Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, who suffered a broken hand against Clemson, practiced today. Terrence Campbell, who suffered a broken fibula against Clemson, did not practice.
In response to their decisions on whether to enter the NFL draft, cornerback Stephon Gilmore and defensive lineman Devin Taylor said they are focusing on Nebraska, and their teammates also said they didn’t know anything on that front. I’d expect any news on that to be curbed until after the bowl game.
Also, defensive end Melvin Ingram said he knew about Ellis Johnson being a top candidate for the Southern Miss head-coaching job. Johnson did not speak with the media.
“That’s coach’s decision,” Ingram said. “He’s got to find out what’s best for him and his family and his whole coaching career, so whatever decision he makes, we’ll stand by him 100 percent.”
South Carolina’s SID Steve Fink said everyone is academically OK, so that’s pretty much it on the football front. I can promise a lovely feature story on Jadeveon Clowney and Ingram is coming soon, though.
Also, USC commit Shaq Roland from nearby Lexington High had two touchdowns in the Shrine Bowl, being named South Carolina’s Offensive MVP, which I’m sure Gamecock fans are excited to hear.
Extras from men’s hoops:
The men’s basketball game against No. 2 Ohio State tipped off shortly after football practice ended, and for a while there, it looked like USC could pull off the upset.
The Gamecocks held a four-point lead going into halftime, but ultimately couldn’t contain the Buckeyes in the second half.
Nevertheless, USC coach Darrin Horn felt like it was the best 40 minutes of basketball that his team has played.
“I think so, as far as focusing on the things that we need to and the things we need to get better at and executing them to the extent that we need to for a full game,” Horn said when asked if this was USC’s best game. “We had some lapses and didn’t take care of the ball well enough and rebound like we needed to win the game. In terms of start to finish, focus and energy and being locked in on the things we needed to do to be good, I think it was our best performance.”
USC was outrebounded 34-19, which was crucial to the outcome of the game, as well.
“It ultimately came down to, if you had to pick one thing, rebounding the basketball,” Horn said. “I think that not only in not keeping them from getting rebounds but we didn't get enough of our own. One of our strengths is offensive rebounding, and we only got seven of our 25 misses back. That's something that is an important part of our game and we didn't do a good job on our end offensively.”
Freshman Anthony Gill picked up two early fouls, which sidelined him for most of the first half. He was able to have a big impact in the second half, especially when Malik Cooke busted his eye open and had to head to the locker room.
“Obviously, Anthony is important to our team,” Horn said. “You’re talking about a guy who had 11 points in 18 minutes for us on six shots. He doesn’t play for a whole half, essentially, so that affects our team.”
Bruce Ellington also looked good, though Eric Smith is still the starter. Ellington and Smith actually played the same amount of minutes, so who the starter is at this point is slightly irrelevant, through I feel like Ellington could reclaim that role after the bowl game.
On that note, USC said in a release that Ellington will only miss one hoops game on Dec. 31. He will play in the bowl game on Jan. 2 and then come back to Columbia to play in the basketball game on Jan. 3.
He said it:
This was the quote by Ohio State coach Thad Matta on Jared Sullinger’s injury.
“Jared got taken out because he wasn’t playing defense. He’s perfectly fine and he has no problems. We sent him to the showers because he would not defend.”
And then Matta must have seen the stunned and blank faces on the media, so he cracked a smile.
“No, he has a bruised foot. He got kicked on the play – not belligerently or anything. Somebody kicked his foot and they took him and x-rayed him and we were trying to find out if the South Carolina doctors had him or our doctors because we thought they may tie him down to the x-ray machine. He should be fine.”
Sullinger was taken to Palmetto Health Richland Hospital. He would return, but was on crutches. He only played six minutes in the game, though he did have some interesting things to say on twitter after (see below).
Tweet of the Day: @Jared_Sully0: Today felt like a home game. It was loud as heck for #BuckeyeNation
Sullinger is definitely not the only one to feel this way. It was pretty evident who the majority was when Buckeye fans were able to successfully do a loud “O-H-I-O” chant from section to section at Colonial Life Arena.
Sports story that will be overlooked because of other headlines: From Grantland.com, Concussions in the NHL: Waiting for Science: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7352942/waiting-science
