Frank Martin of South Carolina basketball (photo by Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images)
South Carolina basketball failed to win a major road victory over one of the top ten opponents, falling to the Houston Cougars.
Saturday’s dispute between South Carolina basketball and Houston Cougars was physical, with the two teams fighting for 40 minutes. After an unstable start, the Gamecocks finally got together and tied the game in 10 with 13:26 remaining in the first half (after a layup transition from Justin Minaya).
South Carolina secured the first advantage of the game with 12:36 left in the first half, after Jalyn McCreary converted a tray to place the Gamecocks at 12-10. After J’Wan Roberts’ two pitches launched to put the Cougars at 1 (after losing 12-11 as a result of Tramon Mark’s 1/2 free throw), the Gamecocks managed to make an 8-0 run , which helped them turn a deficit of 13-12 into a 20-13 advantage.
The Gamecocks managed to stay ahead of the Cougars for the rest of the time and enter the range with a 35-31 lead. When the second half started, the cougars informed the Gamecocks that they were on a mission, instantly raising the level of play at both ends of the floor. At the 17:03 mark, South Carolina’s leadership had evaporated, and from 15:45 until the end of the game, the Gamecocks were forced to play from behind.
After falling behind at 50-44 with 12:52 left, South Carolina had a 5-0 mini run to reduce the Cougars’ lead to 1. Unfortunately, this is as close as the Gamecocks managed to get there, when the Cougars were finally able to move away from the Gamecocks and have a 16 point advantage in the second half. Despite playing hard throughout the game, Houston was too much for South Carolina to handle, as the Gamecocks suffered a 77-67 defeat at the hands of the Cougars.
Although Gamecocks did not get the result they were looking for on Saturday, they showed that they could go out with one of the most refined teams in the country. Houston certainly did not have its two best point guards, Marcus Sasser and Caleb Mills (both with ankle injuries), but the Cougars have demonstrated that they are capable of being an elite club, even when they are not on the ground.
With all that said, South Carolina has a long way to go before they can think of punching their ticket for the NCAA tournament in March. In this article, I will be providing my three major conclusions from South Carolina’s 77-67 defeat to Houston (which will serve as a learning lesson for Gamecocks).