Some made them wince. Some made them grit their teeth. Others made them shake their heads.
No matter the emotion they evinced, they all felt the same. South Carolina's chance at an SEC-opening win collapsed Wednesday under the weight of 24 turnovers in a 56-54 loss to Mississippi State. After back-to-back games with a turnover count in the single digits, the Gamecocks relapsed at an inopportune time.
When he recapped the game with his team Thursday, Frank Martin wanted his players to have a takeaway beyond - well, the takeaways.
"Rather than make plays to win the game, we played tentatively and unaggressively, and actually made plays to help them win the game," Martin told his players. "It's a process. You have to learn. You have to believe. And you have to go out there and do it."
The Gamecocks will look to put an SEC win in their grasp - figuratively and literally- when they welcome Auburn to Colonial Life Arena Saturday (1:30 p.m. EST, Gamecock IMG Sports Network). After a tepid start, the Tigers (7-7, 1-0 SEC) have played some of their best basketball lately, losing by two points to #12 Illinois before defeating ACC champion Florida State and 9-2 LSU.
Pre-tip reads before the Tigers roll into Columbia:
"Don't Fight Pressure": Martin said in his post-game radio interview that Mississippi State's 1-3-1 zone "bothered us all night." The Bulldogs extended the perimeter, pressured Carolina's guards, and lifted their wing defenders to prevent easy catches. Ballhandlers got sped up. Teammates off the ball weren't spaced properly. The Gamecocks found themselves marooned, with a giveaway often the end result.
The Gamecocks may get a do-over against Auburn, which runs plenty of 2-3 zone under third-year head coach Tony Barbee.
Martin explained his philosophy on handling zone pressure on "Carolina Calls."
"I use a phrase. It's called 'Don't fight pressure.' That means if you don't have the ball, and they're pressuring you, the last thing you do is run closer to the halfcourt line or run to the ball.
"Always try to cut the zone. Run to the rim and move out, rather than fight the pressure by running away from it. We did that [Wednesday] night. It's unfortunate, because if you don't attack pressure, then that pressure eventually overcomes you," he said.
The Gamecocks will need to be strong with the ball, and rotate quickly from side-to-side to escape Auburn's pressure. The Tigers have long, athletic guards at the top of their zone, and guard Josh Wallace (1.8 steals/game) is one of the better pickpockets in the SEC. Auburn forced 23 turnovers in their meeting last year, a conference high for Carolina.
Driven For More: Unable to find consistent creases in MSU's 1-3-1, the Gamecocks scored their lowest percentage of points from the paint and free-throw line this season.
% of Points from Paint/FT Line
Points in paint FTM Total Points %
Mississippi State 20 6 54 48.1 (Season low)
Rider 34 11 88 51.1
Missouri State 20 22 74 56.7
Carolina's two best penetrators, Bruce Ellington and Brenton Williams, didn't score a single basket in the paint against MSU. Barbee has lamented his team's ability to defend the dribble. Can the Gamecocks return to their fearless, slashing ways, and get the high-percentage looks they need?
Man To Stop: Auburn guard Frankie Sullivan. Not to be confused with the Frankie Sullivan who co-founded the band Survivor (which, incidentally, wrote the song "Eye of the Tiger"), Auburn's senior guard has nonetheless played a frontman role. The 6'1," 206-pound Sullivan leads AU with 12.6 points per game, and poured in a season-high 22 against Carolina last year.
Sullivan isn't overly athletic, but makes up for it with craftiness, an accurate shot, and a high basketball IQ. He also has a knack for drawing fouls, where he's ripped off streaks of 27 and 21 straight made free throws in his career.
Martin got an advance screening of Sullivan when Kansas State and Auburn played in the same tournament in Hawaii last year.
"The second you take a play off or catch your breath, he finds a crack and he attacks it. Last year he was pretty much a perimeter shooter," Martin said.
"He kind of didn't do anything off the dribble. This year, he's in attack mode. He's doing things off the dribble. He's getting in the paint. He's getting to the foul line. He's a good player."
Equally important for Carolina: not let a secondary scorer emerge. Pay attention to 6'6" forward Allen Payne - he's scored in double figures in his last three games.
Defend The Three: Dating back to the Presbyterian game, Carolina's opponents have missed their last 20 three-point attempts.
Three-Point Defense (Last 3 games)
Team 3pt. FG
Presbyterian 4-13 (Missed last 3 to end game)
South Carolina State 0-7
Mississippi State 0-10
Most likely to end that drought? Guard Noel Johnson, a Clemson refugee who has rediscovered his shooting stroke in his senior season (43.4% 3pt.).
Physical Exam: When asked to name a defining characteristic of Auburn, Martin sighed.
"We better rebound the basketball," he replied. "Auburn's going to be, I think from what I've seen, the most physical team that we've played against all year. They get on that glass, and they're really physical. It's going to be a big, big part on who finds success - who handles that part of the game."
Perhaps that sigh stemmed from what unfolded against Mississippi State. The Gamecocks' perimeter players grabbed almost as many rebounds (18) as their post players (20).
Rebounds vs. MSU
Frontcourt (Jackson, Kacinas, Chatkevicius, Carrera, Slawson): 20
Backcourt (Ellington, Richardson, Leonard, Williams, Smith): 18
That won't cut it against Auburn, who have several brawny big men led by 6'10," 250-pound center Rob Chubb (9.3 ppg, team-best 7.4 rebounds/game). Payne (5.1 rpg) can also throw his weight around, and the Tigers deploy 7-footer Asauhn Dixon-Tatum (4.7 rpg) off the bench. Can the Gamecock frontcourt "muscle up," and play with the same intensity and abandon that wore down several opponents this season? More importantly, can they do it without running into foul trouble?
And Finally.... Auburn freshman Shaquille Johnson has a high school dunk mixtape that's been viewed more than 2.3 million times on YouTube.
The Gamecocks hope for less friendly skies Saturday.
Our pre-game coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. EST on the Gamecock IMG Sports Network. See you there. -AD--
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