What to make of South Carolina’s situation at guard after Florida loss
Jair Bolden slipped under Kerry Blackshear’s ball-screen, allowing Andrew Nembhard all the room he needed. The Florida sophomore rose from the left wing and drilled a 23-footer.
The swish all but ended South Carolina’s chances against the Gators and cued up ESPNU analyst Jimmy Dykes to deliver a fitting line.
“There will not be a guard in college basketball tonight playing any better than Andrew Nembhard,” Dykes said during Tuesday night’s broadcast. “I don’t care what game you’re going to watch — there’s great ones across the country — no guard will play better than what Andrew Nembhard has done.”
USC (8-6 overall) is 0-1 in SEC play after Florida was far superior down the stretch and grabbed an 81-68 win at Colonial Life Arena. Nembhard’s 3-pointer was part an 8-0 run over the final 2:23 that handed Carolina a second-straight loss since upsetting No. 9 Virginia on Dec. 22.
Ask Frank Martin what’s frustrated him greatest about the two most recent performances and the Carolina coach will give you an answer that closely resembles the opening scene to this story: His guards are being outplayed.
Nembhard, a preseason first-team All-SEC selection, scored 21 points and had 10 assists Tuesday. Bolden and A.J. Lawson, another preseason All-SEC pick, combined for 24 points, but on 7 of 29 shooting, and three assists. This came after the duo went for eight points — on 3 of 11 shooting — and no assists in the Stetson loss.
“It’s not like neither one of them tried today,” Martin said Tuesday. “They were engaged. I mean one took 15 shots. So they were engaged. The ball didn’t go in the basket for them. They were engaged. I wish they would have put up a better fight defensively than what they did. But they were engaged.
“Once again, we became a real quiet team in the second half. And that bothers me. That’s where my concern is. I’m not into rah-rah and jumping up and down when things are good. I’m into standing up tall and standing strong when things are difficult. And right now every time things get difficult, we get very quiet. And guards, there’s where the responsibility starts at. That’s one area we have to get a lot better at.”
From those who played — Bolden, Lawson, T.J. Moss — to those who hardly played — Trae Hannibal — to those who didn’t play — Jermaine Couisnard (injured) — Gamecocks guards are involved in most angles of the Florida fall-out.
Nembhard, a former five-star recruit, was better than anybody Martin tried in front of him. Florida coach Mike White said Nembhard’s showing the best of his young career.
“You got to have really good individual performances to score effectively against a South Carolina-caliber defense,” White said. “That certainly gave us a real chance. He was fantastic.”
It just came at USC’s expense.
“We gave in guarding Nembhard,” Martin said. “We just gave in and that was disappointing.”
Nembhard’s brilliance aside, the Gamecocks were within a point with 13:36 remaining. But what followed were four turnovers in two minutes — including two by Lawson, another by Moss — and a Gator mini-run that re-established control.
Lawson, Bolden and Moss combined for 12 points, 12 missed shots and five turnovers in the second half. Hannibal, who scored four points and had a steal at the end of the first half, sat the entire final period.
So what’s to make of the USC backcourt moving forward?
Couisnard, normally Carolina’s sixth man, is out with a back strain. His status for Saturday’s game at Tennessee (9-5) is unknown. His absence Tuesday led to more Moss — with only a touch of Hannibal. Martin on Tuesday wasn’t interested in detailing why Hannibal didn’t play in the second half, though past comments suggest the freshman from Hartsville lags behind in grasping system concepts to Martin’s liking.
Hannibal and Moss were recruited as point guards, but it’s been Lawson (the last four games) and Bolden (first 10) getting the majority of minutes there this season. It’s clearly a position that remains for the taking in Martin’s mind.
But who will grab it?
“I’m not real happy right now,” Martin said, “but those aren’t decisions I’m going to make after the (Florida) game. It worked out pretty good against Clemson and Virginia. You can sit around after that Stetson performance and say, ‘Well, this guy and that guy and that guy’ ... at the end of the day, your guards set the tone for the team. And our guards set the tone for our team that day.”
NEXT
What: South Carolina at Tennessee
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: Knoxville, Tennessee
TV: SEC Network
Radio: 107.5 The Game in Columbia area
