Maik Kotsar delivers South Carolina a much-needed win over George Washington
The promotion attached to South Carolina’s Sunday afternoon clash with George Washington was “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the classic film, early attendees received Cousin Eddie dickeys. Other fans could pose with a Clark Griswold cutout or purchase eggnog at the concession stand.
The Gamecocks needed a little holiday spirit coming off an empty trip to Cancun and three losses in their previous four games. The USC band tried to keep it alive by chiming in with occasional festive tunes, and cheerleaders rocked Santa hats.
It was officially December in Colonial Life Arena and Maik Kotsar delivered Carolina a much-needed gift of a 74-65 win over the Colonials.
The senior scored 17 points, had nine rebounds, two blocks and made a couple clutch plays to help the Gamecocks improve to 5-3. GW dropped to 3-5.
“It’s my last go-round,” Kotsar said, “I don’t want to lose a game.”
It hasn’t been an easy start to this season, and Sunday’s performance continued that narrative. The Gamecocks led 19-4 after eight minutes, but could never push the advantage past 20. George Washington, which entered ranked No. 240 nationally by KenPom.com, couldn’t be put away.
The Colonials had possession down eight with 90 seconds left when Kotsar stole a cross-court pass and threw to Jermaine Couisnard before falling out of bounds. Couisnard then scored in transition to put the Gamecocks ahead, 69-59.
Kotsar added a rebound and a dunk in the final minute to put a stamp on his fifth straight game scoring in double figures, a career-first for the Estonian.
“I couldn’t be happier for him,” said USC coach Frank Martin. “I want him to stay aggressive. ... He’s battling, his minutes are picking up. He’s not picking up the ticky-tack fouls. I just told our guards he does a better job of guarding the perimeter than our guards do.
“I’m really happy for Maik. And we need him to keep doing what he’s doing.”
George Washington often doubled — and sometimes tripled — Kotsar, but the 6-foot-11 center never panicked. He had one turnover.
He sparked USC’s best shooting performance — 52.6% percent — of the season. The Gamecocks made their first six shots and their last four.
“We look to Maik as our leader on and off the court, in practice,” said junior guard Jair Bolden. “So when he’s playing well, it kind of sets the tone for the whole team. So just having that presence in the paint or when he’s hitting that little 15-footer, it really helps our offense out.”
GW was held to 33.3% shooting, 26.5% in the first half.
And one: Facing his former team, Bolden scored six of Carolina’s first nine points. He finished with 12.
“I’m always determined to have a good game,” said the GW transfer, “but it was pretty fun playing against those guys.”
Personal fouls: A.J. Lawson had 14 points, but also a season-high five turnovers by the end of the first half. The fifth — one shy of his career-high — led to a breakaway dunk for Jameer Nelson Jr. that capped GW’s 11-1 run and cut the Gamecock lead to nine with 1:30 left in the opening period.
The Gamecocks again struggled from 3-point range, making just three of 14 attempts.
Tip-in: File this under something you don’t see every basketball game: A GW staffer, positioned right behind the Colonials’ bench, would occasionally hold up a sign that read “The Turkey Hunt” when the visitors were on defense.
“If we get three stops in a row, we call it a turkey,” said GW coach Jamion Christian. “If you’re able to get seven turkeys in a game and you score on half your possessions, it’s essentially impossible to lose. Just trying to create a process with our team where we’re locked into each play, instead of looking at the scoreboard.”
NEXT
Who: South Carolina at UMass
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Amherst, Massachusetts
TV: CBS Sports Network
This story was originally published December 1, 2019 at 3:48 PM.
