South Carolina heats up at right time in win over last-place Georgia. What we learned
Riding three straight losses heading into Saturday’s bout with Georgia, senior South Carolina forward Keyshawn Bryant promised that his team was “gonna figure this out.”
It took some time, but late in Saturday’s game the Gamecocks finally did.
On the strength of a second-half surge, the Gamecocks (11-7, 2-4 SEC) put away Georgia 83-66, dealing the Bulldogs (5-14, 0-6) their sixth conference loss while snapping USC’s own losing streak.
“I don’t come here in September and tell you I like a team and then tell you in November and December I like a team and then dislike them because we lost some games,” head coach Frank Martin said after the game. “They’re good dudes. ... This last three weeks is going to make us a much better basketball team.”
Here’s what we learned about the Gamecocks.
USC veterans step up in big second half
With nine new players on this year’s roster, head coach Frank Martin has emphasized the importance of the team’s veterans contributing on game day. Bryant, junior Jermaine Couisnard and center Wildens Leveque have all dealt with their fair share of inconsistency this season. Couisnard missed time with an ankle injury and had been ineffective upon his return, sitting on the bench Tuesday for the entirety of the Arkansas loss.
But with the Gamecocks staring at their fourth straight loss, and a loss to the SEC’s last-place team, both Bryant and Couisnard found another notch in their games Saturday, helping to fuel a game-changing 24-0 Gamecocks run.
Couisnard gave the Gamecocks their first lead since early in the first half with back-to-back transition layups, and he finished with 15 points, scoring 10 in the second half. Martin sat Couisnard at Arkansas because he said the guard wasn’t in the right mental place to play. Couisnard credited the support of his teammates to help him get back into form.
“I think that they gave me real courage to play how they know I can play and what I can do,” Couisnard said. “So they keep me confident even when I get down on myself sometimes.”
Bryant, meanwhile, electrified the crowd with a one-handed slam and mixed in a pair of 3-pointers to finish with 19 points. And though he’s technically a first-year Gamecock, veteran guard Erik Stevenson stepped up, too, leading the team with 20 points.
The trio of Couisnard, Bryant and Stevenson accounted for all 24 points of the team’s 24-0 run, and combined they scored 39 of the team’s 47 second-half points.
USC fixes key issue in second half
Excessive fouling has been one of the major issues plaguing the Gamecocks during conference play, and that issue struck again early. In the first half alone, the Gamecocks sent Georgia to the free-throw line 22 times, and the Bulldogs made 21 of those free throws — accounting for half of their 42 first-half points.
Even worse for USC, the players who got in foul trouble were players the Gamecocks could ill afford to lose. Freshman Devin Carter, who made his second straight start at point guard, and Bryant both spent most of the first half on the bench after committing two fouls apiece.
But the Gamecocks played a much cleaner second half by comparison, sending Georgia to the line just eight times, and the Bulldogs made just four free throws in the half.
“At the end of the day, the difference in the game is we didn’t foul every single play (in the second half),” Martin said. “Our help defense did its job, on-the-ball defense, we didn’t reach, we didn’t grab. We moved our feet. And then when they tried to drive, our help-side defense didn’t get out of the way, didn’t grab, didn’t foul. They did their job, and then we rebounded, which allowed us to get out and run.”
Carter gets hurt
In a bit of bad news for the Gamecocks, the dynamic freshman Carter injured himself early in the second half on a one-handed slam dunk, and he walked off the court clutching the back of his left thigh.
Carter walked straight to the locker room, and though he’d return to the bench later in the half, he didn’t check back into the game, wearing a towel over his head as he watched from the sidelines. Carter’s left leg was wrapped, and Martin said after the game that Carter has a strained hamstring. The severity of the injury is not yet known.
Next USC men’s basketball game
Who: South Carolina vs. Vanderbilt
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Colonial Life Arena in Columbia
Watch: ESPNU
This story was originally published January 22, 2022 at 5:36 PM.
