February 7, 2012

They watched, but didn't dwell.  Analyzed, but didn't agonize.  What was the point?  South Carolina knew it played poorly, and Kentucky - well, Kentucky played like a #1-ranked team.  The tape wouldn't reveal anything new, or different, or rosy.

So when it came time to break down Carolina's 86-52 loss to #1 Kentucky, the Gamecock coaches ritually studied the tape.  But they decided not to share their findings with the players.

"We'll put what's behind us, behind us," Darrin Horn said Tuesday.  "We had a game that we weren't as good as we had been.  Reviewing that game was not going to help us get ready for the next one."

Makes sense.  Why show anything that would undercut your team's confidence heading into a key stretch of SEC play?  What good would that do?  Better to flush it out of your system, and move on to the next one.  Besides, bigger opportunities lay ahead for the Gamecocks.  After a brutal SEC schedule that featured teams with a combined .716 SEC winning percentage, South Carolina's next eight opponents have a combined .384 SEC winning percentage. 

SEC Winning %

1^st 8 opponents:  .716

2^nd 8 opponents: .384

Ugly Is Beautiful:  New Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin has centered his team's identity on defense, rallying around the phrase "Staying Ugly."  The Volunteers don't rank highly in Turnover %, Block %, and Steal %.  They prefer instead to guard players straight-up, and force them to execute their sets to completion.  Martin values defense so much that he benched leading scorer and assist man Trae Golden for the Georgia game, displeased with the sophomore's defensive intensity. 

Tennessee does an especially good job bringing help and rotating over - being "ball conscious," as Horn puts it.  South Carolina had one of its better-executed offensive halves against Florida, stretching the floor with quick passes and slashing from the wings in the 2nd half.  If they can keep the floor spaced, it may neutralize Tennessee's defense.

Broken Glass: Rebounding is as much about establishing an attitude as gaining a possession.  It sets an aggressive, determined tone that coaches hope will spread to the rest of their team's game.  The Gamecocks have always made aggressive, swarming rebounding a priority. 

And We'll Be Counting:  In the last three games of the series, Tennessee has made 65 free throws.  South Carolina has only attempted 40.

There One Day...  It has become one of the most taunting - and tantalizing - developments of the 2012 season.  Freshman Damien Leonard showed off his smooth shooting stroke and heat-up-in-a-hurry ability against Kentucky, scoring a career-high 19 points on 3-6 three-point shooting.  No player may be a bigger "X" factor in the second half of SEC play than Leonard - he can stretch the floor for players like Bruce Ellington, Malik Cooke, and Anthony Gill to penetrate or get isolations. 

But look at Leonard's follow-up games after his biggest high-water scoring marks of the season:

Opponent                             Points Scored                         Next Opponent                   Points Scored

Mississippi Valley St.          16                                           North Carolina                     15

North Carolina                      15                                           Southern Cal                         0

Wofford                                  14                                           USC-Upstate                          1

Kentucky                                 15                                           Vanderbilt                             0

Kentucky                                 19                                           Tennessee                              ?

Leonard's combined shooting in those last three games:  0-10 FG,  0-6 3pt.

Darrin Horn remarked that Damien "showed that he belonged" against Kentucky.  Can he now do it on a more consistent basis?  Staying aggressive, but knowing when to be aggressive? 

Man to Stop:  forward Jeronne Maymon.  Sophomore guard Trae Golden may lead the Volunteers in points (12.9) and assists (4.7).  But given Carolina's struggles containing opponents on the glass, Maymon takes top billing.  A 6'7," 265-pound redshirt junior from Madison, Wisc., Maymon is a hard-nosed forward who both finishes at a high rate (.557 FG, #2 SEC) and also pounds the boards (8.4 rpg, #2 SEC).  He's not quite a raw banger like 6'8," 250-pound freshman Jarnell Stokes, but Maymon likes to drive hard from the high post.