Gamecocks fight injuries, face Ole Miss at home
It’s reasonable to assume South Carolina is operating without much confidence of late, considering the Gamecocks have lost seven of their last eight games.
If that is the case, though, USC coach Darrin Horn doesn’t care. He just wants his team to play hard.
“At this point, I’m not really concerned with confidence,” Horn said Monday. “We went through that a couple weeks ago, and we’re extremely positive and try to stay focused on just continuing to play and make it about competing. I thought we were making some progress when you look at the three halves we put together against Georgia and Tennessee, but Saturday, the minute Kentucky made a few shots and ours didn’t go in, it just seemed like we made up our mind that it was going to be another one of those days.”
USC (13-12, 4-8 SEC) was thumped 90-59 by Kentucky Saturday in Lexington. It was the team’s fifth straight defeat. Many have attributed the late swoon to a lack of experience — the Gamecocks started three freshmen, and six of the eight players in the rotation were underclassmen against UK — but Horn said he doesn’t want to hear that.
“At some point, the inexperience, youth and all of those things really become an excuse,” Horn said. “While that is a reality, we’re also 25 games in, and everybody that’s playing for us has played a lot of basketball this year. At some point, you’ve got to make up your mind that you’re going to compete regardless.”
Now the Gamecocks look to break that cycle against an up-and-down Rebel squad. Ole Miss (17-10, 5-7) is fighting for an NIT bid and coming off a loss to in-state rival Mississippi State.
“I think Ole Miss is a team that obviously has a special guard in [Chris Warren] and that’s capable athletically because of how he can score and how they shoot the basketball in some spots,” Horn said. “We’ve got to make sure the game doesn’t get in a situation where it becomes that type of game because of the challenges we’ve had scoring.”
Carolina will remain hampered by injuries as it faces Ole Miss. Guard Bruce Ellington is still dealing with a bruised left calf, forward Damontre Harris is also less than 100 percent and forward Lakeem Jackson will once again be out with a foot injury.
“We’re still not good,” Horn said. “Obviously Bruce isn’t himself, but he’s not injured. It’s nagging, but he’s not injured. He can play, but he obviously doesn’t have the explosiveness that makes him special in his ability to make plays, especially in transition. Damontre is getting through it. He still has some tenderness and soreness but is playing. Hopefully Lakeem will respond well this week. There’s an opportunity that he’s back on Saturday.”