South Carolina hosts Vanderbilt Wednesday night with a chance to build some momentum.
1. Who is available?
Devin Carter missed most of the second half against Georgia with a left leg injury. He appeared to grab his hamstring when he left the game, but the injury actually to a muscle around the hamstring. Speaking Monday, Frank Martin said Carter was “day-to-day.”
The good news is that South Carolina made its second half comeback after Carter was already sidelined. The bad news is that Carter provided a definite spark after being inserted into the starting lineup at point guard, and losing him would take away one of the few players who can consistently get to the rim on offense.
“We’ve got to get the ball in the paint and that’s what Devin does,” Martin said.
2. Turnovers
In the first game against Vanderbilt, South Carolina shot 64% in the first half and 54.9% for the game, but had to survive a game-winning attempt by Vanderbilt because 22 Gamecock turnovers kept the Commodores in the game. South Carolina committed 13 turnovers in the first half alone, when they turned the ball over nearly every third possession. It would be a lot easier to win if they could, you know, not do that.
South Carolina was better at taking care of the ball against Florida (nine) and Georgia (11), but still had 23 against Tennessee and 18 against Arkansas. If it’s an every other game thing, that means they are due for a bunch of turnovers Wednesday.
“Turnovers, those are deflating. I was watching the Vanderbilt game last night. We had two plays early in the game where our guards made great plays in the open court. One passes to Wildens (Leveque), hits Wildens in the head,” Martin said. “The other one was Josh (Gray) and he puts his hands down and lets the ball go by him. Those are two catch dunks that give you extra energy. Instead those become very deflating.”
3. And Fouls and Shooting
South Carolina still has to cut down on fouls (Georgia shot 30 free throws) and make shots (38.7% in the first half, 51.7% in the second against Georgia). There’s not much to add.
4. Bryant and Couisnard break out
One of the most encouraging outcomes of the Georgia game was the performances by Keyshawn Bryant and Jermaine Couisnard. Bryant and Couisnard were expected to be veteran leaders this season, but both players have struggled, with Couisnard even sitting out the Arkansas game entirely.
Bryant scored a season-high 19 points and had some of the familiar highlight dunks he was known for prior to this season.
“With Keyshawn I’ve been seeing it coming,” Martin said. “I was happy that he was able to make successful plays in the game which I think allowed him to relax”
Couisnard has missed numerous practices with injuries and illness, with Martin estimating Couisnard has participated in less than half of the Gamecocks’ practices this season. That has impacted Couisnard’s performance, but Martin was confident Couisnard would eventually return to form.
“With Jermaine it’s consistency,” he said. “You’ve got to trust in his experience and who he is.”
Along with Devin Carter, Bryant and Couisnard are two players who can get to the rim.
5. Scouting the Commodores
South Carolina might want to try defending Myles Stute this time around. Stute had 19 in the first game. He’s averaging 7.0 points in the other SEC games and hasn’t reached double figures. Stute was 4-7 from three and 7-8 from the line in that game. He is 12-16 from the line the rest of the season. South Carolina will give Vanderbilt some different looks this time around.
“They did some different things to attack us because of how we try to play defensively, the spacing,” Martin said. “We’ll make some adjustments based on what they did that game.”
South Carolina did a decent job against Scotty Pippen, Jr. He got 17 points, but shot 4-11 and had seven turnovers.
The Ws
Who: South Carolina (11-7, 2-4) vs Vanderbilt (10-8, 2-4)
When: 7:00 pm, Wednesday, January 26
Where: Colonial Life Arena
Watch: ESPNU
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