As the South Carolina men’s basketball team rattled off 15-straight wins to begin the season, media members and college basketball fans alike were convinced that the Gamecocks were undefeated simply for having not played a true tournament contender. Following Wednesday’s 73-50 road loss to Alabama, the non-believers have more reasons to write this team off as a pretender, rather than a contender. Don’t jump ship, at least not yet.
Wednesday night in Tuscaloosa proved to be the Riley Norris show, as the Tide’s sophomore forward canned five threes on as many attempts in the first nine minutes of the game, helping Alabama jump out to a commanding 19-4 lead.Norris would go on to finish with 27 points on 9-16 shooting, including an astounding 8-11 from beyond the arc.
Norris’ performance should be considered an anomaly. In the first 14 games of the season, the Alabama native averaged 6.2 points per contest and shot just 33 percent from three. Norris, who made his first start of the season against the Gamecocks, is a serviceable player with some big game potential, but don’t expect to see a similar performance when the Crimson Tide visits Colonial Life Arena on Jan. 30.
Most nights, South Carolina would be able to overcome a three-point barrage from its opponents. On Nov. 22, Hofstra University made 17 threes against the Gamecocks en route to a 94-84 South Carolina victory. However, against the Crimson Tide, the shots simply weren’t falling.
The Gamecocks shot just 35.8 percent from the floor Wednesday night, not to mention an abysmal 3-18 from deep. Although five players averaged double figures in points coming into the game, only senior forward Michael Carrera was able to eclipse that mark by finishing with 14. The team’s other four starters combined for just 14 points, while sixth man Duane Notice had an off night as well. Simply put, the ball just wouldn’t go down for the Gamecocks in this one, which could happen to any team over the course of a long basketball season.
Despite being unranked, Alabama has quality wins this season, having knocked off 11-5 teams Wichita State and Notre Dame in the 2015 AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando. The Tide has been particularly good at home this season, losing only to perennial SEC favorite Kentucky. First-year coach Avery Johnson, a former NBA player who led the Dallas Mavericks to the 2006 NBA Finals as a coach, has Alabama on the rise, as the team could be headed towards their first winning record in the SEC since 2012.
At the end of the day, Alabama is a talented basketball team, though they might not be better than other South Carolina opponents thus far, such as Vanderbilt and Memphis. Admittedly, South Carolina has played a somewhat weak schedule up to this point, but the Gamecocks will be tested in the coming weeks with road games against Ole Miss and Tennessee.
One poor loss is no reason to lose hope in what is now a 15-1 South Carolina basketball team.The team still has experience with three seniors in the starting lineup, and Frank Martin, who led Kansas State four times to the NCAA Tournament from 2007-2012. The Gamecocks are 9-0 in front of their home crowd, looking to go 10-0 against Missouri on Saturday. If the Gamecocks are to get back on track with a remarkable start to the season, fans simply must forget about Wednesday’s ugly loss and focus on the team’s 15-1 record.