Gamecocks taking nothing for granted as they face Georgia tonight
Frank Martin didn’t have to dig deep into the archives to find video of Georgia, tonight’s opponent for South Carolina in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament in Nashville.
Georgia beat Mississippi State, 79-69, in a second round matchup late Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena to boost their claim to a post-season berth in the NCAA or NIT. UGA enters tonight’s game riding a four-game winning streak.
The Gamecocks, which received a bye in the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2009 when USC won a share of the SEC East title, and Bulldogs met eight days ago in Columbia with the visitors pulling out a tight 74-72 victory, a setback many bracketologists said put USC squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
“(Georgia) is old, they are physical, they are big,” Martin said. “They don’t have two 7-footers, but they have two 6-foot-9, 240-pound guys. They also have two big strong old guards. They are a good basketball team. In both games, we weren’t able to close them out. It’s a brand new season. At this time of the year, you’re not worried about what happened in January and February anymore.”
Two days after losing for the second time to Georgia, Gamecocks hopped off and landed on the right side of the bubble with a 76-61 road victory over Arkansas in Fayetteville, giving them a school record 24 regular season wins.
“Luckily for them and us, we’ve played each other in the last 10 days of the season, so the matchups, the systems, the thought process and scouting reports are still pretty fresh in our minds,” Martin said. “It doesn’t make the preparation work any easier, it just makes you a little more familiar with it.”
USC is No. 53 in the latest official NCAA RPI released Friday, squarely making them one of the last at-large berth teams to get into the tournament unless they win a couple of games in Nashville and vault up the rankings. As a result, Martin is not taking anything for granted.
“I don’t know about any guarantee until Sunday night when you find out,” Martin said. “If winning 24 games, 11 BCS conference games and finishing third in a BCS conference is not good enough to get into the NCAA Tournament, I need to go back to bouncing,” Martin said.
“I don’t say that jokingly. There is only one way you guarantee a place in the post-season and that’s win your regular season conference championship or figure out a way to play Saturday night (in the SEC Tournament championship game) and win. Outside of that, there are no guarantees.”
Last year, USC swept Georgia during the regular season (67-50 and 64-58) before losing to them in the SEC tournament quarterfinals. So, a way, the Gamecocks are looking for history to repeat itself as far as its rivalry with Georgia is concerned.
If the Gamecocks win tonight, they would likely play Kentucky on Saturday, a game guaranteed to boost their RPI position even with a loss since the Wildcats are No. 14 in the latest ranking.
A victory over Georgia tonight would match the school record for total wins in a season (25). The Gamecocks began the season 15-0, their best start since the 1933-34 campaign, and the 24 wins are the most since 1996-97 squad when they also posted 24 victories.
The biggest question facing the Gamecocks when they traveled to Nashville on Wednesday was the status of All-SEC forward Michael Carrera. Frank Martin said Thursday night on his call-in show that Carrera did not practice earlier in the day, making him a major question mark for tonight’s game.
Then again, the Gamecocks won convincingly at Arkansas without their leading scorer and rebounder as Sindarius Thornwell took the leadership reins, moving step closer to cementing a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
“Do we feel good about what we have done? Absolutely,” Martin said. “I can’t think of too many teams in the country that can claim they have won nine games away from their home building. But the regular season is over with. I’m proud of our guys of what they did and how they fought and how they grew. They answered the bell. They figured out a way to stay the course.”
The Gamecocks did not lose more than two games in a row, avoiding the kind of lengthy losing streak that normally damages a season.
SEC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
FIRST ROUND - March 9 (Wednesday)
Game 1: Tennessee 97, Auburn 59
SECOND ROUND - March 10 (Thursday)
Game 2: Florida 68, Arkansas 61
Game 3: Tennessee 67, Vanderbilt 65
Game 4: Alabama 81, Ole Miss 73
Game 5: Georgia 79, Mississippi State 69
QUARTERFINALS - March 11 (Friday)
Game 6: Florida vs. #1 Texas A&M, 1 p.m.
Game 7: Tennessee vs. #4 LSU, Approx. 2:40 p.m.
Game 8: Alabama vs. #2 Kentucky, 7 p.m.
Game 9: Georgia vs. #3 South Carolina, Approx. 9:40 p.m.
SEMIFINALS - March 12 (Saturday)
Game 10: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner, 1 p.m.
Game 11: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner, Approx. 3:40 p.m.
FINALS - March 13 (Sunday)
Game 12: Game 10 Winner vs. Game 11 Winner, 1 p.m.
(All Times Eastern)
