Frank Martin’s Gamecocks beat Georgia, snap losing streak. What we learned
South Carolina needed this one.
Riding three consecutive losses, Frank Martin’s Gamecocks (14-10, 5-7 SEC) got back in the winning column with a 80-68 road victory over last-place Georgia (6-19, 1-11) on Saturday.
The win was USC’s 12th in a row over Georgia in series history, but — more importantly — it keeps the Gamecocks afloat in their hunt for postseason basketball. With just six games left, USC has more work to do to build its resume, starting with a road trip at Ole Miss on Tuesday.
“This one was big time,” said freshman Devin Carter, who finished second on the team with 21 points. “We talked about having a good practice yesterday and a good shootaround today and then having a good game to make us feel good going into the rest of our season so we can make a run at the tournament, so this one was huge. We all came together as a team and said we needed it, and we went and did it.”
Here’s what we learned.
Gamecocks rip off big run
Much like the first meeting between these two teams in Columbia, when the Gamecocks went on a 24-0 run to put away the Bulldogs in the second half, USC once again came from behind.
This time, the run came much earlier in the game.
After trailing by as much as eight points early in the first half and struggling with turnovers, the Gamecocks tightened up midway through the half and went on a 20-0 run to jump ahead of the Bulldogs, powered by two 3-pointers by Erik Stevenson and seven points from Keyshawn Bryant.
Those kinds of runs have become commonplace in Gamecocks wins. Before losing three games in a row, the Gamecocks won three straight on the strength of second-half runs.
Martin switches to zone defense
Typically, when the Gamecocks go on a lopsided run like they did on Saturday, it’s because they’re making defensive stops and scoring in transition.
That was again the case Saturday, but with an added wrinkle.
Martin is known for his aggressive, denying man-to-man defense, but the 10-year USC head coach has mixed in more zone looks the last couple of seasons. With USC struggling through COVID-19 cases and postponements last year, Martin shifted his defense to a zone defense he jokingly called, “the Cuban pack-line.” On Saturday, Martin employed a 2-3 zone halfway through the first half, and Georgia had no answer for it.
That switch helped key the Gamecocks’ 20-0 run, as they made stop after stop on the defensive end and dominated the boards against the smaller-sized Bulldogs, finishing the game with a 41-27 rebound advantage.
The Gamecocks started the second half playing their traditional man-to-man, but Martin switched back to the zone after Georgia rallied to tie the score. Martin said that part of the rationale behind the switch is that USC’s man-to-man defense “has slipped” of late due to the level of effort and practice reps required to run his system. Martin said that top assistant Chuck Martin recommended mixing in more zone defense this summer, and the head coach credited his assistant for pushing him on it.
“He’s educated me on it,” Frank Martin said. “He’s educated our players, our staff on it, and our players believe it, and I believe it.
“Without that zone, there’s been some days that our man hasn’t been great, which I anticipated going into the year because we got so many first-year guys, but I’m real happy with that zone and what it’s done for this team, because it’s the first time we’ve played it that way.”
USC’s Keyshawn Bryant red hot
Coming into the season as USC’s top returning scorer, Keyshawn Bryant has had somewhat of a disappointing senior season from a statistical standpoint. He opened the year suspended for the team’s first five games due to a violation of USC athletic department policy, and in the time since, he has struggled to impact games the way he did a season ago. He averaged just 7.8 points per game heading into Saturday.
But Bryant has been playing his best basketball the past two games, starting with his first double-double of the season earlier in the week against Kentucky, in which he put up a team-high 18 points and 14 rebounds.
Bryant carried that momentum into Saturday’s game, where he scored seven points during USC’s 20-0 first-half run and finished the game with a season-high 22 points. Though not known as a 3-point shooter, Bryant made three of his four attempts beyond the arc, scoring from all over the floor.
“I worked on my shot a lot,” Bryant said. “That’s one thing I tried to focus on in the offseason. I feel like I shoot it pretty good. I just feel like I haven’t been able to show it because I haven’t been able to stay in the game for foul trouble a lot. Just trying to find my rhythm. I feel like now I’m starting to find my rhythm, starting to stay out of foul trouble and it’s starting to show.”
Next USC men’s basketball game
Who: South Carolina at Ole Miss
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where: SJB Pavilion in Oxford, Mississippi
Watch: ESPNU
This story was originally published February 12, 2022 at 4:04 PM.
