*** USC MBB (2-1) vs. UAB (3-0) Game Thread ***

[kingofnerf]

The Gamecocks (2-1) open a three-game homestand at Colonial Life Arena on Thursday when Andy Kennedy's UAB (3-0) Blazers visit Columbia.  The meeting is the fourth all-time between Carolina and UAB, and the first meeting since the 1992-93 campaign.  Dave Weinstein (play-by-play) and John Williams (analyst) will have the call for the SEC Network+ broadcast, which tips at 7 p.m. ET, while Derek Scott (play-by-play) and Casey Manning (analyst) will have the call over the air for the Gamecock Radio Network.

GAME INFORMATION
ARENA: Colonial Life Arena (18,000)
BROADCAST: SEC Network+
  PLAY-BY-PLAY: Dave Weinstein
  ANALYST: John Williams
RADIO: Gamecock Radio Network
  IN COLUMBIA: 107.5 The Game
  PLAY-BY-PLAY: Derek Scott
  ANALYST: Casey Manning
  SIRIUS: - | XM: 192 | SXM APP: 963
WATCH: WatchESPN/ESPN App
LIVE STATS: GamecocksOnline.com
  SERIES: South Carolina leads 2-1
  IN COLUMBIA: Carolina leads 1-0
  SERIES TREND: The Gamecocks have won two straight in the series
  LAST MEETING: 75-68 Gamecock win on Dec. 28, 1992, at the Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Mass.

https://gamecocksonline.com/news/2021/11/17/mens-basketball-gamecocks-open-three-game-homestand-hosting-uab-thursday.aspx

 

[kingofnerf]

Should be a good one like those battles with Ole Miss when AK coached the Rebels.

Git those Fighting Andy Kennedys.

 

[gamecock88]

35-25 good guys at the half.   Carter continues to impress.  Stevenson having a great game so far.  4-5 shooting and 3-3 from 3.   

 

[ConwayGamecock]

Gamecocks lead 35-25 over UAB at the end of the 1st half. Erik Stevenson has come alive in this game offensively - he leads the Gamecocks with 11 pts in 14 minutes on 4-5 shooting - 3-3 from the 3-pt. line. Devin Carter has 7 pts in 10 minutes, on 3-4 shooting. Overall the Gamecocks are 14-31 (.452) from the field, and 4-8 (.500) from behind the 3-pt. line. Defensively they've held UAB to .323, .214, and .250 from the field, the 3-pt. line, and the FT line in the 1st half. Hopefully this keeps up for the 2nd half......

 

[gamecock88]

Ruh roh.   We quit scoring.  Lead down to 5 

 

[ConwayGamecock]

Ugly, ugly basketball. Frank Martin basketball. It's anti-basketball basketball. Both teams shot poorly on an equal level for the 2nd half, but South Carolina's brand of basketball involves massive levels of turnovers nand fouls to keep giving the ball back to their opponent, and to keep stopping the game clock while the opponent goes to the free throw line to cut into the lead, tie the game, and take the lead over for the game. Frank Martin basketball.

Even with the lead in the closing seconds of the game, Reese fouls UAB most likely because he was programmed by Martin to do so, sending the UAB player to the FT line with the game clock stopped to inch his team closer to our lead. It's all by design, for some insane reason.

Gamecocks win 66-63. UAB had the ball for the last shot with 2 seconds left, but missed the shot. We escape an ugly game with the win.....

 

[gamecock88]

Hung on to win by 3.   2nd wasn’t pretty but we won.   Carter with some pretty clutch free throws at the end.   

 

[Swayin]

For context, Sagarin's rankings had us #92 in the country before this game, and UAB #71.

 

[Swayin]

Ugly, ugly basketball. Frank Martin basketball. It's anti-basketball basketball. Both teams shot poorly on an equal level for the 2nd half, but South Carolina's brand of basketball involves massive levels of turnovers nand fouls to keep giving the ball back to their opponent, and to keep stopping the game clock while the opponent goes to the free throw line to cut into the lead, tie the game, and take the lead over for the game. Frank Martin basketball.

Even with the lead in the closing seconds of the game, Reese fouls UAB most likely because he was programmed by Martin to do so, sending the UAB player to the FT line with the game clock stopped to inch his team closer to our lead. It's all by design, for some insane reason.

Gamecocks win 66-63. UAB had the ball for the last shot with 2 seconds left, but missed the shot. We escape an ugly game with the win.....

agreed. It's usually not pretty basketball by any stretch.

 

[markymark550]

I agree that it was an ugly game, especially the last 8-10 minutes. I don't have a gripe about Reese committing that foul. I'd much rather make the opponent shoot 2 free throws than let them hit a game tying 3, or God forbid hit a 3 and get fouled. That's definitely something that will vary from coach to coach though. I haven't seen any data analysis of that specific situation, but I imagine that you win more games in regulation by fouling instead of straight up defense.

I'm really enjoying watching Devin Carter play. He's still learning and adapting to the collegiate level, but you can definitely see why he was a top 100 recruit. The future looks bright for him.

 

[kingofnerf]

Went to the game.  So did Devin Downey, who they gave a shout out to in the second half.  Also Gamecock Jesus.

I will say it was a typical weekday OOC home crowd of about 7-8K.  Say what you want, but it was still an exciting game and the home crowd definitely mattered in this one, so I take full credit for the win.  There was enough offense by us to keep the crowd into it most of the game.  

It was UAB, but it was also a team coached by Andy Kennedy, who led Ole Miss to an SEC Championship.  AK knows how to compete with Frank's teams in his sleep and it showed tonight.

Here are my thoughts after finally being able to watch a game in person without the WatchESPN nonsense:

Erik Stevenson.  Dude has a killer 3-pointer stroke and was great on defense, but was also prone to fouling like Kotsar used to be.  The students were a good chunk of the home crowd tonight and he is pretty popular with them.  They were hollering, "Erik, Erik, Erik" as he was walking back to the bench after he went down with an injury.  He will get better and be good for us as the season progresses.

Jermaine Cousinard.  Most of the first half, it was like watching Duane Notice play PG, but he eventually got settled in and played pretty good.

Offense.  The whole team seemed stiff during the first half if you were there and watched the facial expressions and body language.  We looked like a bunch of new guys having to play a new system and learn to play together at the same time.

Defense.  I think this is the best defensive team out of the box since the 2016-17 season.  These guys still need to work on their offensive moves, but the defense looked solid to me most of the game.

Rebounding.  I believe we were about even with UAB on rebounds, but I think that was because of AK's higher-level coaching pedigree more than anything else.  The Blazer really scrapped for the rebounds.

This game had the same electricity to it as the last few games of the 2019-20 season before the SECT was canceled.  We were playing good on both sides of the ball and it was great.

I am sure the upcoming Wofford game will be a great one to go to as well.

 

[ConwayGamecock]

Went to the game.  So did Devin Downey, who they gave a shout out to in the second half.  Also Gamecock Jesus.

I will say it was a typical weekday OOC home crowd of about 7-8K.  Say what you want, but it was still an exciting game and the home crowd definitely mattered in this one, so I take full credit for the win.  There was enough offense by us to keep the crowd into it most of the game.  

It was UAB, but it was also a team coached by Andy Kennedy, who led Ole Miss to an SEC Championship.  [COLOR= rgb(153, 0, 0)]AK knows how to compete with Frank's teams in his sleep and it showed tonight.[/COLOR]

Here are my thoughts after finally being able to watch a game in person without the WatchESPN nonsense:

Erik Stevenson.  Dude has a killer 3-pointer stroke and was great on defense, but was also prone to fouling like Kotsar used to be.  The students were a good chunk of the home crowd tonight and he is pretty popular with them.  They were hollering, "Erik, Erik, Erik" as he was walking back to the bench after he went down with an injury.  He will get better and be good for us as the season progresses.

Jermaine Cousinard.  Most of the first half, it was like watching Duane Notice play PG, but he eventually got settled in and played pretty good.

Offense.  The whole team seemed stiff during the first half if you were there and watched the facial expressions and body language.  We looked like a bunch of new guys having to play a new system and learn to play together at the same time.

Defense.  I think this is the best defensive team out of the box since the 2016-17 season.  These guys still need to work on their offensive moves, but the defense looked solid to me most of the game.

Rebounding.  I believe we were about even with UAB on rebounds, but I think that was because of AK's higher-level coaching pedigree more than anything else.  The Blazer really scrapped for the rebounds.

This game had the same electricity to it as the last few games of the 2019-20 season before the SECT was canceled.  We were playing good on both sides of the ball and it was great.

I am sure the upcoming Wofford game will be a great one to go to as well.

This is a good point: Frank coached alongside AK under Bob Huggins at Cincinnati for the 2004-05 season, then coached under him when Kennedy took over as interim HC there after Huggins resigned for 2005-06. Martin rejoined Huggins at Kansas State for 2006-07, after Kennedy left to take over the Ole Miss program. So both head coaches should be familiar with each other's style of play, which should make for tough, balanced wars of attrition on the court....

 

[kingofnerf]

I bought my ticket online through Ticketmaster rather than going directly to the box office on game day for a single-game ticket like I have done in the past.

They scanned my ticket barcode and none of the concession stands accepted cash; only debit or credit card payments were accepted.

I wore my mask when I was around a lot of people in the CLA itself, but people were spread out in the stands where I sat and the mask caused by glasses to fog up, so I took my mask off when I was sitting in the stands.

I really only wore the mask when I went to buy concessions or go to the bathroom and when I was leaving the arena to go home after the game.  I just put my glasses in my shirt pocket the times I wore my mask so they wouldn't fog up.

Not bad.  Almost back to normal if you were in the habit of going to the home games like me before Covid.  I do think the digital ticket stuff is here to stay, though, for the time being.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Good win last night, terrible last 3-4 minutes minus some clutch free throws. 

 

[kingofnerf]

Good win last night, terrible last 3-4 minutes minus some clutch free throws. 

Erik Stevenson didn't play well in the second half and fouled out toward the end of the game.

There were some things you see from the stands that you don't see on TV.

Erik got into foul trouble early in the game and then got hacked pretty bad going for a rebound.  When he finally came back into the game late in the second half, he didn't defend with his arms up.  They were always down at his side and UAB's guys on the perimeter always had a clear look for passes and you could see how that really made a difference in our defense.  He wasn't tired because he was on the bench with 4 fouls for most of the second half.

After his last foul, he gave the guys on the UAB bench a "screw you" look.  You could tell by his body language on the sidelines that AK came here to beat Frank last night.  He looked disgusted going into the tunnel at halftime.  We only out-rebounded the Blazers 37-36 because UAB was battling for rebounds like an SEC team would have and that's because of their coach.

Stevenson needs to play with more discipline, but he sparked the team many times in the first half.

It wasn't just him, though.  Leveque, Gray, and Reese all played with the kind of tenacity Frank likes and expects.

I think we will improve during OOC play and be competitive in time for SEC play in January.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Erik Stevenson didn't play well in the second half and fouled out toward the end of the game.

There were some things you see from the stands that you don't see on TV.

Erik got into foul trouble early in the game and then got hacked pretty bad going for a rebound.  When he finally came back into the game late in the second half, he didn't defend with his arms up.  They were always down at his side and UAB's guys on the perimeter always had a clear look for passes and you could see how that really made a difference in our defense.  He wasn't tired because he was on the bench with 4 fouls for most of the second half.

After his last foul, he gave the guys on the UAB bench a "screw you" look.  You could tell by his body language on the sidelines that AK came here to beat Frank last night.  He looked disgusted going into the tunnel at halftime.  We only out-rebounded the Blazers 37-36 because UAB was battling for rebounds like an SEC team would have and that's because of their coach.

Stevenson needs to play with more discipline, but he sparked the team many times in the first half.



It wasn't just him, though.  Leveque, Gray, and Reese all played with the kind of tenacity Frank likes and expects.

I think we will improve during OOC play and be competitive in time for SEC play in January.

I agree, last night was really encouraging.  I heard some of the pre game analysis on 107.5 yesterday and they were really talking up UAB.  Vegas obviously agreed with them as UAB was favored.

 

[kingofnerf]

This is a good point: Frank coached alongside AK under Bob Huggins at Cincinnati for the 2004-05 season, then coached under him when Kennedy took over as interim HC there after Huggins resigned for 2005-06. Martin rejoined Huggins at Kansas State for 2006-07, after Kennedy left to take over the Ole Miss program. So both head coaches should be familiar with each other's style of play, which should make for tough, balanced wars of attrition on the court....

When Frank was at KState he was always win one/lose one against Bill Self at Kansas.

I hope we get better and have some good games down the road.

Looking forward to Patrick Ewing bringing the Hoyas down here in December.

 

[kingofnerf]

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