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*** USC MBB (16-10/7-7) vs. Mississippi St. (16-11/7-7) Game Thread ***

kingofnerf

kingofnerf

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South Carolina (16-10, 7-7 SEC) has another big conference game on Wednesday evening as it welcomes Mississippi State (16-11, 7-7 SEC) to Colonial Life Arena. Both teams are currently T-5th with three other teams heading into tonight's matchups.

Roy Philpott (pxp) and Mark Wise (analyst) will be on site for the 6:30 p.m. (ET) broadcast on SEC Network.

The Gamecocks are seeking to win their fourth-straight in league play, something the team has not accomplished since starting the conference schedule 5-0 in the historic 2016-17 Final Four season.

VENUE: Colonial Life Arena (18,000)
BROADCAST: SEC Network (on-site)
PLAY-BY-PLAY: Roy Philpott
ANALYST: Mark Wise
RADIO: Gamecock Radio Network
IN COLUMBIA: 107.5 The Game
PLAY-BY-PLAY: Derek Scott
ANALYST: Casey Manning
SIRIUS: --- | XM: 190 | SXM APP: 961
WATCH: WatchESPN/ESPN App
LIVE STATS: GamecocksOnline.com
SERIES: State leads, 26-16
in COLUMBIA: SC leads, 10-9
Neutral: tied, 2-2
SERIES TREND: State has won seven of the last nine matchups, and is 2-2 its last four trips to CLA
LAST MEETING: 78-64, State win on Feb. 1, 2022 at Humphrey Coliseum

Miss_St_Up_Next.jpg


https://gamecocksonline.com/news/20...mississippi-state-wednesday-night-to-cla.aspx
 
Here are last night's results:

DATEAWAYHOME
2/22 - Final(17) Tennessee 80Missouri 61
2/22 - FinalGeorgia 77Texas A&M 91
2/22 - Final(18) Arkansas 82Florida 74
2/22 - Final(24) Alabama 74Vanderbilt 72

And the updated standings:

CONFOVERALLHOMEROADNEUTRALPFPASTRK
1Auburn12-224-314-07-23-121551808L-1
2Kentucky11-322-516-05-41-121851762W1
3Arkansas11-422-615-15-32-221701886W3
4Tennessee11-420-714-05-51-219891696W1
5Alabama8-718-1012-23-63-222452125W1
6LSU7-719-813-23-63-019731670L-1
7South Carolina7-716-1010-44-52-118681808W3
8Mississippi State7-716-1113-21-72-219451786W2
9Florida7-817-1112-42-63-119561811L-1
10Texas A&M6-917-1112-43-52-220361868W1
11Vanderbilt6-914-139-74-61-018741807L-1
12Ole Miss4-1013-1410-62-51-318571826W1
13Missouri4-1110-187-82-81-218171972L-4
14Georgia1-146-226-110-90-219742188L-8

Here are tonight's other games:

DATEAWAYHOME
2/23 - 6:30 PM ETMississippi StSouth Carolina
2/23 - 8:30 PM ETOle Miss(3) Auburn
2/23 - 9:00 PM ETLSU(6) Kentucky

UK will handle LSU. We really need a win tonight.
 
Lets GO GAMECOCKS, who will be the man tonight, Keyshawn only played 11 minutes in the last meeting and I think he will come out aggressive with Couisnard, need to get Reese and Stevenson going early by pushing the ball in the low post or driving and kicking it out for the corner 3..
We were out rebounded the first meeting 41-24, this has to be reversed as Widens had 1 and Bryant 0 on the night! If we clean this up we will get win 17 and move into a tie for 5th place in the conference, 1 game above .500 at 8-7! This is a great game to see if we have progressed as much as some think or we are as bad as others seem to think...
 
GMB2USC23 said:
Lets GO GAMECOCKS, who will be the man tonight, Keyshawn only played 11 minutes in the last meeting and I think he will come out aggressive with Couisnard, need to get Reese and Stevenson going early by pushing the ball in the low post or driving and kicking it out for the corner 3..
We were out rebounded the first meeting 41-24, this has to be reversed as Widens had 1 and Bryant 0 on the night! If we clean this up we will get win 17 and move into a tie for 5th place in the conference, 1 game above .500 at 8-7! This is a great game to see if we have progressed as much as some think or we are as bad as others seem to think...
Click to expand...

Bryant has 5 pts on 2-6 shooting - Couisnard leads the Gamecocks with 9 pts on 3-5 shooting despite picking up 2 fouls in the half, while Stevenson has 7 pts on 3-6 shooting.....
 
Gamecocks playing well, Brandon Martin with 7 Reb and huge hustle plays when it was needed, Couisnard and Bryant playing aggressive with Dexter Carter dishing out 5 dimes...
Gamecocks up 64-50 with 3 minutes to play
 
GMB2USC23 said:
Lets GO GAMECOCKS, who will be the man tonight, Keyshawn only played 11 minutes in the last meeting and I think he will come out aggressive with Couisnard, need to get Reese and Stevenson going early by pushing the ball in the low post or driving and kicking it out for the corner 3..
We were out rebounded the first meeting 41-24, this has to be reversed as Widens had 1 and Bryant 0 on the night! If we clean this up we will get win 17 and move into a tie for 5th place in the conference, 1 game above .500 at 8-7! This is a great game to see if we have progressed as much as some think or we are as bad as others seem to think...
Click to expand...

Bryant had a strong 2nd half with 9 pts after the break, to finish with 14 pts on 6-12 shooting. Couisnard led the team with 22 pts on 6-15 shooting, and 8-8 at the FT line.....
 
Gutsy effort tonight...best 40 minutes of basketball we've played this year IMO.
 
Went to the game. We won AND got free chicken.

It was all me, my two pizza slices and Coke. Where my NIL coin at, dang it?

Don't make me choose another program. LOL

Seriously, this was the best basketball I have watched at the CLA since the last few home games of the 2019-20 season before Covid shut down the SECT.

However, THIS TEAM is more balanced and talented than that one by a long shot. I believe we will win out and beat Auburn along the way, too.
 
Big win tonight. We're still on the outside looking in, but closing that gap. Hopefully we keep it rolling against Bama this weekend.
 
Official attendance was 10,129, but it seemed like around 8,500 to me. The lower bowl was nowhere near filled up and only a handful of people in the upper bowl seats.

I have come to actually like the smaller CLA crowds and prefer the weekday home games to those on Saturday. You are not jammed together like sardines and can relax and spread out a little to enjoy the game.

Having said that, the atmosphere was electric from beginning to end. The people that actually attended the game saw how good this team was early on just like me and see how good they are playing now. Coaches, players, and fans were totally engaged from the start of the game until the end.

We are playing our best basketball right now.
 
Here are last night's scores:

DATEAWAYHOME
2/23 - FinalMississippi St 56South Carolina 66
2/23 - FinalOle Miss 64(3) Auburn 77
2/23 - FinalLSU 66(6) Kentucky 71

And the current SEC standings:

CONFOVERALLHOMEROADNEUTRALPFPASTRK
1Auburn13-225-315-07-23-122321872W1
2Kentucky12-323-517-05-41-122561828W2
3Arkansas11-422-615-15-32-221701886W3
4Tennessee11-420-714-05-51-219891696W1
5Alabama8-718-1012-23-63-222452125W1
6South Carolina8-717-1011-44-52-119341864W4
7LSU7-819-913-23-73-020391741L-2
8Florida7-817-1112-42-63-119561811L-1
9Mississippi State7-816-1213-21-82-220011852L-1
10Texas A&M6-917-1112-43-52-220361868W1
11Vanderbilt6-914-139-74-61-018741807L-1
12Ole Miss4-1113-1510-62-61-319211903L-1
13Missouri4-1110-187-82-81-218171972L-4
14Georgia1-146-226-110-90-219742188L-8

Here's our remaining schedule:

DATEAWAYHOME
Sat, Feb 26@ (24) Alabama6:00 PM ET
Tue, Mar 1vs Missouri7:00 PM ET
Sat, Mar 5@ (3) Auburn1:00 PM ET

We can definitely beat Auburn if we continue to play well and beat Bama and Mizzou.

Beat Auburn and we might even be able to do some damage in the SECT.
 
kingofnerf said:
Beat Auburn and we might even be able to do some damage in the SECT.
Click to expand...
And therein lies the perpetual problem with this program... we win a few games in a row, or beat a top-10 opponent, and then we start to read our own press clippings. How about this... we take this one game at a time. First up is 'Bama. That's going to be a TOUGH matchup for us. I don't like our current style of play against that team. Yes, the hybrid zone approach has worked recently. BUT... Bama's got the tools and the quickness to slice that zone defense like swiss cheese AND to exploit the holes that already exist IN the swiss cheese.

IF, and that's a big if, we are able to get past 'Bama, I don't see us having the horses to run with Auburn. They, KY, and TN are simply too good of teams right now. We MIGHT be able to hang around against any of those opponents, if we're firing on all cylinders (i.e. - Cousinard and Bryant keep playing at top levels, Stevenson hits 40% or better from behind the arc, and Reece is playing out of his mind defensively). I just would temper expectations against the top 4 in the league right now (though, honestly, I do believe we can take it to Arkansas with our current level of play).

We get 2 of the next 3, and play well in the SECT with two wins... Then I'm willing to concede we might have a good enough team to work our way into the NCAA conversation.

Y'all know I love Gamecocks basketball. Y'all know I am a Frank Martin cheerleader. But barring an NCAA appearance or signing G.G. Jackson, there are just too many negatives for this staff to stay as it is. (And I'll say right now that IF Ray Tanner retains Frank Martin, he's got to make at least one staff change to keep me on board in the future... We simply cannot continue to have the talent levels we have from our bigs and get almost ZERO production offensively from them. That won't work in the SEC).
 
doublea1971 said:
And therein lies the perpetual problem with this program... we win a few games in a row, or beat a top-10 opponent, and then we start to read our own press clippings. How about this... we take this one game at a time. First up is 'Bama. That's going to be a TOUGH matchup for us. I don't like our current style of play against that team. Yes, the hybrid zone approach has worked recently. BUT... Bama's got the tools and the quickness to slice that zone defense like swiss cheese AND to exploit the holes that already exist IN the swiss cheese.

IF, and that's a big if, we are able to get past 'Bama, I don't see us having the horses to run with Auburn. They, KY, and TN are simply too good of teams right now. We MIGHT be able to hang around against any of those opponents, if we're firing on all cylinders (i.e. - Cousinard and Bryant keep playing at top levels, Stevenson hits 40% or better from behind the arc, and Reece is playing out of his mind defensively). I just would temper expectations against the top 4 in the league right now (though, honestly, I do believe we can take it to Arkansas with our current level of play).

We get 2 of the next 3, and play well in the SECT with two wins... Then I'm willing to concede we might have a good enough team to work our way into the NCAA conversation.

Y'all know I love Gamecocks basketball. Y'all know I am a Frank Martin cheerleader. But barring an NCAA appearance or signing G.G. Jackson, there are just too many negatives for this staff to stay as it is. (And I'll say right now that IF Ray Tanner retains Frank Martin, he's got to make at least one staff change to keep me on board in the future... We simply cannot continue to have the talent levels we have from our bigs and get almost ZERO production offensively from them. That won't work in the SEC).
Click to expand...
I hear ya, but Jermaine wasn't really healthy for the first half of the season.

Couisnard has battled multiple injuries this year, which has kept him off the practice and game courts far too often. While he’s played in eight of the team’s 12 games, he hasn’t always seemed quite like himself.

The last time he suited up came on December 18 against Clemson, and head coach Frank Martin said his veteran shouldn’t have played that day due to an ankle injury. But since that time, Couisnard has been able to heal physically and get into a better mental place after a couple of days on the basketball court.

“He’s had two really good practices,” Martin said of Couisnard in his meeting with the media on Monday to preview the game against Auburn.

“Going home allowed him to take a deep breath and allowed him to get away from the spotlight and responsibility world. Kids put a lot of pressure on themselves in this day and age to perform and play to a certain level. He’s been really good the last two days. Great spirit, he’s not limping around. He’s in a good space right now with his body and his mind.”

Couisnard came into the season with a hamstring injury that cost him weeks of preseason practice time. Then he had a bit of an abdominal injury to slow him down before tweaking his ankle against Georgetown.

All of the injuries have cost him practice time, which has kept him from developing the kind of rapport a point guard needs with the other four players around him.
Click to expand...
https://247sports.com/college/south...ine-couisnard-good-space-right-now-179733501/

Then AJ Wilson tweaked his knee in December, which thankfully didn't require surgery, and Josh Gray suffered a broken wrist during the 78-64 MSST loss on 2-1. We might still get him back in the postseason if he is required to be in a cast for only six weeks or so.

Woodley played flat-footed and lost like a true FR would in December but he's made remarkable process and will be great for us the next few years. He also missed the first MSST game we lost due to the birth of his daughter. Realistically, stuff like that affects anyone's focus as well.

I believe the pieces will fall into place and we just might win out and have a good run in the NCAAT. We are not there yet, but my gut tells me we are going to have a good run in March if we can get there.

The team has the same confident body language it had in December and I think we're are going to do pretty good from here on out.
 
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