Alabama quashes Gamecock comeback attempt, puts dent in USC’s postseason hopes
Coleman Coliseum has not been kind to Frank Martin’s South Carolina basketball team.
The Gamecocks haven’t won a game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama since 2009 and are winless in the building in the Martin era. On Saturday night, the Gamecocks lost their seventh consecutive road matchup to the No. 24 Crimson Tide (19-10, 9-7 SEC) as a second-half comeback attempt fell short in a 90-71 loss.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Gamecocks (17-11, 8-8), but more importantly it represented a missed opportunity to bolster the team’s postseason resume with just two more games remaining in the regular season.
“You don’t lose momentum because you lose a game,” Martin said. “We’ve won seven of our last 11 now. Last year’s team had no chance to win. We had lost our fight. We lost our fight in late January. We had no chance to win. This team’s got a lot of fight. We’re not gonna lose our fight because we lost a game.”
A missed opportunity for USC
Though the Gamecocks won four straight games — including a Quadrant I win over LSU — they saw little movement in NET rankings, bumping up to 89th in the country. Though NET isn’t the only criteria the selection committee looks at, its importance has increased in recent years and the Gamecocks remain out of range for the NCAA tournament.
With a win against Alabama, ranked No. 23 in the NET, South Carolina could’ve added a jolt to its resume, with ESPN bracketology expert Joe Lunardi saying before the game that USC would move to “under consideration” with a win.
The Gamecocks still have a chance to improve their standing, with games against Missouri and an elite Auburn team remaining. But with just two Quadrant I wins on its resume, the Gamecocks will need to make a run in the SEC tournament.
USC turnovers fuel Bama in first half
Alabama is not the kind of team you want to give extra possessions, and the Gamecocks did exactly that in the first half Saturday.
The Gamecocks turned the ball over 15 times in the first half alone, leading to 22 Alabama points. And where the Tide did the bulk of its damage is at the 3-point line. The Gamecocks struggled to guard the perimeter, allowing Alabama to make nine 3-pointers in the first half and finish the game with 13.
“I think we actually had a good game plan,” senior guard Erik Stevenson said. “The first 20 minutes of that game, we just didn’t play with enough energy, enough fight. It was pretty lackadaisical, to be honest. We found ourselves in too many situations on the defensive end where we were too spread out.”
Guard Jahvon Quinerly did the bulk of that damage with 18 first-half points as Alabama took a 23-point lead into halftime.
Second-half comeback falls short
The Gamecocks have won five games this season after trailing by double-digit points, and they nearly pulled off the feat yet again on Saturday.
After trailing by as much as 25 points, the Gamecocks cut the deficit to six points midway through the second half, going on a tear offensively and tightening up defensively. The Tide made just one of its first 15 field goals in the second half before it recaptured its form from the first half and rebuilt a double-digit lead.
Veterans Stevenson (17 points), James Reese (14) and Jermaine Couisnard (13) helped fuel the second-half run, but it fell just short.
“I just don’t want to say I’m proud of the team for fighting,” Stevenson said. “I want to win. I’m trying to get to the tournament. This one would’ve really helped. But at this point we’ve got to go home and take care of business.”
Next USC men’s basketball game
Who: South Carolina vs. Missouri
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Colonial Life Arena in Columbia
Watch: SEC Network
This story was originally published February 26, 2022 at 8:01 PM.
