January 25, 2012

There's a difference between defeated and daunted. 

Through four SEC games, the Gamecocks were unquestionably the former.  Wednesday night showed they were far from the latter.  After plenty of flashes and stretches, South Carolina pieced together enough of both to capture its first SEC win, a 56-54 victory over RPI #29 Alabama. 

"We came out and worked like we were undefeated," Darrin Horn said of his team's practices leading up to the Alabama game. 

Now comes the tricky part:  making that win stick on the road.  The Gamecocks face an Ole Miss team Saturday (13-7, 3-3 SEC) that led Florida by as many as 16 points before falling 64-60 Thursday night. 

The Rebels come in defeated. 

Will they be daunted? 

Pre-tip reads before the Gamecocks and Rebels tee it up at Tad Smith Coliseum:

"They have a few more guys who can just go create offensively for them," he said on "Carolina Calls."  "That's going to be a challenge for us, especially on the road.  They create pretty well off the dribble, even from the '3' and the '4' spot.  We're going to need to do a good job defensively of keeping the ball in front."

Horn said his team did its best job all year of denying driving lanes from Alabama's guards.   Against superior slashers like the Rebels' Jarvis Summers, Nick Williams, and Jelan Kendrick, the Gamecocks will need an even better effort.  Ole Miss' biggest strength comes on the boards:

-          1st SEC rebounding margin, SEC games (+9.8)

-          2^nd SEC rebounding offense (40.0)

-          2^nd SEC offensive rebounds (13.6)

If Carolina can't contain Ole Miss' dribble penetration, it'll result in more rotations off the ball - which could leave the Gamecocks out of position for rebounds.

...And On the Other Side:  As the Alabama game illustrated, South Carolina is a different team when R.J. Slawson and Anthony Gill are active on the boards.  After combining for just 3 rebounds against Auburn, "Slaw" and "AG" had 9 rebounds apiece against the Crimson Tide.  Most importantly, the Gamecocks lost very few "chase-down" rebounds, where a shot caroms away and a player must beat his opponent to the ball. 

Ole Miss ranks 23^rd in the nation in 2pt. FG% defense (33.7%).  Alabama ranks 12th.  To be successful, the Gamecocks must follow the same blueprint from Wednesday:  rebound their misses and not waste possessions on turnovers. 

Man To Stop:  Reigning SEC Player of the Week, forward Terrance Henry (right).  The Rebels no longer have dynamic point guard Chris Warren - and his rabbinical beard - as their instant-offense alpha dog.  In addition, leading scorer Dundrecous Nelson (11.2 ppg) was dismissed from the team in January for a violation of team rules.  The Rebels have instead turned to Henry, a 6'9," 210-pound forward with a soft touch around the perimeter.  Darrin Horn describes Henry as "long and versatile," and he has the ability to open the floor for his teammates.  He's also nimble enough to be a defensive headache - head coach Andy Kennedy matched him on Mississippi State point guard Dee Bost, and placed him at the top of a 2-3 zone against Georgia. 

Horn on Holloway:  Paired alongside Henry in the frontcourt will be Rebel-turned-Gamecock-turned-Rebel-again Murphy Holloway.  The Irmo native played his first two seasons in Oxford before transferring to South Carolina.  After sitting out the 2010-11 season, Holloway opted to return to Ole Miss.  

Darrin Horn gave his first comments about facing Holloway on "Carolina Calls":

"I'm actually looking forward to seeing him just personally.  [He's a] terrific kid.  I really enjoyed having him in our program.  He's doing what we all know he does well - rebound the basketball, and finish at the rim, and use his great athleticism for the Rebels."

The Gamecocks won't need a lengthy scouting report on Holloway.  He's athletic, active, and a powerful offensive rebounder.  He also has a dominant left hand and a nifty spin move off the dribble.  But Horn shrugged off the notion that their familiarity with "Big Murf" gives them an edge.

"The thing is, what he's good at, he's good at every night.  He's hard to key on.  He's just a terrific athlete that's very active around the basket.  I don't know if there will be much to our advantage on that," he said.

One For The Road?  The home team has won 18 of the last 20 games in this series.  Former SEC West teams are a combined 61-8 at home this year (.884).

Lakeem Jackson will try to deliver a rare win for the road team in this series.

State of Rebellion:  Ole Miss played a sagging 2-3 zone against Georgia, daring the Bulldogs to shoot 3's and choking down driving lanes for Georgia guard Gerald Robinson.  South Carolina, as we've seen all year, plays its best when it makes a concerted effort to play inside-out.  After an abysmal 5-31 three-point performance against Alabama - even Darrin Horn called it "horrific" - will Ole Miss use the same tactic against the Gamecocks?

Force The Forcing:  Ole Miss has six guards on its roster.  Five of them are freshmen.  That lack of seasoning shows up most in Ole Miss' turnovers and three-point shooting.  Like Alabama, Ole Miss shoots an alarmingly low 28.3% from three-point range, good for 328^th in the nation.  The Rebels also commit an SEC-high 15.6 turnovers per game, more than one turnover worse than the next biggest offender.  Can the Gamecocks force the Rebel guards into forcing action in the halfcourt, and disrupt the flow of Ole Miss' offense?

And Finally... Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy played his freshman season at North Carolina State, where he played on the Wolfpack's 1987 ACC Tournament championship team.  One Gamecock had a front-row seat for Kennedy's only year in Raleigh:  head baseball coach Ray Tanner served as N.C. State's 45-second shot clock operator at the time.

Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy as a freshman at N.C. State (#21).  You might know the Wolfpack's shot clock operator that season.

 "Andy Kennedy, sharpshooter," Tanner replied when I asked him about Kennedy.

Tanner also served as official scorer during the Jim Valvano era.  But when it came to operating the shot clock, he wasn't above giving his alma mater a slight home-court advantage.

"I liked watching the game better than keeping the score.  You could also start [the clock] a little later when the Wolfpack had the ball," Tanner said slyly.

The clock for the Gamecocks starts at 7:00 p.m. Saturday.

Now that we're prepared, we hope you are as well.  Our coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. EST on the Gamecock IMG Sports Network.  We'll see you in Oxford.

January 25, 2012

Pre-tip reads before South Carolina and Alabama collide under the CLA roof:

Pressure Points:  At the end of the day, scouting reports only offer clues, not facts.  Heading into their contest against South Carolina, Auburn had played mostly a 2-3 zone defense.  Outside of the Gamecocks, no SEC team had trotted out more zone than the Tigers.  When the ball tipped, though, Auburn abandoned it for a pressuring man-to-man, crowding Carolina's ball-handlers and making it difficult for them to "catch and create." 

Twenty-three turnovers later, the Gamecocks trudged out of Auburn Arena with a 63-52 loss.  However, the Tigers may have unwittingly prepared the Gamecocks for the defense they'll face Wednesday.  Alabama (13-6, 2-3 SEC), under the steel-melting gaze of head coach Anthony Grant, plays a withering man-to-man which puts the Tide near the top of the NCAA defensive charts:

-          12^th NCAA in scoring defense (57.5 ppg)

-          7^th NCAA in field goal percentage defense (37.3%)

-          8^th NCAA in 3-point percentage defense (27.6%)

-          3^rd NCAA in effective field goal percentage (41.5%)

(as of Jan. 24)

Alabama doesn't trap excessively, overload, or full-court press at every opportunity.   Rather, they pride themselves on "staying in front" and not allowing easy shots.  Darrin Horn mentioned the need to get "easy ones" against Alabama - namely stickbacks and fast-break baskets, before Alabama's defense can set. 

Also important: don't be timid.  In the last two games, Alabama's opponents have 69 free throw attempts to their 35.  Can South Carolina play hard-nosed, fearless basketball, and get easy points at the foul line?  Can Bruce Ellington shrug off the pressure that he knows will come, and still be an effective penetrator?  If he has to play facilitator, can Damien Leonard, Brian Richardson, or Malik Cooke keep the floor stretched with catch-and-shoot jumpers?  Cooke, in particular, may need to take charge - he's only hit 1-9 three-pointers in conference play.

Can South Carolina drive hard like Malik Cooke (right), and get to the free throw line against Alabama?

Last 2 games

Team                      FTA

Alabama                35

Opponents            69

Man to Stop:  Alabama small forward Tony Mitchell (left).  His frontcourt running mate, preseason 1^st Team All-SEC pick JaMychal Green, may drip more newspaper ink, but nobody drips more athleticism on the Tide than the 6'6," 210-pound junior from Swainsboro, Ga.  Mitchell earns "Man To Stop" status because he averages close to a double-double for his career against the Gamecocks (12.3 ppg, 9.7 rpg in 3 games). 

Mitchell is a skyscraping leaper who primarily scores off cuts, offensive rebounds, and transition opportunities.  His ballhandling has tightened, and his ability to score off the dribble has improved, but it still isn't a featured part of his game.  Mitchell will also have the motivation of shaking off a terrible shooting slump - in his last two games against Vanderbilt and Kentucky, he has averaged 3.0 ppg on 2-17 FG. 

Rele-vant Information:  Looking to curb your 2^nd-half defensive struggles?  South Carolina should look no further than Alabama point guard Trevor Releford.  Check out Releford's scoring splits over the last 2 games:

Opponent                             1st Half Pts.                          2^nd Half Pts.

Vanderbilt                             0                                              14

Kentucky                                0                                              17

TOTAL                                    0                                              31

I don't think I've seen anything like that before.  Releford, by the way, rated as Scout.com's 10^th-best point guard in the Class of 2010.  Bruce Ellington ranked 12^th.

Jack-ed Up?  In three career games, junior Lakeem Jackson has averaged 10.7 rebounds/game against Alabama.  He set his career high with 14 boards against the Crimson Tide in the 2010 SEC Tournament in Nashville.

Three pointers?  They don't happen often with Alabama (Right:  freshman Trevor Lacey).

Conversely, the Gamecocks rank 332^nd in the nation in 3pt. defense, permitting 40.1% shooting from three.  Will Wednesday's game offer relief to the rained-upon Carolina defense?  Here's the quirk:  the next highest major-conference teams in 2pt. FG distribution have all faced the Gamecocks.  And all three knocked down more three-pointers than they were accustomed to: 

Opponent                             2pt. Distribution (NCAA Rank)                          vs. USC

Alabama                                62.9% (2^nd)                                                            ??

Southern Cal                         62.3%  (8^th)                                                            53.9%

North Carolina                     61.9%  (12^th)                                                         52.9%

Ohio State                             61.6%  (13^th)                                                         59.4%

South Carolina allowed too many easy drives against Auburn, where the help-side defender stood motionless.  Alabama will want to attack inside.  Can the Gamecocks be more aggressive in their help-side defense, and dare Alabama to beat them from three?  Or will the Crimson Tide defy their three-point percentages like Carolina's other opponents?   

No Trespassers:  Damontre Harris broke his previous career high with 6 blocks against Auburn, most of them of the malevolent, highlight-reel quality.  After rejecting Kenny Gabriel on a baseline dunk in the 1^st half, Harris shook his head wistfully, as if to say, "What were you thinking?"

I asked Harris what he learned most in his freshman season as the backup to Sam Muldrow, Carolina's all-time blocked shots leader.

"He taught me about timing," Harris told me before practice Tuesday.  "You have to anticipate, stay low, and always be ready."

Equally impressive, Harris logged a career-high 37 minutes against Auburn while only committing one foul.  He'll need to bring that same floor presence against Alabama's imposing front line.

And Finally... Brian Richardson's first scholarship offer came from Anthony Grant.  He offered him while still head coach of VCU.

Now that we're prepared, we hope you are as well.  Our pregame coverage starts at 7:30 p.m. EST on the Gamecock IMG Sports Network.  We'll see you at Colonial Life Arena.

"I thought the most impressive group was the South's defensive line. Melvin Ingram, Courtney Upshaw and Quinton Coples, to me, are all first-round picks, and they've all played like first-round picks. I'm particularly interested in Ingram, because he's got an atypical body type at 6-foot-2 and 276 pounds. You've got to figure out how to use him, but he's played really well so far."