How to judge USC after 3 easy wins? ‘They’ll contend in the SEC,’ says 1 opposing coach
The combined record of South Carolina’s first three opponents is now 3-7 after the Gamecocks rolled Cleveland State, 90-63, on Friday night at Colonial Life Arena.
USC (3-0) has dominated inferior competition thus far, showing few signs of struggle against North Alabama, Wyoming and CSU. The Gamecocks have trailed for all of 2 minutes, 5 seconds this season and have an average margin of victory of 27.6. Six different players have scored in double figures at least one time, including A.J. Lawson’s career-high 28 points Friday.
How this all translates when the schedule stiffens — see clashes with Wichita State (2-0), Houston (1-1) and possibly West Virginia (2-0) in the near-future — remains to be seen, but just note that Frank Martin’s bunch has come as advertised through three games.
Length, depth and athleticism is something Cleveland State coach Dennis Gates helped recruit and develop during his time as Florida State assistant from 2011-19. The Seminoles made four NCAA Tournament appearances during that stretch, including each of the last three seasons when FSU had at least 10 players average over 10 minutes a game and featured rosters with an average of 14 Seminoles standing at least 6-foot-4.
South Carolina lists 11 players 6-4 or taller. Ten Gamecocks are averaging over 10 minutes a game.
“Coming from the ACC,” Gates said Friday, “it was one of our strengths at Florida State to have a rotation of 11-12 guys to make it difficult for the opponents to scout and win by committee. I think this (USC) program, the way (Martin) has set it up is going to win by committee.
“It’s very difficult to defend some guards that they have, especially when they come out and shoot the ball and play as unselfish as they played. And for me, when your four-man is 6-9 and 260, you’re physically going to be able to impose. And then you sub in another guy that’s 6-9, their rotation is one of the best rotations, I think, in the country.
“And lo and behold, Coach has a program and a team this season that is going to wear some teams down for the full 40 minutes. And you’ll see that rotation put into play.”
Without a roster by him, Gates was a little off with heights. The Gamecocks start 6-11, 270-pound Maik Kotsar at center, 6-7, 260-pound Alanzo Frink at power forward and then bring in a variety of 6-7, 225-pound Jalyn McCreary, 6-11, 230-pound Wildens Leveque and 6-9, 235-pound Micaiah Henry off the bench.
That quintet combined for 18 of South Carolina’s 26 offensive rebounds against the Vikings, good for the most by a Gamecock team in the eight-year Martin era.
“One of the things that has really hurt me as a coach — and I’ve had to learn how to coach differently, which I guess isn’t a bad thing — is we have not been a very good offensive rebounding team minus Chris Silva the last two years,” Martin said. “We’ve got more guys to do that for us now. I think that can be a staple of this team. I think this is a team that can be a real good offensive rebounding team.”
The Gamecocks, according to kenpom.com, are 10th nationally in offensive rebound percentage. Their last top 20 finish in that category came in 2015-16, a season that saw USC win 25 games and place third in the SEC.
“That’s an extremely tall team,” Gartes said. “And it’s one of the tallest teams I think Coach Martin has had in his tenure. There’s no doubt in my mind they will contend in the SEC.”
NEXT
Who: Boston University at South Carolina
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Colonial Life Arena
TV: SEC Network-Plus via the WatchESPN app
