To say, Thursday night's SEC Tournament opener for South Carolina was a tale of two halves, is an understatement the likes of saying the Civil War was a minor disagreement. The 1st half was competitive with South Carolina and Mississippi State going back and forth. The Bulldogs took a slight advantage into the halftime locker room at 36-34.
The 2nd half was the polar opposite, as South Carolina would score just 17 points after the brick. I can personally attest to the fact that the 2nd half was hard to watch. I'm not a Gamecock fan but as a longtime fan and student of the game, it was painful television. South Carolina shot 4 for 31 in the 2nd half which equals 13%. They had shot 13 of 29 for 45% in the last half. The Gamecocks went "colder than a polar bear's toe nail" after the break.
There not only was questionable shots taken by SC and some by Miss. State as well, but the game had sloppy sequences as well. At one point late in the 2nd half, SC got a defensive rebound turned it over trying to make an outlet pass, MSU's Iverson Molinar tried to soar for a dunk clanked it off the font iron. South Carolina then had numbers the other way and threw the ball out of bounds. And I thought to myself, I would not want to be in the Gamecock locker room after this one.
Mississippi State didn't exactly set the world on fire either, they shot 40% overall and just 27% from deep. However, they did what they do well and that's rebound. MSU came in to the game in the top 25 nationally in rebounding margin and among the leaders in the SEC in that category. For the game, they were plus 10 overall in rebounding at 49-39 and were +3 on the offensive glass. Big man Tolu Smith was a big part of that.
Smith had game highs in points and rebounding to the led the way for the Bulldogs. He had a double-double of 20 points and a dozen boards. All SEC performer Iverson Molinar had 19 for Miss. State, but he had to do it on a high volume of shots. Molinar was 6 of 19 from the floor. Shakeel Moore had 10 points, a team high 5 assists and 5 boards.
For South Carolina, Erik Stevenson led the way with 18 points. He also had 5 boards and dished out a team high 5 assists. Devin Carter added 10 points and grabbed 5 boards. Jermaine Couisnard who was averaging more than 20 per game in the last 5, struggled Thursday finishing with just 9 points. James Reese was virtually non-existent he finished with 2 points and 0 assists in 28 minutes.
Coaches always talk about effort level, playing hard the entire game and leaving it on the floor. I could be wrong, but to me in watching the game it looked like SC was going through the motions in the 2nd half. To me, when they got down double figures they just rolled over from there. A terrible shooting half is hard to overcome in today's college basketball landscape. However, you would expect some fire, some fight and some energy level increase on the defensive end. None of that looked evident in the final 10 minutes Thursday night.
South Carolina with the loss moves to 18-14 on the season and finished 9-9 in SEC play. Miss. State improves to 19-14 on the year, they play Tennessee today (Friday) at 3 PM in the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals. South Carolina will await their postseason fate. They could make the NIT although the loss , specifically the nature of the loss to Miss. State will hinder their chances. A bid to the College Basketball Insider Tourney is more likely to be extended.
