What went wrong in the SEC tournament for South Carolina
The Gamecocks weren't locked in on defense in Nashville, and it cost them a trophy
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March Madness started a bit early in the SEC, with Kentucky taking down No. 1 South Carolina in a historic run through the tournament. The Wildcats won their first ever SEC title as the No. 7 team in the conference.
The Gamecocks loss was a stunner, but from the quarterfinals it was clear that South Carolina wasn’t playing its best basketball in the SEC tournament. That’s a problem the Gamecocks will need to correct before the NCAA tournament if they plan to reach the Final Four and eventually take home the championship trophy.
The offensive performance in the tournament left a lot to be desired. The Gamecocks’ assist-to-turnover ratio through all three rounds was less than one, their 22 turnovers in the win over Ole Miss tied their season high, and they shot 37 percent from floor in the tournament.
Down nights on the offensive end aren’t particularly new for South Carolina. The team has shot under 40 percent from the floor on nine occasions this season, they’ve posted north of 20 turnovers on numerous occasions. Henderson and Cooke’s shooting efficiency ebbs and flows, and while both have shown tremendous growth in their decision making this season, at times they still take ill advised attempts. Usually, however, the Gamecocks’ defense compensates for the offensive lapses.
That South Carolina defense, which has held teams to the lowest opponent field goal percentage in the country (33.0%) and just 51.7 points per game, wasn’t on display in the SEC tournament however - particularly in the fourth quarters of the Ole Miss and Kentucky games in the final two rounds.
Against the Rebels, the Gamecocks were outscored 21-8 in the fourth quarter, nearly losing the 23 point lead they had at the end of the third. That repeated against Kentucky, with the Wildcats outscoring them 21-7 in the final quarter, erasing South Carolina’s double digit lead.
Kentucky also scored 22 points in the third quarter after scoring just 21 in the first half. The Wildcats were the first team to reach 60 points against South Carolina since January 6th when LSU scored 60 in the Gamecocks’ tight win over the Tigers. The 64 points scored by Kentucky were the third most allowed by South Carolina this season. They allowed 70 points in their overtime loss to Mizzou, and 68 to Mississippi State in the game following it.
The defensive breakdowns from the Gamecocks in the the fourth quarters resembled those in their loss to Mizzou - another time this season where South Carolina clearly was not playing its best basketball. For a team that is usually so difficult to score against inside, it seemed like players had an easy path to the basket in the lane.
While the Gamecocks did do a solid job defending Rhyne Howard for Kentucky, it came at the expense of allowing Dre’una Edwards to drop 27 points. Despite Edwards already having 24 points in the ball game, South Carolina completely lost her on the final play of the game allowing her a wide open look at what ultimately became the game winning triple.
Edwards joins a small group of players to top 20 points against South Carolina this season, and 27 is the most points the Gamecocks have allowed from a single player this season. Angel Baker of Ole Miss also dropped 20 in the semifinals, making it six of 11 games that South Carolina has allowed a player to score 20 points that have been decided by 10 or fewer points.
Luckily for South Carolina, the resume they have amassed throughout this season will allow them to remain the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament despite the SEC finals loss. Their path to Minneapolis won’t change much, but the Gamecocks have work to do over the next week to right the ship before the NCAA tournament begins. As we saw this weekend, the Gamecocks are more vulnerable when their defense is not locked in. The loss to Kentucky might be the wakeup call they need to get back there and cut down the nets in April.
What a great reaction by the Kentucky coach.. Enjoy your time in CT as part of the Bridgeport region. Best of luck except against UCONN of course.