What we learned from South Carolina’s loss to Boston University
The plan to be undefeated with five dominant victories over lower-tier opponents before the schedule truly stiffened was thrown off Tuesday when South Carolina needed to rally to grab a halftime lead over Boston University. The plan to remain unblemished, period, before next week’s trip to Cancun officially ended when the Gamecocks missed eight consecutive shots late in the second half, allowing the Terriers to separate and take a 78-70 upset win at Colonial Life Arena.
Afterward, USC coach Frank Martin called BU an “NCAA Tournament-caliber team,” so perhaps this result won’t sting as much later in the season like downers to Wyoming and Stony Brook did last year and Illinois State the year before. The Terriers (3-2) were picked to finish fifth in the preseason Patriot League poll.
Résumé-predicting aside, South Carolina is 3-1 in mid-November. Gardner-Webb (0-4) comes to Columbia on Friday to close a five-game homestand. Then it’s off to Mexico for Wichita State (4-0) next Tuesday and West Virginia (3-0) or Northern Iowa (5-0) a day later.
“Today we played a different animal,” Martin said. “And then next week it’s even another level. We got to grow up.”
Here’s what we learned from Tuesday’s performance:
Defense wasn’t good enough to overcome shooting woes
South Carolina’s defense was so smothering the first three games that it over shadowed streaky offensive play.
The Gamecocks beat North Alabama in the opener despite a five-minute field goal drought. The Wyoming win included a seven-minute field goal drought. USC closed the first half of the Cleveland State rout by going 3 of 17 from the field.
Tuesday saw more of the same — the Gamecocks twice had stretches when they missed at least eight consecutive shots — but it wasn’t rescued by a stout effort on the other end of the floor. South Carolina entered fourth nationally in scoring defense, allowing 50 points per game. Boston U hit 50 with 12:46 left in the second half. This coming from a Terriers team that, according to Martin, “ran the same offense that the first three teams we played ran,” a ball-screen heavy system.
“It didn’t hurt us much in the first half,” Martin said. “But when we started missing shots and we were playing from behind, our feelings got hurt and they put our guys on skates. ... When the game got deep, we couldn’t screen them and we couldn’t guard them. And that’s what happens with experience and immaturity.”
On free throws and 3-point shooting, BU finished plus-18 over USC.
This was the weakest bench performance of the season
A key to South Carolina’s success the first three games — and something that is likely to resume after Tuesday — comes in its reserves. Cleveland State coach Dennis Gates, a former Florida State assistant, compared the Gamecocks’ depth to what the Seminoles had on their recent NCAA Tournament teams.
That group just had a bad night against Boston U. T.J. Moss, Jalyn McCreary, Jermaine Couisnard, Trae Hannibal and Wildens Leveque — a quintet that was averaging 30 points a game — finished with eight points (three in the second half) on 3 of 19 shooting.
Couisnard, typically the most consistent of that bunch, had more turnovers (three) than field goals (two).
“I’m not concerned about his offense,” Martin said. “He didn’t play well offensively. He missed shots, he made some bad decisions. But defensively, where he was at 10 days ago to where he’s at today, he slipped. That’s something he got to fix. For our team to be good he needs to be a good defender. He can be our best perimeter defender. But right now he’s probably fifth or sixth on the list.”
Maik Kotsar was good. And exhausted.
The 94th start — and 104th game — of Maik Kotsar’s career included the senior logging over 35 minutes for just a third time.
Kotsar finished with 14 points and seven rebounds in 36 minutes, but only four and two after halftime. The 6-foot-11 center carried USC’s post players for a while, but fatigue showed when support didn’t. Alanzo Frink, McCreary and Leveque combined for one point after halftime.
“Maik didn’t get a lot of help from our bigs today,” Martin said. “And when you play a team like BU that’s got three guys that are all old, aggressive and physical, I think Maik wore down as the game wore on. I thought Maik started off real aggressive, I thought he created opportunities for himself through his aggressiveness.
“He didn’t get any help from the physical department.”
NEXT
Who: Gardner-Webb at South Carolina
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Colonial Life Arena
TV: SEC Network Plus via the WatchESPN app
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 10:25 AM with the headline "What we learned from South Carolina’s loss to Boston University."
