South Carolina prepares to face Auburn Tigers on road Saturday
South Carolina has had a week to process its three straight losses in conference play, but more significant, the Gamecocks have had a week to regroup and prepare for Auburn.
As USC hits the road in search of its first SEC win, the Gamecocks will look to put all the pieces together and play a complete 40 minutes, something they have struggled to do in its past three outings.
"We've got to get back in the gym," said USC coach Darrin Horn on what his team would work on after the loss to Florida. "Get better defensively, and offensively, build on some of the progress that we did see."
Against Vanderbilt and Kentucky, the Gamecocks scored a combined 30 points in the first half, making it challenging to rebound in the second half. Against Florida, USC had 41 first-half points, but were sluggish on defense, especially in the second half, allowing Florida to go on a 18-3 run after halftime.
While Horn would like to see the offense progress from the Florida game, he would like the Gamecocks to couple it with the defense they played in the first half against Vandy, where USC held the Commodores to just 22 points and forced 11 turnovers.
One of the changes that Horn made on offense before playing the Gators was starting Bruce Ellington, who finished with his season high of 17 points. Horn also started Brian Richardson over Lakeem Jackson.
"I had some really good responses from some individuals — really good to see Brenton Williams get out there and do some positive things," Horn said after the game. "I thought Brian Richardson had a great response to starting, not only making some shots, just the way that he played. We had our best offensive guys out there, and things actually looked pretty good for us."
Williams, who hadn't played much since suffering a knee injury earlier in the season, finished with nine points in 14 minutes of play. He was also a complete surprise to the Florida players.
"We hadn't even seen him on the scouting report," said Florida junior Kenny Boynton of Williams. "He came in and hit two deep 3-pointers."
While Williams may have momentarily caught the Gators off guard, Florida coach Billy Donovan said there are some players for USC who create matchup problems for any team. As the offense looks for consistency, Horn will look to exploit that at Auburn.
"Going into the game, one of the things I was concerned about is that they've got a lot of guys that are mismatch problems," Donovan said after the game. "Cooke, Gill and even Jackson — they're hard-driving, they're strong, they're physical, they're athletic and they can rebound. We were concerned that when they drive the ball, you have to step up and provide help and they shoot out of those double teams. It just opens up all sorts of offensive opportunities for them on the glass."
Though Horn was pleased with the overall individual effort, there's always room for improvement, which he has preached since before the start of the season.
As the Gamecocks prepare to travel to Auburn, Horn hopes to see the individual improvement come together as well as a collective team improvement — one that will be enough to secure the first SEC win of the season.
"We'll address the issues that are within our control," Horn said after the loss to Florida. "Not just shots not going in, but execution and not turning the ball over and getting greater understanding of what leads to scoring droughts. And keep making individuals better."