Gamecocks rout Georgia on the road to snap 6-game losing streak
The season isn’t over yet.
Even though the South Carolina men’s basketball team (6-12, 4-10 SEC) remains very much on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, the Gamecocks showed Saturday afternoon in Athens, Georgia that they still have plenty of fight.
Playing with the kind of ferocity head coach Frank Martin has searched for all season, the Gamecocks snapped a six-game losing streak and soundly defeated Tom Crean’s Georgia Bulldogs, 91-70.
The win marked the second time Frank Martin and the Gamecocks have defeated Georgia this season and the 10th consecutive victory over the Bulldogs since Jan. 4 2017.
“I’m really happy for our guys,” Martin said. “It’s been obviously a hard month of February and a hard year. ... But the spirit of practice yesterday was as good as I’ve seen in a while, and then we went out and played that way today, and we created a presence at the rim offensively and defensively early in the game that gave us confidence.”
3 Observations from USC-UGA
1. Tighter defense
Coming into Saturday’s contest, Georgia ranked fourth in the SEC with 78 points scored per game and third in the conference with a 46.2% team field-goal percentage. The Bulldogs’ star point guard Sahvir Wheeler was coming off the first triple-double in Georgia program history.
Yet the USC defense found a way to bottle them up.
A common refrain from Martin this season has been the need to be a more connected and more physical defense. Known as a defensive wizard, Martin tweaked his high-intensity defensive system mid-season into more of a matchup-zone scheme that he jokingly calls “the Cuban pack-line.”
The Gamecocks have struggled throughout much of the season to properly execute within that defense, recently giving up back-to-back 93 point games against Tennessee and Missouri.
But the Gamecocks defended at a much higher level against the Bulldogs, especially in the first half, where USC held Georgia to just 29 points and 37% shooting from the field. At one point late in the half, Georgia went more than six minutes without scoring.
The Bulldogs looked for a moment like they might have solved USC’s defense in the second half when they cut the margin to just four points, but the Gamecocks never relented.
“They start scoring, scoring, scoring, and after the year we’ve had, our guys might have hung their heads, they could have said, ‘Here we go again,’” Martin said. “Instead we locked in defensively and came up with four consecutive steals that became four open-court baskets, and we popped the game back open, and then we obviously protected that lead the rest of the way.”
The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 37% and committed 19 turnovers.
One of the keys to stopping Georgia was neutralizing Wheeler, who scored a career-high 27 points in the game before he notched his triple-double. Against USC, Wheeler shot just 2-for-13 and scored only seven points. He still racked up five assists and seven rebounds but did little damage on the scoring end. Martin credited guard A.J. Lawson for limiting Wheeler.
“A.J. Lawson, even though he didn’t score in the first half, was phenomenal on his defense on Sahvir Wheeler,” Martin said. “And the guys behind him did their jobs, too.”
2. Couisnard, Hannibal lead backcourt
Sophomore guard Trae Hannibal surprisingly missed USC’s last game at Mississippi State, with Martin providing no specific details other than, “It’s been a hard year, hard moment, hard stretch, and I just gave him a day off.”
On Saturday, Hannibal returned to the court with a renewed energy against the Bulldogs. The burly 6-foot-3, 220-pound guard played with physicality and attacked the rim on both ends of the court. He led the Gamecocks with eight rebounds in addition to scoring 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and tallying five assists.
After the game, Martin praised Hannibal for driving with the ball and for his defensive play, saying he was in the places he needed to be. Martin also reiterated that there was no controversy to read into with Hannibal’s day off.
“Everybody wants to react like he committed some crazy thing and ‘Frank hates him,’ and that’s the world we live in today, man,” Martin said. “You know, sometimes, letting somebody take a deep breath and catch their breath when they’re going through a difficult moment and emotionally not being in a peaceful place is what you have to do. That’s all I did. He wants to win. Trae’s a really good kid, and he’s a really good player.”
Fellow guard Couisnard was even better from an offensive standpoint, scoring a game-high 23 points and snapping a shooting slump with four 3-pointers on eight attempts. Coming into the game, Couisnard was shooting 28.2% from the field and 26.9% from 3.
Playing in just his second game back from an ankle injury, Couisnard scored his most points in a game since he dropped 20 in the second game of the season Nov. 29 against Tulsa. Couisnard credited his teammates and especially junior Keyshawn Bryant — who has emerged as a vocal leader of late — for keeping his spirits up during a difficult sophomore campaign.
“They told me to just keep on playing with confidence and just keep on shooting the ball,” Couisnard said. “Don’t lose your confidence, just keep on being who I am.”
3. Minott starts
Martin tweaked the starting lineup Saturday, giving hulking 6-foot-9, 280-pound freshman Tre-Vaughn Minott his first career start over sophomore Wildens Leveque.
Minott, who joined the team mid-season from NBA Academy Latin America, helped USC jump out to a quick 12-4 lead with six points and three rebounds in the game’s opening minutes. Though Minott would go on to play just 10 minutes, he provided a much-needed early boost and a physical presence in the paint.
“I mean, when was the last time we threw a ball in the post and scored? That’s how we started the game,” Martin said of Minott’s contributions. “I love watching guys post up and catch it and score. It makes me feel better. ... It gave everyone confidence.”
Scoring in the post has been an issue for the Gamecocks all season, especially with junior Alanzo Frink out for the year. While Martin said Minott’s conditioning will limit his minutes on the court, the coach praised Minott’s hands and poise near the rim.
Next USC basketball game
Who: South Carolina (6-12, 4-10 SEC) vs. No. 20 Arkanasas (19-5, 11-4)
Where: Colonial Life Arena
When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday
Watch: SEC Network
This story was originally published February 27, 2021 at 2:59 PM.
