What went wrong in South Carolina’s home loss to Florida
Despite a spirited second-half run, the South Carolina men’s basketball team couldn’t contain Florida on Saturday.
Returning home to Colonial Life Arena after a road trip to Tennessee, Frank Martin’s Gamecocks (10-6, 1-3 SEC) lost their second straight SEC contest, falling to Florida 71-63. The win was Florida’s (10-6, 1-3) first conference victory of the season.
“The first half I thought Florida set the tone for the energy and the physicality that they were going to play with, and I don’t think we were very good from that standpoint early in the game,” Martin said. “I thought we were better in the second half, but we just didn’t play with the aggression that we have to play with.”
Here’s what we learned about the Gamecocks.
USC shooters scuffle early against Florida defense
Coming into the game, the Gators ranked 34th in the country in KenPom.com’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric and fifth in the SEC in scoring defense with 63.4 points allowed per game. Playing an aggressive full-court press style of defense, the Gators kept USC out of rhythm for the majority of the first half, holding the Gamecocks under 30% shooting for most of the period.
Most notably, the Gators shut down veteran guards and go-to shooters Erik Stevenson and James Reese, who combined for no points on 0-for-8 shooting in the first half.
“I’m not gonna sugarcoat it: Their defensive pressure isn’t anything crazy,” Stevenson said. “We just didn’t make the right reads, didn’t make the right plays, turned the ball over, which has been a theme in conference play. When you give SEC teams turnovers and extra possessions, it’s a recipe for a loss.”
Martin did even less sugarcoating after the game, saying the Gamecocks had practiced for the press but didn’t follow through on what they practiced. Particularly, Martin was disappointed in his point guard play and his guards consistently attacking 6-foot-11 center Colin Castleton at the rim. Castleton finished with eight blocks.
Martin makes lineup tweaks
Coming off a 66-46 loss at Tennessee, Martin made a couple of changes to his starting lineup, replacing point guard Jermaine Couisnard and starting power forward A.J. Wilson — who both struggled against the Volunteers.
In Couisnard’s place, Martin turned to precocious freshman Jacobi Wright, who started eight games at the point while Couisnard recovered from an ankle injury and has shown increased comfort in running the offense. At the 4, Martin turned to a familiar face in senior Keyshawn Bryant.
Those changes seemed to work early, with Bryant opening scoring for the Gamecocks with one of his trademark dunks. After the Gamecocks sputtered for much the first half offensively, Wright made a 3-pointer from the corner in the waning seconds of the half to reduce the deficit to single-digits.
Second-half run not enough
USC carried its momentum from the tail end of the first half into the second half and played much crisper basketball. Both Reese and Stevenson got on the board and snapped their shooting struggles, and guard Chico Carter Jr. provided an offensive boost off the bench.
During a three-minute stretch midway through the half, the Gamecocks went on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to four points, but that was as close as the Gamecocks would get.
The Gamecocks simply couldn’t contain the Gators defensively. After Florida shot 50% in the first, the Gators shot even better in the second half, scoring at a 62% clip.
“We weren’t very good (defensively),” Martin said. “They tried to spread us out and run everything out of an open kind of offense. So when teams do that to us, it’s imperative that when the ball is passed guys run to the ball. We wouldn’t. We would just stand there. And that was across the board today.”
Next USC men’s basketball game
Who: South Carolina at Arkansas
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Arkansas
Watch: SEC Network
This story was originally published January 15, 2022 at 2:50 PM.
