Not PJ Dozier, not Sindarius Thornwell, but Duane Notice holds South Carolina’s NCAA Tournament hopes in his hands.
Last year’s SEC Sixth Man of the Year came into this season prepared to star for the Gamecocks. Notice is expected to be the team’s sharpshooter — a player able to stretch the floor as defenses were forced to respect his ability to knock down shots from any where on it. Many believed him to be instrumental in South Carolina’s future success.
But the numbers are beginning to show that Notice is more than just instrumental to this team’s success; he is the key to it.
Opposing teams know how dynamic Dozier and Thornwell are. They know that it is important to minimize these two players, but that the chance of completely locking them down is very slim. Yet in Notice, teams have found a weak link. They have found a player who is entirely inconsistent, one whose play can be the tipping point of South Carolina’s success.
For when Notice scores, the Gamecocks win, but when he doesn’t, the Gamecocks are much more likely to lose. South Carolina is 2-3 in games in which Notice has scored four or fewer points and 11-0 in which he has scored more than four points.
In every South Carolina loss this season, Notice has struggled with his shot. In all three losses, he is a combined 2 of 27 from the field. Yet in wins, he is 48-115. That translates to him shooting nearly 34 percent better in wins than in losses.
To go along with the shooting percentage, Notice is averaging 8.4 more points per game in wins versus losses. A trend has started to emerge that stopping Notice means stopping South Carolina.
The reason for this is that shutting down Notice seems to affect all the other players on the court. For when Notice is no longer a threat to the defense, floor spacing is thrown off for the Gamecocks. This allows the defenses to sag off of Notice: affecting the driving lanes of Dozier, and the amount of time the big men have to survey the defense, and make their low post moves.
It is no secret that Thornwell and Dozier are the top players on this team. Their importance to South Carolina’s success can in no way be ignored. Yet the most unstable piece of this team has shown to be Duane Notice, making him the key to their future success.
When Notice is unable to score, this South Carolina team has shown that they are prone to losing. And as Notice has yet to post two straight games in which he has scored in double digits, it is his inconsistency that is the most pressing threat to the Gamecocks future success.