South Carolina's Strong Defensive Start Dooms Missouri

The #20 Missouri Tigers had to be telling themselves yesterday, "If we can come out strong against South Carolina, we've got a chance to win."   In the Gamecocks last several games, especially against SEC conference foes Arkansas and Vanderbilt, #2 South Carolina struggled out of the gate.  Against the Razorbacks, the Gamecocks were tied at nine after one quarter.  Against the Commodores, the Gamecocks were tied at halftime and were losing late in the third quarter before rallying to win.

So it only seemed natural for the Tigers to feel a strong start would go a long way.  During warm-ups, my color analyst, aka my older son Matthew, noted that Missouri seemed to have a lot of players practicing, more than South Carolina (two bench players have the left the Gamecocks in the last week, leaving them with eleven players, still plenty given their talent).   Matthew and I would find out within a few minutes of game action why that was the case.

As for the Tigers hoping for a sluggish start from their opponent, too bad Dawn Staley had her Gamecocks ready from the get go.

The home crowd of 15,934 that packed Colonial Life Arena yesterday seemed to pump life into South Carolina from tip-off.   The Gamecocks height and athleticism on defense frustrated the Tigers immediately in the first quarter.  In the first seven and a half minutes of the first quarter, Missouri missed all thirteen shots from the field and turned the ball over four times.

Meanwhile, it was obvious what Missouri's game plan was on defense.  Physical defense that would have made Bruiser Flint proud.  They picked up seven fouls in the first five and half plus minutes in the game.  My color analyst, aka my older son Matthew, commented that we were going to see at least one Missouri player foul out and noted "So that's why they have so many players!"

Meanwhile, South Carolina was able to slog their way through Missouri's physical play to score enough points to make a difference early on.  Alaina Coates hit a three point play to put the Gamecocks up to stay 3-0.  Neither team would score for the next three plus minutes as the Gamecocks missed on five straight shots. Finally,  Khadijah Sessions would score on four free throws, sandwiching a three point play by Tiffany Mitchell and a free throw from Alaina Coates.  South Carolina was up 11-0 with four plus minutes left in the first quarter.

During this time, Missouri Freshman Sophie Cunningham "enamored" herself with the Gamecocks fans due to her physical play, especially one fan behind us in Section 115.  That fan kept yelling at the top of her lungs "SOOOPHIE!", among other things.

Missouri finally made a basket from Kayla Robinson nearly eight minutes into the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 17-5.

The Tigers came out scoring in the second quarter with five quick points, including a three pointer by Maddie Stock to cut the lead to ten, 20-10.   But the Gamecocks would respond with a 13-2 run over the next nearly five minutes. Mitchell would lead the way, scoring six of those thirteen points.  Her two free throws would cap the run and make the score 33-12.   South Carolina would end up leading at halftime 35-17.  Missouri almost had as many fouls, SIXTEEN, as points, seventeen.

The start of the second half saw Missouri come out strong from the locker room.   The Tigers outscored the Gamecocks 12-4 over the first minute and a half.  Sophie Cunningham continued to ingratiate herself with the Gamecock faithful, scoring a basket to cut the lead to ten 39-29.

After a Coates basket that put South Carolina up twelve, Mitchell took over from there.  She scored the next seven straight points; a layup assisted by Tina Roy, a three pointer again assisted by Roy and then finally, she took matters in her own hands.  Mitchell stole the ball and drove in for a layup.  The Gamecocks were back up nineteen 48-29 and the game was over for all intensive purposes.

Except for the fan that was "enamored" with Sophie Cunningham.  Sophie would pick up her third foul midway through the third quarter, which ended with South Carolina up 56-34.  In the fourth quarter, she would quickly pick up fouls four and five which resulted in our fan yelling "BYE SOPHIE!!"

As Matt had predicted, a Missouri player fouled out.  In fact, two fouled out, as Jordan Frericks fouled out later.  Missouri would use THIRTEEN players in the game, as the entire team picked up thirty four fouls.  South Carolina took full advantage, hitting on thirty two of their forty three free throw attempts in the 83-58 drubbing of Missouri.

Mitchell led all scorers with nineteen points, shooting eight of nine from the free throw line. Coates and Wilson each had double doubles.  Coates had thirteen points and twelve rebounds, while Wilson had eleven points, eleven rebounds and six blocks.  Jatarie White came off the bench for the Gamecocks and added eleven points.
Missouri was held to thirty one percent from the field, including four of twenty one from beyond the arc, as South Carolina's overall team height and quickness were too much for the Tigers.  Only Ciera Porter was in double figures scoring for Missouri with ten points.

With the win, the Gamecocks are now 15-0 on the season and have matched the #22 undefeated men's team in record.   Both teams are now a combined 30-0 on the season, a truly remarkable fact given conference play for men's and women's basketball is already a week old.

The schedule doesn't get any easier for South Carolina.  They play another two ranked teams in a row.  First, a road match-up with #10 Kentucky and then a home game vs. #13 Texas A&M.  

But if they come out and play defense as well as they did against #20 Missouri, it won't matter who they play. The Gamecocks look primed for another SEC conference championship.

A strong start always helps.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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