SOUTH CAROLINA BASKETBALL

South Carolina’s final non-conference game is a Monday matinee against Stetson. This will be a little shorter than usual. I spent the weekend doing Christmas things with kids, also known as hyper little humans with lots of germs.

1. Keeping momentum

South Carolina is coming off its biggest non-conference win in years against then-No. 9 Virginia on the road (although in typical South Carolina fashion, it occurred on an NFL Sunday days before Christmas - meaning easy to ignore), and a win over Clemson before it. The goal today is to keep that positive momentum going.

“Last year, we head into the Christmas break playing pretty good, but losing games,” Martin said. “This year we went into the Christmas break playing pretty good and winning games. So I’m anxious to see how we go about our business.”

Stetson doesn’t have the name or resume of those two, but a win is a win, and a loss would be a black mark on an otherwise solid non-conference resume. Coming off the Christmas break, the concern isn’t so much a letdown as it is rust. South Carolina should win, but the layoff could be an issue.

“We schedule stuff in a certain way so that first night back is a lot of running,” Frank Martin said. “Everybody gets the nonsense out of them, including myself.”

2. About that resume...

With conference play on the horizon across the country, we have a better idea of just what South Carolina’s non-conference resume looks like. South Carolina is currently 88 in the NET rankings (the highest of any “Carolina” school). As for the losses, losing at home to Boston University looked bad then, and looks bad now. The Terriers are 6-7 with an ugly five-game losing streak that followed the South Carolina game, and are 206 in the NET rankings.

The other three losses aren’t bad at all. Wichita State and Northern Iowa each have just one loss - to West Virginia - and are just outside the AP top 25. Wichita State is 10th in the NET rankings, and Northern Iowa is 23rd. Houston is not as strong, but is still a solid 39th.

Martin relentlessly bangs the drum for quality losses, three of the four are not a hard sell. BU, on the other hand, is just bad, and the Patriot League is not very strong, so even if BU goes on a conference winning streak, it probably won’t mean a whole lot.

3. No more DII

This slot in the schedule was traditionally filled by a Division II program. Martin valued it as a glorified scrimmage while also providing exposure to a small program. But after being dinged for schedule strength the past two seasons (the games didn’t count toward postseason consideration), Martin reluctantly changed his philosophy to add another Division I opponent.

So unless you really wanted to watch the Redbox Bowl or the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl, you have a decent basketball game to watch today.

4. Star Wars game

Monday’s game is the annual Star Wars game. You know the drill: in-game promotions, a baby race, dress up like your favorite character, etc. But mostly, it means Baby Yoda memes!

5. Scouting the Hatters

While researching the Hatters, I ended up down a rabbit hole on the history of hats. John B. Stetson, the founder of the Stetson hat manufacturer and the developer of the eponymous cowboy hats (he wanted to replace coonskin hats originally worn in the Old West), donated large amounts of money to Stetson University, which renamed itself in his honor. Thus, the Stetson mascot is the “Hatters” and the mascot is named “John B.” All of this might be more interesting than the Hatters’ basketball program.

Stetson is coached by Donnie Jones, a member of the Billy Donovan coaching tree. It’s been a rocky start for Jones. Stetson is 5-9, has lost four straight, and is 327th in the NET rankings. That’s not good. But Stetson does play decent defense, holding opponents to 41 percent shooting. Stetson also takes almost 20 threes per game, and South Carolina is vulnerable to three point shooters.

“Stetson’s got a big man (Mahamadou Diawara) who’s pretty good,” Martin said. “And they've got a guard (Rob Perry) that’s scored 35 in a game and 29 in a game. They were both four-star rated guys in high school and they’re pretty good.”

Perry is shooting 44 percent from three, and made six in a game earlier in the year. He is averaging 15.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Diawara is averaging 13.8 points and 7 rebounds per game.

The Ws

Who: South Carolina vs Stetson

When: Monday, December 30, 3:00 pm

Where: Colonial Life Arena

Watch: SEC Network+