Vanderbilt tops Gamecocks for first SEC win of season. What went wrong for USC?
On Saturday night, Vanderbilt won just its fourth Southeastern Conference game in three seasons.
Half of those wins have come against South Carolina.
After the Gamecocks had seemingly righted the ship in Wednesday’s 24-point victory over Georgia, Frank Martin’s team came out flat on the road against the last-place Commodores and gifted them their first SEC win of the season.
Behind an electric Scotty Pippen Jr., Vandy (5-8, 1-6 SEC) defeated the Gamecocks, 93-81, dropping USC to 2-4 in conference play. The loss marked the second time that USC has allowed 90-plus points in the past eight days, after the team lost to Auburn, 109-86, a week ago.
Vanderbilt held the lead for all but one minute of the 40-minute contest.
Martin said the Gamecocks were “awful,” “lethargic” and “unfocused” in practice Friday.
“And from the first possession of the game today — our first defensive possession — I knew we were in trouble,” Martin said. “Because when you’re completely out of sync to the basic rules that you go into a game with on the first possession, you got zero chance of ever getting it right.”
The game was marred by turnovers, miscommunication and unsightly air balls.
“I’ve never been on a team that’s shot as many airballs as we shot today,” Martin said.
The head coach couldn’t pinpoint why there was a lack of effort and fight, and he said he didn’t want to blame COVID-19 for it. He pointed to the team’s loss to Houston on the road before their first COVID-19 pause as another example of his team coming “apart at the seams like the suits I used to buy before I became a head coach.”
The Gamecocks led that Dec. 5 game against the Cougars at halftime but couldn’t finish. The same held true against Vanderbilt on Saturday night, as the Gamecocks did narrow the deficit midway through the first half but could never take firm control.
Junior A.J. Lawson provided the bulk of USC’s offensive production, scoring 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting. He agreed with Martin that the team was lacking in focus.
“For me, I just feel like I gotta step up more in a leadership (role), communicate with my guys more, be a loud leader on the court,” Lawson said. “I’ve been here a lot. I’ve played all these teams already. I feel like I just have to lead my team and help in any way I can.”
3 Observations from USC-Vandy
1. Turnovers fuel Vandy fastbreak
Guards Seventh Woods and Jermaine Couisnard combined for eight turnovers in a sloppy first half for the Gamecocks, allowing Vanderbilt to get out in transition and score easy baskets inside. The Gamecocks finished with 16 turnovers overall, leading to 26 Vanderbilt points.
There were also several instances where the Gamecocks failed to properly execute their fast-break defense.
“We usually have three guys crashing and two guys falling back,” Lawson said. “Today another part of the communication problems is we had the three guys crashing, but we didn’t have anyone coming back. So they got a lot of transition points.”
2. Defense can’t slow Pippen, Evans
Pippen Jr. and fellow guard Maxwell Evans combined for a whopping 52 points, as the Gamecocks defense had no answer for either player.
Together, Pippen Jr. and Evans made eight of 13 3-point attempts.
“They were knocking down shots,” Lawson said. “They were being aggressive. And in transition they were just doing what they do and trying to get transition buckets.”
Whatever defensive adjustments USC made against Georgia on Wednesday clearly didn’t stick at Vandy. Pippen and Evans alone nearly scored as many points (52) Saturday as the Bulldogs scored (59) on Wednesday night.
Defense is a point of pride for Martin, whose ball denial pressure defense is a trademark of his coaching style. But the head coach dialed back the pressure against Georgia with more zone looks and more emphasis on defending the gaps.
That contain-style defense had seemed to suit the team’s personnel better, but the Gamecocks showed none of the cohesiveness that they displayed against Georgia.
“We changed the defense, and all Vanderbilt did today was drive the ball,” Martin said. “... They drove the ball, and they got all the way to the rim. And we’re supposed to be in gaps — not denying — to prevent the ball from getting to the rim.
“But we were not very good on the ball, and the guys off the ball didn’t commit to helping each other.”
3. Hannibal hurt
One of the few bright spots on the night for the Gamecocks was the play of sophomore guard Trae Hannibal, who made all four field goals for 10 points and only committed one turnover while running the point.
He left the game in the second half with a back injury, but Martin said Hannibal should be good to go and said he was pleased with the sophomore’s energy.
“He played with a little energy and enthusiasm, so he stood out like a sore thumb today,” Martin said. “He tried to take that charge, and it was a pretty intense collision, and he was airborne and landed flat on his back. And then once he was out of the game, his back tightened up a little bit.
“And because of the score, I wasn’t going to put them back out there. Our trainer feels like he’s gonna be OK.”
Next USC basketball game
Who: South Carolina (4-6, 2-4 SEC) at Florida (10-4, 6-3)
Where: O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida
When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday
Watch: SEC Network
This story was originally published January 30, 2021 at 10:30 PM.
