With Evan Hinson and Chris Silva playing reduced minutes due to foul trouble, the South Carolina men's basketball team got a huge performance from its bench in the 66-57 win over the Georgia Bulldogs on Wednesday night. The Gamecocks outscored the Bulldogs 41-17 off the bench, marking the second straight game where South Carolina had 40 or more bench points.
Wesley Myers lead the bench with 15 points, followed by Frank Booker with 14 and Felipe Haase with 12, setting a new career-high in SEC play for Haase. Silva also had 15 despite battling foul trouble.
"Coach Frank [Martin] encouraged us to shoot the ball and be aggressive," Myers said. "You got me, [Booker], Felipe, guys that can shoot the ball. We just come off the bench and try to be very aggressive."
Hasse added that they knew they were going to be needed to make shots and how focused the bench was. Martin acknowledged that it was more than just these last two games, and that the three of them have stepped up.
"Those three guys coming off the bench ... they're giving us a spark coming off the bench," Martin said. "That's why I have stayed with the lineup the way it is. I like that. I like what those guys give us off the bench."
Martin mentioned how big of a difference it is with Haase and Myers making their shots. The two players shot a combined 50 percent during the game and made seven total shots from behind the arc.
"Those two guys were tremendous," Martin said. "When Felipe comes in for Chris, we are trading skill for physicality. So we're giving up physicality for skill. When the ball don't go into the basket, it creates a problem for us, but he did that today."
As they enter the final stretch of the regular season, the Gamecocks hope they can continue to get this same production from their non starters for their final games. South Carolina (15-13, 6-9 SEC) plays at Mississippi State on Saturday.