USC still in contention for SEC men’s basketball title

South Carolina was in this position before and fell out when Kentucky handed the Gamecocks their first home loss of the season, leading to a shocking loss at Missouri. A good, even great season was still in play but USC was kicking itself for having given away a terrific opportunity.

But another chance arrived.

Players watched Texas A&M beat Kentucky and LSU lose Saturday after USC beat Florida, and every one thought the same thing. “We’re still in this.”

“Seeing those two top teams lose, it’s definitely just motivation,” junior Duane Notice said. “We all sent out a mass text in our group chat and spoke about, ‘We can really do this.’ We screen-shot a picture of the standings.”

The standings don’t lie. USC, along with LSU and Texas A&M, is a game behind first-place Kentucky with four to go. The Gamecocks have tiebreakers over the Tigers and Aggies, plus Florida and Vanderbilt, each a game behind the teams tied for second. If the SEC tournament began today, USC would be the No. 2 seed.

While a double-bye in the tournament would be grand (only once since 1998 have the Gamecocks not played on the first day of the tournament), USC is zeroing in on the one-game difference between it and Kentucky. While the Wildcats have the tiebreaker for the No. 1 tournament seed, all USC has to do is tie Kentucky at the end of the year to claim an SEC regular-season championship.

The second chance at doing so begins Wednesday against Tennessee.

“Last week, I was worried about our team, I really was. I thought we were fragile,” coach Frank Martin said. “Being able to figure out a way to overcome that adversity kind of gives us a confidence in each other again, to go out there and finish this season strong.”

USC’s final four regular-season games start with the Volunteers in Columbia, a month since UT pasted the Gamecocks in Knoxville. The Gamecocks’ effort was fine in that game but they could never get consecutive baskets or stops in the second half.

The star of that game, Tennessee guard Kevin Punter, scored 36 points. Punter is questionable for Wednesday after sitting out the Vols’ win against LSU with a stress fracture in his foot. Coach Rick Barnes said he wouldn’t expect Punter to play against the Gamecocks, but the injury is day-to-day and he’s not sure what will happen once tipoff approaches.

Not going against a player who averages 22 points would certainly benefit USC, but the Gamecocks aren’t looking at that. Notice pointed out Missouri booted Wes Clark just before that game and look what happened.

USC’s approach is to look at the situation, not at who may or may not play. The Gamecocks win, and the title/double-bye scenarios continue to flourish. The screen-shot put it in every player’s mind.

“If we’re there and our guys would be more consumed with mass-texting each other about some party on campus Saturday night, I’d be concerned about that,” Martin said. “They’re mass-texting each other about something that should be relevant and exciting to them this time of year.

“Those are the kind of guys you want. I want guys that don’t run away from things. I want guys to get excited … to do what that text message said, that’s going to be real hard. But it’s doable.”

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 2:30 PM with the headline "USC still in contention for SEC men’s basketball title."