The Daily Gamecock

Column: Silva needs to stay out of foul trouble for Gamecock run

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As the Gamecocks men's basketball team heads down the stretch in SEC play, they are in good shape to make the NCAA Tournament with superstar Sindarius Thornwell leading the charge. However, the Gamecocks’ success in the NCAA Tournament this year depends on the play of Chris Silva and not Thornwell.

Another year in Frank Martin’s system has allowed sophomore Silva to flourish. The athletic forward has almost doubled his points and blocks per game, while also significantly improving his rebounding totals and free throw percentage.

Despite these improvements, Silva’s Achilles' heel through two years at the college level has been his inability to stay on the court and it has been even more evident in his sophomore year.

Almost every game Silva has found himself in foul trouble, leading the SEC in fouls by a wide margin while only ranking 81st in the conference in minutes per game. As Silva goes with fouls, so does the team.

The Gamecocks lack depth when it comes to versatile big men such as Silva and it has shown when he fouls out. The Gamecocks are 2-6 this year when Silva has fouled out, and 17-1 when he has played the full duration of the game, with that only loss being to Final Four contender Kentucky at Rupp Arena.

When looking at the numbers it is clear that Silva’s consistency of play is even more important than Thornwell’s. At first glance most would argue that the team’s success relies on Thornwell, yet in the SEC Player of the Year candidate’s eight lowest point totals of the season, the team is 8-0.

Silva's fouling problem was on display in both of the Gamecocks’ recent back to back home losses. In the Alabama game, Silva fouled out of the game in the first overtime of the eventual four overtime marathon. This forced the Gamecocks to play small and made them unable to defend Alabama’s size in the paint.

Much of the same occurred two games later against Arkansas, as Silva fouled out just as the Gamecocks were able to cut the Razorbacks lead to two with just under three minutes left. This foul seemingly thwarted any momentum the Gamecocks had and ended their comeback.

The Gamecocks have the pieces to make a deep tournament run, as a Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight appearance is within reach with the suffocating defense that Martin has employed and the installment of productive role players this year.

Regardless, if teams in the tournament are able to get Silva to commit fouls early on, this could be a disappointing one-and-done performance from a team with tremendous potential.


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