USC’s 21-point victory largest against SEC opponent since 2006
After practice ended on Friday, a team manager told USC head coach Frank Martin that six players stayed after to take extra shots for about an hour.
Twenty-four hours later, those extra shots paid off in a 75-54 Gamecock rout of Arkansas where USC shot a whopping 57.7 percent from the field.
The 21-point margin of victory by the Gamecocks was the largest against an SEC opponent since 2006.
Martin said that it came as no surprise that his team made shots against the Razorbacks because of the extra work put in outside of practice.
“You have to come in the gym and work at it and then you have to have the courage to jump up and make shots,” Martin said. “It’s just plain and simple.”
However, five minutes into Saturday’s game, the shots were not falling for the Gamecocks. USC was trailing the Razorbacks 15-3 and appeared to be on its way to its fifth SEC loss of the season.
That’s when Martin called a timeout and put in junior guard Brian Richardson.
From there, Richardson had 11 points over the next nine minutes to spark a 32-4 run by the Gamecocks that put them in front for good.
USC went 7-10 from behind the three-point line in the first half and shot just under 59 percent overall in the first period.
Richardson finished the game with 20 points on 8-13 shooting.
“I was very confident in my shot,” Richardson said. “My teammates were finding me and I needed to boost my teammates because we were down big at the beginning.”
Halftime didn’t slow USC down as they stretched their lead to 20, six minutes into the second half. The Gamecocks (12-7, 2-4 SEC) finished the game 7-12 on three point shots while holding the Razorbacks (12-7, 3-3 SEC) to 34.4 percent field goal shooting.
“It was a tough day at the office for our basketball team,” Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson said.
Martin said that junior point guard Bruce Ellington did most of the talking during the first timeout and said that the two-sport star has started to become the vocal leader of the team.
“If you’re an athlete and guys have been practicing for three months, you can’t walk in the first day and open your mouth,” Martin said. “I don’t care how much of a leader you are. Now (Bruce) has been here for awhile and he is starting to feel more comfortable so it is allowing him to inject his personality into the team.”
Ellington chipped in 14 points and four rebounds, but it was his defense on the Razorback’s B.J. Young that proved most valuable. Ellington held Young to 3-12 shooting from the field.
“I just went out there and played defense,” Ellington said. “He’s a driver, he’s a good player and when he gets going, he is real effective. I just tried to not let him get going and my team had my back and we did it together.”
Despite the impressive showing Saturday against Arkansas, Martin says there is still a lot of work left to be done.
“So we won a game. Great. Unfortunately, we don’t get to cancel the rest of the season because we won today,” Martin said. “But we have an opportunity to have confidence that if we continue to work and build and pay attention to discipline, it gives us a chance to win.”