Even if the Colonial Life Arena could be packed on Saturday afternoon, air would have been sucked out of the building as quickly as it was with a sparse crowd and fans attached to the seats. South Carolina was defeated in all facets of the game against Auburn, in the 109-86 defeat.
Leaving a road game on Tuesday night against No. 19 Missouri, in which they played from start to finish, the following dispute was not much better against a team with an Auburn who had a 2-5 record in the league game.
“Auburn lost his game in the middle of the week and we lost a game in the middle of the week and we didn’t have a fight in our belly (today)”, head coach Frank Martin said post-game. “We didn’t have a single guy who fought defending the ball. It made them fall apart and they just played with us. They beat us everywhere.”
This marked the first time in the Martin era, a nine-year race, that an opponent scored 100 points against the Gamecocks. The previous record was 97 points for Georgia in 2014. Since the Gamecocks resumed the game after their third COVID-19 closure of the season, they have allowed at least 80 points in all three disputes.
“I don’t remember being the head coach of a team that gave 100 points,” said Martin. “All we’ve talked about in the past five days, since I came back, is that we can sit and make excuses or hug the hand we received and everyone has to be more self-responsible than usual because I didn’t have time to become who we are as a team and I didn’t have a chance to break bad habits with practice.
“Bruce Pearl said to me: ‘I told my teams that no one guards the yard better than your team. You don’t do that now. ‘I said,’ Who are you telling? ‘ I see this every day. ‘That’s where that self-responsibility comes from. “
The Gamecocks’ defensive problems continued with an insufficient attacking court. They seemed lethargic at 50-50 opportunities and were overtaken by 46-34. Other than AJ Lawsonthe performance of 23 points, highlighted by six points made, and Keyshawn Bryant24 points, 20 scored in the second half with the game out of reach, the rest of the team agreed to score 39 points out of 13 out of 41 on the ground (32 percent). This marked the fourth game in a row (all on the SEC) that the preseason of the second team of the All-SEC guard Jermaine Couisnard has been fighting in the field. He has not yet played with a field goal percentage greater than 33%. He hit only 24 percent (12 of 51) of his shots in that period.
“The last two teams we play are connected defensively and are not getting out of the way, which means we have to maintain effort and discipline,” said Martin. “(Today) we had countless opportunities on the open court to convert lay-ups and create fouls. I think we had three opportunities on the open court, where we launched aerial balls.
“When we have a foul, I think we lost five of the first seven free throws. It created an insecure mentality and they realized it and attacked us and we never retaliated. Damn, in the second half, I think we were shooting 28 percent before they put in substitutions. They chased us, they didn’t get out of the way, and we stopped driving them. I am just disappointed. “
The Gamecocks (3-5, 1-3) play next Wednesday at home against Georgia, a 7pm tip on ESPN2. For a team that has had so little practice time between games and program shutdowns, getting at least two more in the next three days is exactly what Martin and his team need now.
“The only thing about my teams (here) for nine years is that they are going to play hard and together,” said Martin. “It is the only thing I have controlled, but I control it through practice and through personal relationships. At the moment, we don’t have those two things.”
The SEC season is far from over for this group. This was only the fourth dispute, with 11 scored and three still pending due to postponements.