first half points to keep South Carolina close, 38-35 at the half.   He has become the Gamecocks' main scoring threat this season.

Williams struggled to start the season.  In the span of six non conference games starting with Clemson and ending with St Mary's, Williams failed to score in double figures in five of those six games.  Even worse, Williams had zero points in three games; Clemson, Oklahoma State and Manhattan.  Williams barely played against the Cowboys and the Jaspers, playing two minutes and six minutes respectively in those games.

Since the Diamond Head Classic game against St Mary's, Williams has scored in double figures in every game since, except the one point loss at home to Ole Miss, where he scored nine points all on free throws (he was 0-10 from the field).   Including the game against the Tigers, Williams has averaged eighteen points per game over his last fourteen games.  Over his last five games, he is averaging twenty two points per game, shooting a terrific forty three percent from beyond the arc and an awesome ninety six percent from the free throw line, which leads the nation among those that qualify.

Early in the second half, Williams would get the Gamecocks within two, 42-40 with another three pointer.  A little later, Notice would again keep South Carolina within two with a layup, 44-42.  But from there, things got out of hand defensively for the Gamecocks.

Over the span of four minutes, Auburn went on a 16-2 run.  Again it was the duo of Denson and Harrell doing most of the damage.  Denson and Harrell would combine for eleven of the sixteen points.  Payne would cap the run nailing a three pointer to put the Tigers up 60-44 with 13:20 left in the game.

Auburn was scoring at will on South Carolina, as the Tigers made nine of their first eleven shots in the second half.  Try as they might, Notice and Sindarius Thornwell could not handle guarding Denson and Harrell one on one.  But that's OK if you are getting help on defense.

The problem was that the Gamecocks' front court was not helping out on defense.  South Carolina also does not have a shot blocking presence in the middle.  The Gamecocks would only have three blocks on the night, which is line with their average per game, 3.9 blocks, which puts them eleventh in the SEC in that category.

Despite their defensive struggles in the halfcourt, the Gamecocks would mount a furious rally, started by, who else, Williams.  He would hit two free throws, then bury a three pointer to cut the lead to eleven, 60-49.  Meanwhile the Gamecocks switched to a press, which completely throw off Auburn.  The Tigers would commit six turnovers in a span of three and a half minutes.

This would result in an 18-2 run by the Gamecocks.  Williams would score twelve of those points and a Mindaugas Kacinas layup would tie the game at sixty two with a little under eight minutes left, much to the delight of a now raucous Colonial Life Arena.  When the Tigers went up sixteen, one of the season ticket holders in front of me was so frustrated by the Gamecocks play, he left.  His friend of forty years sitting next to him stayed and credited the guy leaving with starting the rally, noting "Maybe he shouldn't come back here the rest of the season".

But a Shamsid-Deen dunk would put Auburn back up 64-62.  Notice had a chance to tie the game, but missed one of two free throws to make the score 64-63.  From there it was the Denson and Harrell show.  Denson made a three point play and then later hit two free throws to put Auburn up 69-63.  Then Harrell scored the Tigers' next eight points to keep the Auburn lead at six, 77-71.   The Gamecocks would get within three, 77-74 with twenty three seconds left on what else, a Williams three pointer.  But that was the last points on the game for South Carolina as Auburn won 79-74.

Williams had another terrific offensive night with twenty nine points on ten of fourteen shooting from the field, including six of ten from beyond the arc.  Kacinas came off the bench to score fourteen points and Notice added twelve points.  Thornwell struggled from the field shooting three of sixteen, but he did have nine assists and four steals to go with his eight points.

Williams, however, could not match the Auburn duo of Denson and Harrell.  They each had twenty five points, combining to shoot seventeen of thirty from the field and twelve of fifteen from the line.  The Tigers got help from Shamsid-Deen, who had twelve points and Payne added nine of his own.  Auburn shot fifty two percent from the field, including a blistering sixty seven percent in the second half (14 of 21).

During his post game talk with Demetra, Martin called his team defense "selfish" as in there was no help defense for Thornwell and Notice on Denson and Harrell.  As I noted at the beginning of the article, Martin noted that Auburn's game plan was simple, to get the ball to Denson and Harrell.  But he also noted his team didn't do what was necessary to follow the game plan.

Staring at a 1-8 record in conference with a road game upcoming at Tennessee, South Carolina needs to right the ship soon.   They are solidly in last place in the SEC, two games behind Auburn and Alabama. There needs to be more help on D if they want to get a W.

A Day of Firsts for South Carolina (Recap of Texas A&M v. South Carolina)

At around 3:00 AM or so Wednesday morning, Winter Storm Leon wound down around Columbia, South Carolina.   It left about two to three inches of snow in the Columbia area, certainly around where I live in Forest Acres, which is fifteen minutes from the Colonial Life Arena, where the Gamecocks were hosting the Aggies of Texas A&M on Wednesday evening.  It was the first and likely only snowstorm of the season in South Carolina.

Having lived in Long Island, New York for forty six plus years, two to three inches of snow/mixed with ice is nowhere near what I consider a snowstorm.  But it can cause havoc in Southeast cities not used to having snow/ice or not prepared in stopping it.  Such was the case in Atlanta and Alabama on Tuesday, where despite a winter storm warning, schools were in session and most people were at work.  It resulted in a complete mess, with ice covered roads causing more than 1,000 accidents in Georgia and highways were complete logjams.   Kids were stuck overnight in schools in Georgia and Alabama.  Hundreds of people abandoned their cars as they could not get around due to the ice and traffic jams.

Here in South Carolina, we were better prepared.  Knowing that the National Weather Service had an issued a Winter Storm Warning starting at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, schools chose to close on Tuesday as did state and county offices.  Most universities, including the University of South Carolina, where I work, were closed. Nikki Haley, the Governor, declared a state of emergency before any snow had started in Columbia.  Most people heeded the warnings and stayed off the roads.   

Again on Wednesday, schools were closed, along with the University of South Carolina, as well as state and county offices.  So just like most other kids, my two sons had the day off and enjoyed the snow, which is very much a rarity in the South.  Yes, I indulged in a few snowballs with my two children.  But come the afternoon, I had serious cabin fever.   Thankfully, the game was still on for Wednesday evening and I needed the two hour college basketball fix.

It turns out Wednesday night that the roads were quite fine and really no issues of ice.  And as a result, what I thought might have been a low turnout turned out to be a crowd of nearly 10,000.   The students, knowing they had a two hour delay on Thursday, came out in droves hoping for a win that evening.  

Entering the game, the Gamecocks had not won a game in conference.  The 0-6 record was a little misleading in that South Carolina had been in most of their games, losing four games by eight points or less.  This included an 75-67 loss at Texas A&M earlier in the season.   The Aggies came into the game at 3-3 in conference.

After a very pretty rendition of the national anthem by the vocal group "The Gamechords", the Gamecocks jumped out quickly on the Aggies.  Duane Notice, who has been very solid since he joined the starting lineup, buried a three pointer and Michael Carrera, also back in the starting lineup, hit an old fashioned three point play.  A short time later, Brenton Williams nailed a three pointer of his own and South Carolina was up 15-5.

Texas A&M would cut the lead to six, 17-11 on a couple of three pointers by Antwan Space and Jordan Green.  And for nearly the next three and a half minutes, the Aggies would stay in range, only trailing by six, 21-15.  After Carrera dribbled into traffic, which resulted in a steal by Texas A&M, Martin replaced him.  As Carrera walked by, Martin yelled loudly at him "PASS THE BALL!"

But South Carolina would make sure that Texas A&M would not hang around much longer as they on a 17-2 run over the span of five plus minutes.  With two plus minutes left in the half, the Gamecocks were up 38-17.   What was impressive about the run was that it was balanced.  Laimonas Chatkevicius came off the bench and scored eight points during the run.  Thornwell had four points in the span and Williams had a three pointer.  When you looked up at the scoreboard and saw players with eight, seven and six points, it was impressive.  Brenton Williams capped the half with a three pointer and the Gamecocks led 41-21 at halftime.

But it was not only the offense that was impressive for South Carolina in the first half.  The defense came to play.  They were aggressive, forcing ten Texas A&M turnovers in the first twenty minutes.  They also held the Aggies, who shot fifty five percent in their home win over the Gamecocks, to thirty three percent from the field in the first half.   It was the best all around twenty minutes that I had seen South Carolina play all season in person.

And the fans got involved, especially the student section. Whether it was their own cabin fever after not having school for two days or starved for a conference win, the students were the loudest I had heard for a men's game all season.

The problem with a young team like the Gamecocks is sustaining a high level of play for forty minutes.  Sure enough at the start of the second half,  South Carolina committed four turnovers in the first two and a half minutes.  Texas A&M cut the deficit down to thirteen, 43-30 on a Kourtney Robertson layup.

But Notice made sure that was as close as the Aggies would get the rest of the way.   He would score ten of the Gamecocks' first twelve points in the second half.  His three point play would put South Carolina up 53-37 with fourteen plus minutes left in the game.

From there, the Gamecocks went on a 19-4 run over about seven minutes.  Sindarius Thornwell would hit six free throws in a row.  His last free throw would give South Carolina a 69-41 lead with seven and a half minutes left in the game.

All that was left was for both teams to clear the benches and play seldom used reserves. The Gamecocks would actually extend the lead to thirty two points before winning by twenty eight, 80-52 to get their first SEC win.

The Gamecocks had four scorers in double figures led by Notice and Thornwell, each with nineteen points.  Williams, despite missing two free throws, which gave him now three misses on the season, added eighteen points. Chatkevicius had a career high twelve points.  The Gamecocks shot fifty two percent from the field and eighty one percent from the line (26 of 32).

The Aggies had no players in double figures in scoring.  Space and Jamal Jones each had nine points for Texas A&M.  The Aggies shot thirty five percent from the field and were just four of sixteen from beyond the arc.

As I left Colonial Life Arena, I heard several fans talk about maybe there should be a snowstorm more often in Columbia since the first snow of the season brought the team its first SEC win of the season.   As much as that might have been a good luck charm for the Gamecocks and as much as I loved seeing my boys make a robot snowman, I gladly hope there are no more snowstorms this year.  I had enough cabin fever for the rest of the season.  If snow is a good luck charm, perhaps the Riverbanks Zoo can lend their snow machine from their Christmas Light show to the basketball team.

But hopefully, it's not the snow, but the start of something for the Gamecocks' basketball team.  What I saw Wednesday night was the equivalent of this weekend's upcoming warm front.

Something hopeful.   

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.

A Good Start to a New Season for the Gamecocks

Saturdays have been busy for me since February of this year.  With very few exceptions, my Saturdays have revolved around baseball with two sons, both of whom I coach, playing Little League.  In the past ten months, Saturday mornings consisted either of a game or practice in our spring Trenholm Little League, a summer YMCA game or a fall doubleheader of practice (first teeball, then Minors). Yesterday was no exception, as our minors team likely had its last practice going into this Monday night's championship game.

But for the first time since the beginning of March, this was different.  Live college basketball was back on the agenda.  And for the first time all year, my son and I left a baseball practice early.  I left my co-head coach and my assistant coach in charge as Matthew and I quickly headed home, changed and headed into Columbia for the Longwood - South Carolina game.  As I told Matt, we were "Back in the saddle again".

Just like us and many other fans, South Carolina Head Coach Frank Martin was looking forward to the start of a new college basketball season.  Last season, the Gamecocks were 14-18 in his first season in Columbia, which was a four win improvement from the season before.  But for a coach like Martin, who never had a losing season and never missed the postseason in his five years at Kansas State (four NCAA tournaments and one NIT), last season must have seemed an eternity.

But Martin was hard at work in his first season and off-season to get back on the winning track in his second season.  He brought in seven blue chip freshman and one outstanding transfer, Tyrone Johnson from Villanova to go along with his returning nucleus.  Saturday was the debut for this new team.

Matthew and I got to Colonial Life Arena about 45 minutes before game time.  In the parking lot, Matthew was trying to figure out how many games he has gone to since the 2010-11 season.  He thought it was about one hundred.  It's more likely near fifty, but I let his imagination run wild.  After we got our game programs from one of the pretty Gamecock Dance team members stationed at the top of the stairs, unlike last season, I decided to get a Gamecock Yearbook so I could get a background on the each of the new players for South Carolina.

We made our way to our seats and watched the Gamecocks practice on the court.  I took a picture of Matthew and a little later I realized how much he has grown since the boy who first went to a basketball game with me on my birthday in February 2011, the famous Hofstra - William and Mary overtime game that got him hooked on college basketball.   Things have changed so much in the two and half years since that game.  We were now seven hundred and fifty miles away in another state, in a new home, but we still made time together for college basketball.

As the game was about to start, I tweeted on how sparse the crowd was at Colonial Life.  It did not seem like the later announced attendance of 8,536.  It seemed much less than that, though in an 18,000 seat arena, eight thousand people can seem very sparse.  To be fair to Coach Martin, game time was on an early Saturday afternoon in November in SEC football country against a team that is just entering its tenth season of Division I basketball.

The Longwood Lancers joined Division I in the 2004-05 season.  In that first season, the Lancers went 1-30, with their lone win at home over Howard.   The Lancers have had only one winning season; they went 17-14 in the 2008-09 season.   It was only last season that the Lancers finally had a true conference affiliation as a member of the Big South.  They went 8-25 and 4-12 last season, though their highlight of the season was a First Round Big South Tournament upset of two time defending champion UNC Asheville and Keith Hornsby (Bruce Hornsby's son).

One of the biggest problems for the Gamecocks last season was a lack of scoring options.  Brenton Williams was the only player to play a full season and average over double figures in scoring per game (11.7), though Michael Carrera and Bruce Ellington almost averaged ten points per game (each averaged 9.9).   With the additions of star recruits like Sindarius Thornwell, Justin McKie, Duane Notice and the transfer Johnson, the hope is that there will be a lot more scoring that the sixty six points per game the Gamecocks struggle to average last season.

Strangely at tipoff, none of those three players were starting yesterday.  Of course Ellington was not there, being a star wide receiver for the football team that has a chance to play for a BCS game. But neither Carrera or Williams were starting either as Martin decided to start three freshman - Thornwell, Demetrius Henry and Dwayne Notice, along with Johnson and a returning member from last season, Mindaugas Kacinas.

Nearly three minutes into the start of the game, it seemed like things hadn't changed at all from last season.  Despite playing lock down defense, the Gamecocks were struggling to score, leading only 3-0 with about four and a half minutes into the game.  The fans near me in my section were starting to get frustrated at the Gamecocks, who were shooting 1 of 9 from the field at the time.

But then Williams and Carrera entered the game.  Both bring energy, along with scoring and Carrera's passion and infectious smile light up a crowd as well as the team.  South Carolina went on a 15-4 run, with Carrera and Williams combining for thirteen of the points.  The Gamecocks were up 18-4 with eleven minutes left in the half.

Longwood would make its one run of the game, a 7-0 spurt that cut the Carolina lead to 18-11 with 5:44 left in the half.  Frustrated, Martin called timeout.  Whatever he said to his team in the timeout worked.  The Gamecocks would end the half on a 19-4 run, punctuated by two three pointers in a row by Notice.  The Gamecocks were up 37-15 at halftime.

With all the talk of the all the new recruits plus the transfer Johnson adding scoring options to the team, the first half scoring was dominated by the returning nucleus.  Williams, Carrera, Kacinas and Laimonas Chatkevicius combined for twenty eight of the thirty seven points scored with only Johnson and Notice adding to the scoring total.

As Matthew chowed down on his halftime ritual meal of a pretzel, the new guys decided to make the start of the second half all about them.  Notice buried his third jumper in a row to get the festivities started.  Then Thornwell scored his first two points as a Gamecock on a pair of free throws.  Over the first six plus minutes of the second half, Notice, Thornwell, Johnson and Henry combined to score all sixteen Gamecocks' points as South Carolina went up 53-21 with fourteen minutes left in the game.

Carrera briefly ended the Gamecock Newbie Run with a jumper to put the Gamecocks up thirty four, 55-21.  But again, the newbies would make their mark scoring seventeen of the next twenty one South Carolina points.  The lead would swell to forty two,  76-34, on a Johnson jumper with just under four minutes left in the game.

The only question left in the game was whether Longwood would break forty points.  They did with about ninety seconds left in the game as South Carolina won 82-44.  The Gamecocks largest margin of victory in non conference games last season was twenty one, in their last non conference game vs. South Carolina State.  They already topped that in their first non conference game of this season, winning by thirty eight points.

In their first game of the season, the Gamecocks got the balanced double digit scoring that was sorely lacking last season. Four players scored in double figures; Johnson led the way with eighteen points, Thornwell and Williams each had fourteen and Carrera just missed a double double with twelve points and nine rebounds.  More importantly, two more players almost had double digits in scoring; Kacinas missed a double double with eight points and fourteen rebounds, while Notice had eight points, five rebounds and four assists.  The Gamecocks shot forty nine percent from the field and an equally impressive twenty of twenty four from the free throw line.

The Gamecocks held the Lancers to twenty three percent shooting from the field and out-rebounded them  50-27.   Longwood only had one scorer in double digits, guard Tristan Carey with ten points. But Carey had to work for those ten points as he shot 5 of 20 from the field.

All in all it was a good day for Matthew.  He got his beloved baseball practice in, got to watch his first basketball game of the season and saw an impressive Gamecock win.  Later, Matthew played Nerf basketball in the den for a good part of the evening and the end of the night, he was asleep in his bed, wearing his Bruce Ellington basketball jersey.

I'd say that's a pretty good start to the college basketball season.