SOUTH CAROLINA MEN’S BASKETBALL
The Gamecocks step out of conference for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge with a visit to Oklahoma State.
1. Climbing the standings
With a win over the Cowboys, Frank Martin would get his 124th win with the Gamecocks and break a tie with Eddie Fogler for fourth most wins in program history. Martin needed six and a half and a half seasons to reach the mark, while Fogler accomplished the feat in eight seasons. With five more wins, Martin will tie Dave Odom for third place, and when he passes Odom it will be an all-Frank top three. Frank Johnson won 174 games over 14 and a half seasons in the 1940s and 50s, and of course Frank McGuire leads the way, with 283 wins over 16 season. McGuire also has a sparkling 0.666 winning percentage
On the other end of the spectrum, J.H. Brown (0-3) and F.E. Scofield (0-1) each went winless in their only seasons, in 1909 and 1910, respectively. In 1911, the team made a significant improvement, finally winning a game and going 1-1 with no coach. If you don’t even need a coach to go .500, maybe the fans who want Martin and Dawn Staley fired might be onto something
2. More records
Credit to Will Helms for digging this one up.
With Silva fully capable of committing all five fouls in every game, he could tie the record in about a month.
The stat does come with an asterisk. Sports Reference, which compiled the numbers, only has data dating back to 2009. In that period, Siena’s Lavon Long and UNC Greensboro’s RJ White hold the current record with 466 career fouls.
Looking at the free throw record, Silva is ninth in SEC history (well, since 1985) in both makes and attempts. Charles Mann holds the SEC record for career attempts, followed by BJ McKie. Silva is more than 200 attempts behind Mann, so that record isn’t in jeopardy. McKie holds the record for free throws made, and is about 200 ahead of Silva in that category as well. Sindarius Thornwell finished his career with the fourth most made free throws and sixth most attempts.
3. The more things change...
Let’s take a trip in the way-back machine all the way to Christmas 2018. It was a wild and crazy time, totally unlike today. The government was in the early days of a shutdown, people were upset over NFL officiating, I was messing up in-game tweets with my inability to count, and the Gamecocks were mired in an ugly four-game losing streak. They were worried about getting a win, not positioning for the postseason.
My how things change.
A month later, the government is in the final days of a shutdown, people are upset over NFL officiating, I am messing up-game tweets because I can’t count, and South Carolina is 5-1 in the SEC with wins over two ranked opponents and in third place in the conference. As unlikely as it seemed a month ago, South Carolina has put it in a position where postseason positioning is an issue. It was the daunting non-conference schedule that set South Carolina up for this moment, but unfortunately, there were no resume-boosting wins to claim. Oklahoma State isn’t helping either. Road wins over quality opponents are a big boost, but the struggling Cowboys are lacking in quality.
Which leaves South Carolina way outside looking in for the NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks need to virtually run the table to get into the conversation. Still, the fact that we’re talking about whether they have a shot at the NCAA Tournament instead of whether they have a shot at the NIT would have been unthinkable a month ago.
Enter your USC-OSU prediction (Gamecock Central Giveaway)
4. “Smashed heads”
South Carolina looked tired against LSU, but instead of giving players some down time after the loss, Martin put them through the wringer. He said he’d rather have a team that was tired physically than unprepared mentally. It paid off, obviously, with a win. Hassani Gravett credited “smashing heads” for getting the bad loss out of their system..
“It’s good for us coming off the loss that we took to LSU,” Gravett said. “We went back to practice, smashed heads, and got prepared for this game. It was good for our team.
Because South Carolina played Auburn on Tuesday, it got a rest day Wednesday in preparation for Saturday’s game. Read more about the extra rest HERE.
5. Scouting the Cowboys
Oklahoma State is coached by former South Carolina point guard Mike Boynton, Jr. Last season, his first season, Oklahoma State was one of the feel-good stories in the nation. Not much was expected from Oklahoma State, with a new coach and the distraction of assistant coach Lamont Evans being arrested in the recruiting corruption scandal.
Instead, the Cowboys won 21 games, including a pair of upsets of Oklahoma, a season sweep of Kansas (the first team to accomplish the feat since 2001), and an upset of Texas Tech, all top ten teams when they lost to the Cowboys. This year has been a different matter, as the Cowboys seem snakebit.
In mid-January, Boynton dismissed three players for a violation of team rules (believed to be in relation to a vandalism incident with a BB gun). He already dismissed two players last season, and Oklahoma State is down to eight scholarship players. Things are so dire, they hosted open tryouts last week to try to find walk-on players to fill out the roster. The Cowboys have lost three straight and five of seven in the Big 12.
The Ws
Who: South Carolina (10-8, 5-1 SEC) at Oklahoma State (8-11, 2-5 Big 12)
When: Saturday, January 26, 2:00 pm
Where: Gallagher-Iba Arena, Stillwater, Oklahoma
Watch: ESPNU
