The Daily Gamecock

Men's basketball defense creates easy offense against Broncos

While the South Carolina men's basketball team had several new faces on the court in its home-opener on Monday, Western Michigan head coach Steve Hawkins wasn’t surprised by the Gamecocks' dominant defensive performance.

“Frank Martin is coaching the team ... when he's on the other side of the floor, you know the way that team is going to play,” Hawkins said. “They are a defensive minded team, defense first and so I thought that they would be executing very well defensively, which they did, that’s going to win them a lot of ball games … it has.” 

The Gamecocks held the Broncos to 36 percent shooting from the field and only 24 percent from three-point land in their 78-60 win at Colonial Life Arena. 

Despite the Bronco’s best guard, Thomas Wilder, scoring 23 points on 8-for-16 shooting, the Broncos were searching to find easy buckets. Only one other Bronco had more than three field goals in the game. 

One of the highlight moments of the first half was when Chris Silva recorded one of his signature "Silva Slams," chasing down a Broncos player who thought nobody was in the area after a breakaway. The ball flew off the backboard to half court where Kory Holden pushed it ahead for an easy score. 

As the Gamecocks began to settle in on defense, the Broncos never got the score margin below 10. As soon as the lead would get in doubt, the Gamecocks went on a run to widen the gap to double-digit figures. 

“If you eliminate some of the bad fouls we committed ... I thought we played well," Martin said. "Fourteen free throws we gave them on bad fouls ... I went home yesterday and I [said], 'You know what, we gonna guard these guys,' because we were on it defensively.”

Despite 42 fouls combined from the Gamecocks and Broncos, the South Carolina defense played well enough to allow the offense to get easy buckets.

With Martin's South Carolina team, defense creates offense, not the other way around. Whe the Gamecocks play well on defense, it usually translates to their offensive success. 

In the first half, the Gamecocks outscored Western Michigan in points off turnovers, a key category for South Carolina.

Despite Hassani Gravett's struggles to score in the first half, the Gamecocks managed a nine-point lead at the break. The second half was night and day compared to the first. The Gamecocks began to hound the Broncos guards, forcing them to take off-balanced shots late in possessions. 

The Gamecocks finished the game leading Western Michigan in points off turnovers, second chance points and fast break points, all created by the defensive intensity Martin instills in his players. Four Gamecocks finished the game with 10 or more points, while eight Gamecocks scored five or more points in the game. 

Halftime adjustments are something the Gamecocks stress to improve play down the home stretch of the game.

"We know to start the second half, they gonna be tired so we try to come up with the energy and punch them in the mouth ... try to play hard, do what we do," Silva said. 


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