USC falls to Bulldogs, Tigers in close losses
When the Gamecocks opened up SEC play last week, they were riding a five-game winning streak.
However, USC couldn’t hold onto late leads in a 56-54 loss to Mississippi State on the road and a 74-71 loss to Auburn at home and now finds itself 0-2 to start league play for the second year in a row.
Coach Frank Martin knows that if his team had been able to make a few more plays in both games, the end results would have been much different.
“There are a lot of plays that we can make that we are leaving on the court,” Martin told reporters after the loss to Auburn. “Whether it is the rebounds that we have to get or simple passes that we have to make, if we had made just one more layup or one more play, we’re probably sitting at 2-0 right now.”
Despite the tough start to SEC play, the Gamecocks (10-5, 0-2 SEC) have already matched last season’s win total. However, USC has benefited from a nonconference schedule ranked 338th in difficulty out of 347 NCAA teams.
In 13 nonconference games, USC only played two teams from the six major power conferences (Clemson and St. John’s) and lost to both.
There were some bright spots in both SEC games, with the Gamecocks defense playing well against Mississippi State and the offense showing some improvement in the loss to Auburn. However, turnovers continue to play a major role in the Gamecocks’ early-season struggles. With fifth-year senior transfer guard LaShay Page declared academically ineligible for the rest of the season, the Gamecocks will be short-handed on offense. Page averaged 11.7 points per game.
Against MSU, USC had a six-point lead with just more than five minutes left in the game. However, the team faltered under the Bulldogs’ defensive pressure, allowing MSU to pull out the win. The Gamecocks finished with 24 turnovers in the two-point loss.
Junior guard Brian Richardson had a breakout game against the Bulldogs, finishing with a career-high 20 points and five 3-pointers. Richardson also led the team with eight rebounds.
However, after holding MSU to 39-percent field-goal shooting, USC allowed Auburn to shoot 59 percent from the field during Saturday’s loss. Despite the poor defense, the Gamecock offense kept the game close. After 27 lead changes, the Tigers finally pulled in front for good with just less than three minutes left in the game.
“Our defense wasn’t any good today,” Martin said after the loss to Auburn. “Our kids fought. I’m not going to sell them out, but our attention to detail defensively wasn’t good. We let them catch the ball wherever they wanted. We really tried but we got away from our principles.”
Junior guard Bruce Ellington had a season-high 18 points against the Tigers while sophomore guard Damien Leonard added 17 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Martin said his team is “knocking on the door,” close to being able to finish games successfully.
“I’m a lot more encouraged than discouraged,” Martin said. ”As we continue to fight to learn how to win these kinds of games, it is going to be a whole lot of fun once we figure things out.”