Gamecocks close to announcing schedule
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL
The scholarships have been filled, the SC ProAm is over and players get a few weeks off before fall classes start in late August. The only thing left to do is announce the schedule and begin practice.
One of those things may be close, with only 100 days left until the season officially starts. South Carolina's men's basketball account put out a tweet Monday starting the 100-day countdown and mentioned the team is "pumped to release our schedule soon."
While the full schedule isn't announced yet, there have been a few games that have been announced recently.
University of Massachusetts announced its schedule recently and with it announcing the Gamecocks will travel to Amherst for a game on Dec. 4. The two teams last played in 2017 when South Carolina beat the Minutemen 76-70 at Colonial Life Arena.
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Martin likes to schedule road non-conference games that give the Gamecocks games in areas they recruit and allows players to compete close to home.
This game does both, putting a game in the Northeast where Martin likes to recruit and serves as a homecoming for freshman Wildens Leveque, who grew up two hours from Amherst in Brockton.
But, the highest profile game was recently-announced was the Gamecocks' SEC/AAC Challenge matchup against Houston, a team who finished last season 33-4 and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Cougars finished No. 12 in KenPom's rankings, and top 20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency last season en route to a trip to the Sweet 16 and are expected to be just as good next season going up against a talented South Carolina team.
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“We get to host a team that won 33 games last year that was a dominant basketball team," Frank Martin said. "If you follow Kelvin Sampson’s career, you know they’ll continue to be a dominant basketball team. It’ll be a good challenge for us.”
It'll also be a chance for Sampson to get close to home for a game next year.
Sampson, who's entering his sixth season as Houston's head coach, was born in North Carolina and played college basketball at UNC Pembroke.
“Kelvin is one of the great, great coaches in this industry," Martin said. "His ability to put teams together to win games at a high, high level is pretty powerful. He’s done it in every pocket of the country. He’s a North Carolinian and I know he’s excited.”
While South Carolina hasn't announced exact dates for their 18 SEC matchups, they do know the opponents.
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They have home-and-homes scheduled with Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. The Gamecocks' home-only games come against Florida, Kentucky, LSU and Missouri and their road-only games are against Ole Miss, Alabama, Arkansas and Auburn.
Known non-conference games
Houston
Coastal Carolina
at Clemson
Boston—Nov. 19
Gardner-Webb—Nov. 22
Wichita State—Nov. 26 (Cancun Challenge)
Northern Iowa/WVU—Nov. 27 (Cancun Challenge)
at UMass—Dec. 4
at Virginia—Dec. 22
