USC coach Darrin Horn focusing on players, not questions about his job
After suffering the worst loss of his coaching career against No. 1 Kentucky, USC coach Darrin Horn is aware of the frustrations by fans, but his focus is elsewhere.
“I don’t think there’s a defense to be made to that,” Horn said. “Our focus is on our players. Our focus is continuing to get better. Rightfully so, fans aren’t going to be happy unless there are wins. We totally understand that.”
With Horn’s focus on the team and its collective improvement, the emphasis has been on moving forward from the Kentucky game, with Horn going so far as not having the team watch the game film.
“That’s not something we showed our guys at all,” Horn said. “I mean, I think it was kind of like how [UK coach John Calipari] said after the game that whoever played them that day, it wasn’t going to go good for them. They were at a high, high level. Without question, we had a game where we weren’t as good as we had been. Reviewing that game is not going to help us get ready for our next one. We came in yesterday and just got refocused on us and what we need to do better to have a chance to win at Tennessee.”
One of the things the Gamecocks will need to play better at Tennessee is its defensive effort. USC has seen improvement from sophomore forward Damontre Harris, but for the second straight game, he played limited minutes in the first half because of foul trouble.
After Harris picked up his third foul in the first half, the Wildcats went on a 27-7 run with him on the bench, going into halftime with a 52-25 lead.
“The first thing we do is tell everybody else to defend better,” Horn said. “A lot of Damontre’s fouls are coming when he’s trying to cover up for guys who don’t do a good job defending on the perimeter. That’s where we’ve got to get better defensively — being more aggressive around the 3-point line. We’re not extending, we’re not pressuring a lot and occasionally we’ll pick up some full-court stuff like a dead ball. But in the half court, we’ve got to do a better job of being aggressive on the ball and keeping the ball in front off the dribble, because at least the second or third foul came off a defensive breakdown on the perimeter.”
On the offensive end the Gamecocks will look for freshman guard Damien Leonard to have another performance like the one he had against UK, where he scored 19 points. Horn said that Leonard “showed that he belonged,” and he was able to drive to the lane on a couple baskets, which is uncharacteristic of the 3-point shooter.
“I think the important thing is for him to stay aggressive, but understanding when and how to do that,” Horn said. “One of the things that great shooters are able to do is they’re able to create drives because of their ability to shoot. I think the most important thing he can do is just continue to be ready to shoot and knock down those open shots to free up the drive as well.”
With the most of the road stretch and the toughest competition out of the way for the Gamecocks, the focus has shifted to preventing a second-half SEC meltdown similar to the ones USC has experienced in years past. Last season the Gamecocks lost seven of their last eight games in SEC play.
“I think it’s important for us to continue to get better,” Horn said. “One of the challenges for us has been if we’re getting better as the season goes on. For whatever reason, that seems to be a challenge here. Over the years when you look at the record, that’s something that we want to turn a program in how we can be better in the last half of the season. I think that is definitely something that we have to put out there for our guys.”