When South Carolina took on Texas A&M earlier this month, the Gamecocks charged out of the gates, finishing the first half with a lead behind a dominant rebounding performance.
But as the story has gone throughout the men’s basketball team’s conference season, the opponent would secure the advantage in the second half and never look back. In the Gamecocks’ six SEC losses, they’ve lost just two by a double-digit margin.
While South Carolina (7-12, 0-6 SEC) has been on the wrong end of many close games, coach Frank Martin points out that his opponent Wedesday, Texas A&M, has been known to come out on top in the same scenario.
“(Texas A&M) scored 18 points in the first half against Tennessee,” Martin said. “And they came out the second half, and they were ultra-aggressive. I mean they were in attack mode, and they made shots, and they’re scrappy.”
That was just the Aggies’ second conference game, and after that abysmal first half, they would go on to beat the Volunteers 57-56.
South Carolina will vie for its first SEC victory of the year in Wednesday night’s rematch with the Aggies. But the conference standings look much different for Texas A&M now than they did leading up to the two teams’ first meeting.
Texas A&M opened to a hot start in conference play, holding a share of the conference lead when they first played the Gamecocks. Since the Aggies’ victory over South Carolina, they have lost three-straight and currently sit at ninth in the SEC.
One Texas A&M player who hasn’t slowed down since playing the Gamecocks is point guard Alex Caruso, but his contribution has been as a facilitator rather than a scorer. Caruso registered a game-high seven assists in the two teams’ last meeting and currently leads the SEC with 4.8 assists per game.
“That kid Caruso, he didn’t go there to be a point guard,” Martin said. “And because of defections, he kind of was forced into that job last year, and he has just taken it and ran with it. He’s playing his tail off right now.”
While he’s not known as a prolific scorer, Caruso is averaging a healthy 9.1 points per game so far this season, the third-highest average on the team.
Texas A&M’s leading scorer — and the only Aggie averaging double-digits — is guard Jamal Jones. The junior is scoring 11.8 points per game and turned in a game-high 22 points in his last meeting with South Carolina.
A major contributing factor in the Gamecocks’ loss against Texas A&M was the shift in momentum on the glass. After a convincing 21-13 rebounding effort in the first half, the Aggies would win the rebounding battle in the second half, a swing that South Carolina’s leading rebounder, sophomore forward Mindaugus Kacinas, says can’t be allowed this time.
“Everything is about effort,” he said. “And if you put a lot of effort going for a rebound or a loose ball, it’s more likely you’ll get the rebound. So this is what I’m doing every single time.”
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Colonial Life Arena, but snowbound fans can catch the action live on ESPN3.
Despite Texas A&M’s three-game skid, Kacinas still sees the Aggies as a formidable opponent because of their ability to get everyone on the floor involved in the game plan.
He said the Gamecocks will need to play one of their most well-rounded games of the season in order to pull off the victory.
“They have a lot of guys that score, like, eight points, and everything just adds up,” Kacinas said.
“You have 10 guys that average like eight points, and it’s pretty hard to defend them. As we’ve seen on film, they have good players, and they are physical, too. So it’s going to be hard.”