SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL

Jair Bolden took his man off the dribble early in Sunday’s game over Virginia, stopped short, pulled up and drained a three.

He flashed a smile, jogged down the court as Maik Kotsar put both arms up flashing threes and sticking his tongue out and a lively crowd fell silent again at John Paul Jones Arena.

But understanding that moment, and Jair Bolden’s insane performance as he lifted the Gamecocks to a 70-59 win over No. 9 Virginia, starts two weeks ago after a blowout loss to Houston.

“I knew I hadn’t been playing my best. I felt like I could do more to help the team but I wasn’t performing I was capable and the way he thought I was capable of,” Bolden said Sunday. “It’s not a good feeling. You feel like you’re letting the team down and guys down. Talking to him, he’s reassuring and telling me what he thought I could get better at."

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The Gamecocks (8-4) found themselves on the end of a 1-3 stretch after a 20-point loss at home to Houston.

Bolden bottomed out with seven points in just 17 minutes and had played just 25 minutes of a possible 80 over his last two games and

That prompted a meeting with head coach Frank Martin, something Bolden initiated himself to figure out what he could be doing better.

“He showed up in my office and we had a great 20 to 30 minute conversation. Jair’s a great teammate and a good dude,” Martin said. “My message to him was he’s too good of a teammate and too good of a person to be so deep into your own feelings. The reason he’s not being aggressive is because you’re too consumed with yourself right now.”

Whatever was really said in that talk worked, although it took some time.

Bolden still wasn’t playing with the aggressiveness Martin wanted him to the first half at Clemson and was actually benched coming out of halftime, but since then he’s been great.

Over his last three halves of basketball, he’s shooting 55 percent from the field—50 percent from three—and has scored 32 points, capped with a 22-point performance against No. 9 Virginia.

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“Give him credit. He had a great second half (at Clemson) and parlayed that into a great week and came out here ready to go,” Martin said. “When he jumped up and made that three early in the game, it gave our guys some life. Jair’s a real good player. I’m still trying to figure out how to put him in the best possible scenarios to be successful.”

His game against the Cavaliers will go down in Gamecock history as one of the better performances in an upset win.

Bolden went off for 22 points, shot 8-for-13 from the field (4-for-6 from three) and hit one filthy step back jumper, the moment he knew he was ready to go that day.

It seemed like everything he threw up was going in, and that’s a byproduct of being more confident and settled into the offense.

“We’ve been in the gym a lot this week knowing how they play defense,” Bolden said. “Coach Frank gave us a good idea of how they play and the shots we were going to get. I was just in the gym working on the shots we were going to get, trying to simulate as well as we could the shots we’d get in the game. I worked on those shots.”

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He’s settling into a new role his last two games, playing more off the ball with AJ Lawson taking more point guard duties.

It’s playing well into the offense's numbers with the Gamecocks averaging 68.5 points over their last two games, both road wins over ACC schools.

“I’m comfortable on ball and off ball,” Bolden said. “The way we play offense, it works well for both of our games. It’s not a matter of where I’m more comfortable. I’m comfortable in both and I think AJ is comfortable too. Frank’s putting us in a position to play to our strengths.”