Fearless Felder personifies Gamecocks' remarkable Sweet 16 run
GREENVILLE – Because of the wonderful things he did on the basketball court Sunday night at Bon Secours Wellnes Arena, South Carolina 5-foot-10 freshman guard Rakym Felder is going home.
The Brooklyn, N.Y. native epitomized the Gamecocks’ gritty, dazzling and stunning second half comeback against Duke as USC toppled college basketball royalty in front of a raucous and frenzied crowd in the Upstate and millions of astonished viewers watching around the country at home, in bars, at airports, wherever.
Felder drained a crucial 3-pointer from LONG range (at least 30 feet) when the Gamecocks were nursing a one-point lead and sank 9-of-10 free throws as USC took the lead for good with 12 minutes remaining and fended off Duke the rest of the way, maintaining a 7-to-10 point lead for most of that stretch.
Felder’s lone second half triple ignited a 15-7 Gamecocks run over a 5-1/2 minute span that pushed USC’s lead from a single point (49-48) to nine points (64-55) with 6:31 remaining. Duke got no closer than six points the rest of the way.
His reward? The Gamecocks are headed to the Sweet 16 for a Friday prime time matchup against Baylor at Madison Square Garden. Tipoff is set for 7:29 p.m and can be seen on TBS.
The second game at MSG features an SEC-Big Ten matchup between Florida and surprising Wisconsin, which knocked off No. 1 seed Villanova on Saturday.
Scoring Felder demonstrated Sunday night that the future of Gamecocks basketball is bright even with the departures of seniors Sindarius Thornwell, Duane Notice and Justin McKie, and the possible loss of P.J. Dozier to the NBA Draft.
You could even argue Felder is THE future of Gamecocks hoops. If so, the genesis of his transformation from little known freshman backup guard to major contributor occurred Sunday night on college basketball’s biggest stage.
“For a freshman point guard, he's been phenomenal,” USC head coach Frank Martin said. “He's been a spark off the bench for us all year. We've won games because he comes in there and he's aggressive and he's fearless of the moment. He loves the big stage.”
Felder’s 15 points in 21 highly productive minutes Sunday night marked his highest single game offensive output since he netted 19 points against Texas A&M in early January.
Felder played his freshman high school season at Indian Land High School in Lancaster County before relocating to Brooklyn, where Martin discovered him at Lincoln High School. Those connections to the Palmetto State paid off handsomely for the Gamecocks during recruiting.
Since South Carolina was his “dream school,” Felder wanted to play for the Gamecocks badly. All Martin had to do was offer.
“I needed a New York City point guard. I like New York City guards,” Martin said. “That's why I went and found Rakym. We're lucky he has family in our state. This was his dream school. Recruiting him might be the easiest recruiting job I've ever been a part of in my career. I had one phone call. That’s all it took. He committed without visiting. Unbelievable.
“Some guys you recruit them for three years and you don't get them. He wanted to come. He was in from our first conversation. And that's why he's so committed to what he's doing. He wanted to be a Gamecock. There was no questions asked. And that's why he is so committed and so proud to be playing at the school that he dreamt of playing at growing up.”
As soon as Felder stepped on campus, senior guard Sindarius Thornwell (also a Lancaster County product) and the other veteran players took him under their wing and showed him the Gamecock way of doing things.
“He's like a little brother to Sindarius and PJ (Dozier),” Martin said. “You learn a lot about your freshmen based on the way your seniors help them. Our seniors go out of their way to help him. It's been like that from day one. So I know our seniors respect him. I know I respect him.”
Felder and sophomore forward Chris Silva (career-high 17 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth career double-double) combined for 25 of USC’s 65 second half points, with Thornwell and Duane Notice combining for 27 points.
“He has the heart of a giant,” Thornwell said of the 210-pound Felder. “He doesn't care who we're playing. He doesn't care how big the guy is, whatever the guy, what he has or nothing, He just has a heart that won't stop. He won't back down to anybody. For him to be a freshman and to give us that spark off the bench is tremendous. He is a big part of our team.”
Those 65 points were the most ever scored against a Mike Krzyzewski team in a single half. Remarkably, the Gamecocks had a 51.4 percent shooting differential from the first to the second half.
“We wouldn't be in the Sweet 16 if we were a bad offensive team,” Martin said. “Nobody shoots 71 percent. But that's why they call this thing March Madness. I was extremely happy at halftime (Gamecocks trailed just 30-23 despite making only 7-of-35 shots). I told our guys that someone's gotta have courage and make shots.”
The Gamecocks have occasionally faltered at the free throw line this season, but they were clutch on Sunday night, making 21-of-23 free throws in the second half. Duke kept fouling and the Gamecocks kept sinking the foul shots until the Blue Devils finally conceded with 14 seconds remaining.
After shooting just 20 percent (7-35) in the opening period, the Gamecocks sizzled in the latter half, making 20 of 28 field goal attempts (71.4 percent), an incredible success rate reminiscent of Villanova’s flawless shooting performance in the 1985 national championship game against Georgetown.
“In the first half, we settled for some threes we didn’t have to settle for,” Martin said. “We stopped that. We got production from our big guys at the rim, which then made their defense collapse and allowed us to then get better look (from long range).”
Key to the turnaround? The Gamecocks attempted just five 3-pointers in the second half compared to 17 in the first half. Instead, they drove to the basket and either scored layups or were fouled.
“We got the ball inside,” Thornwell said. “Chris (Silva) did a great job of just posting up and we fed him. And he played good for us the second half. Chris was the difference in the second half. He showed up big time for us.”
No wonder CBS/TBS analyst Charles Barkley described USC’s second half in these words: “I've been watching basketball a long time. That's one of the greatest turnarounds from awful basketball to great basketball. Take your hat off to Coach Martin.”
Keep shooting like that (and making free throws) and the Gamecocks could shock the nation and land in the Final Four in Glendale, Ariz.
NOTES:
-- The Gamecocks advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 or more teams. The Gamecocks improved to 6-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
-- Duke was ranked No. 7 in both major national polls this week., Sunday night’s win was South Carolina’s first over a top 10 team since a 64-60 win over No. 9 Iowa State on Jan. 3, 2015.
-- South Carolina’s 84.4 free throw percentage (27-32) was a single-game record for the Gamecocks in the NCAA Tournament. The 27 made free throws were also a single game high.
-- With at least one game left in his Gamecock career, Thornwell has 1,876 career points, trailing Devan Downey (1,901) by 25 points for fourth place in the school record books. Thus, if Thornwell scores at least 24 points against Baylor, he would become just the fifth player in Gamecock history to reach 1,900 career points.
-- Notice appeared in his 135th game for South Carolina on Sunday night, tying Brandon Wallace (2004-07) for first place in the school’s record books.
SWEET 16 MATCHUPS (March 23-24)
South Carolina vs. Baylor (East)
Florida vs. Wisconsin (East)
North Carolina vs. Butler (South)
UCLA vs. Kentucky (South)
Kansas vs. Purdue (Midwest)
Oregon vs. Michigan (Midwest)
Gonzaga vs. West Virginia (West)
Xavier vs. Arizona (West)
