Scuffling Gamecock men host No. 5 Kentucky on Tuesday. How to watch, what to know.
The last time Kentucky came to Columbia, in 2020, the South Carolina men’s basketball team upset the Wildcats on a Jermaine Couisnard buzzer beater.
For the Gamecocks to have a chance against the No. 5 Wildcats (19-4, 8-2 SEC) on Tuesday night, they’ll likely need similar heroics.
Frank Martin’s Gamecocks are reeling at an inopportune time, coming off consecutive losses at Mississippi State and against No. 22 Tennessee at home. With just eight games remaining in the regular season, USC (13-9, 4-6) is running out of opportunities to build its postseason resume.
The Gamecocks looked disjointed at MSU and in the second half against Tennessee, struggling to create open looks on offense and to create a paint presence on either end of the court. Martin’s teams pride themselves on physicality, but in recent games, the Gamecocks have been out-muscled on the glass.
“Screening guys, getting guys open, being physical on the block, having a presence in the paint — teams like Tennessee and Kentucky and Auburn, they all have those things,” said a somber Erik Stevenson after the Saturday loss to Tennessee.
The Gamecocks have none of those things right now.
The big men, in particular, have scuffled since SEC play started, with Martin calling his frontcourt play “embarrassing” after the loss to the Vols. Tennessee dominated on the boards, pulling down 18 offensive rebounds compared to just two for USC. Martin lamented that his guards have been better rebounders than his forwards.
Starting center Wildens Leveque has gone silent from a scoring standpoint after finishing non-conference play on a tear, and the Gamecocks have been thin behind him. Sophomore Josh Gray broke his left wrist against Mississippi State and is wearing a cast, which could limit his playing time moving forward. He sat against the Vols. Freshman Ta’Quan Woodley missed three games after the birth of his daughter, but is expected to return against Kentucky and could give that group a jolt.
Point guard, too, has been a revolving door, rotating between the veteran Couisnard and true freshmen Jacobi Wright and Devin Carter. Sidelined by injuries, Couisnard hasn’t had the kind of junior season USC hoped for, but he was a key cog in each of the second-half comebacks that fueled USC’s three-game SEC winning streak in late January. And he has a history of stepping up against the Wildcats.
Can he step up again?
“If you connect the dots on our team, when Jermaine plays well, we tend to play well,” Martin said Monday. “And it’s important that he have a good practice today, in good spirits, and that he goes out there and contributes against Kentucky. Whenever your point guard plays well, your bigs tend to play better and it’s kind of a connection that always takes place.”
The Gamecocks will need to bring everything they have against a Kentucky team that leads the SEC in scoring, rebounding margin and field-goal percentage. Kentucky forward Oscar Tshiebwe averages a double-double per game with 15.8 points and 15.2 rebounds and will be a challenging test for Leveque and USC’s bigs, while four other Wildcats average double-digit points.
The game represents a massive opportunity for the Gamecocks to improve their season standing, but Martin said he doesn’t want to oversell the importance of one game with seven SEC contests remaining afterward.
“If we beat Kentucky on Tuesday, are we gonna have a parade because we beat Kentucky?” Martin said. “And the last seven teams are gonna say, ‘Oh, they beat Kentucky. Let’s line up and not play.’ This league is really, really hard.
“The season doesn’t end after Kentucky game.”
Next USC men’s basketball game
Who: South Carolina vs. Kentucky
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Colonial Life Arena in Columbia
Watch: ESPN/2
