The South Carolina Gamecocks enter Friday night’s 9:50 tipoff against Marquette as a team trying to redefine itself and start an NCAA Tournament run.
South Carolina arguably played it’s worst game of the season last week in a 64-53 SEC Tournament exit against Alabama. The Gamecocks have lost five out of eight games down the stretch since a 90-86 four overtime loss to the Crimson Tide on Feb. 7. Much of the problem has been due to the break downs in their stingy defense, which had limited opponents to around 34 percent from the floor until that game.
The Gamecocks are led by Sindarius Thornwell, who averaged 21 points per game. He can score in waves as shown by his regular season’s work. Thornwell needs a consistent scorer to step up beside of him during the tournament. Fellow senior Duane Notice is a possibility as is the team’s second leading scorer, P.J. Dozier, who averages 13.6 points per game, and shoots only 39.1 percent from the floor.
An X-factor for the Gamecocks might be freshman guard Rakym Felder. He rose as a key role player he shoots the three well and is a slasher who can get to the basket while finishing on the break. Felder, a 5-10 guard from Brooklyn, has averaged 18.8 minutes per game over his last five outings.
For Marquette, a balanced and high powered offense in the top 20 in the nation in six different offensive categories could be trouble for South Carolina’s defense if it can’t return to form. The Golden Eagles are led by a three-point offense that averages 43 percent from the field and balanced scoring the features five players who average between 10.9 and 13.2 points per game.
Freshman Markus Howard’s 79 three-pointers is a Marquette record for the most three-balls for a freshman. Howard, the Golden Eagles’ leading scorer, lended to 312 treys which set a single-season Marquette record.
Luke Fischer is the Golden Eagles’ biggest threat in the paint as he averages 64.6 percent from the floor and then leads Marquette in rebounding. Jajuan Johnson is a slasher at the off-guard who can finish at the rim. He and Andrew Rowsey have been solid starters all season as Rowsey is second to Howard with 66 triples.
The X-factor for Steve Wojciechowski could be a well-traveled shooter in Katin Reinhardt, who was at USC and UNLV before Marquette. Reinahrdt has been hot of late as he has reached double figures in his last five games, which is his longest streak of double figure outings of the season.
This comes down to whether South Carolina has rediscovered it’s defense of the first 23 games of the season which was the signature of this team. If it has and if the Gamecocks consistently play at that pace for 80 minutes in their next door venue of Greenville, SC, a trip to the Sweet 16 is not out of the question.