Georgia at South Carolina: A Quick Recap
by Gamecock Man on Feb 12, 2011 6:26 PM EST
in South Carolina Gamecocks Basketball
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PrintThe Georgia Bulldogs defeated South Carolina in Columbia this afternoon. Trey Thompkins led UGA with 16, while Malik Cooke had 15 for Carolina. Sam Muldrow added 13 with 4 blocks.
This game was a story of two halves. The first was all Georgia, as Carolina played one of the worst halves of basketball I've ever seen, scoring only 9 points. However, in the second half the Gamecocks managed to work their way back from a 19-point deficit on the strength of strong defense. Muldrow's blocks and our ability to force turnovers with our press keyed the comeback. Unfortunately, though, when you dig yourselves into the kind of hole we found ourselves in at the midway point, the odds are against a successful comeback. We didn't manage to convert some good opportunities in the final minutes, and considering what we were up against, nothing less than perfection down the stretch would have been enough.
Carolina won the battle on the offensive boards and ran away with the turnover differential. Usually, when you do that, you win big. After all, we were +9 in FGA and +6 in FTA, always good measures of putting yourself in position to win a game. What happened? Well, Carolina shot the ball very poorly. The biggest culprit was--surprise, surprise--Bruce Ellington, who shot 1-12 for 2 points. At this point, it's time for Darrin Horn to do something drastic with the Ellington situation. Ellington has shown promise at points this year, but, clearly, he's hit a huge slump. Working most of our offense through him is clearly hurting us, and I wonder if the best thing at this point is to let him spend some time on the bench and see what the team is like with another lineup. We've looked good with Eric Smith at the point. Perhaps it's time to go that route and introduce more size into the rest of our lineup. I'm confident that Ellington has a huge role in this program's future, but sometimes it's good to give a guy a chance to clear his head.
Next up is UT in Knox-vegas.
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Ellington has clearly hit a wall
Plus the calf injury is brutal to play through (I had one in high school). You can’t run or walk with that thing…
I wonder, though, if all this talk about football has anything to do with the slump. It just seems the more talk about him playing football—the worse he’s played. It could be a coincidence, I guess.
I don't want to throw the guy under the bus,
but he probably should not have been on the court that much in the second half. Not only was he playing hurt, but to say he was “struggling” from the field would be the understatement of the season. Unfortunately, we lost our best chance to win or tie when Muldrow missed 2 of 3 FT’s on the previous possession. The team has not given any reason to feel confident about our ability to create and hit a good look at a 3 in fifteen seconds.
"They've just discovered a new use for sheep over there at Clemson... wool." - Lewis Grizzard
by GwinnettGamecock on Feb 12, 2011 7:09 PM EST reply actions
I agree that we would have been better off with Ellington on the bench.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog By and For Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Feb 12, 2011 7:13 PM EST up reply actions
On a positive, Josh Low of TheBigSpur.com
said he would consider Clowney announcing for anyone but Carolina a bigger upset than Buster Douglas over Tyson, and that was after I posted the 42:1 odds for the fight. I don’t know if he would actually hold money on the field at 43:1, but to even say it makes me think we may hear a silent commiment story around the 15th.
I wish I was in the Upstate right now. It would be fantastic to buy a box of kids’ Valentine cards and give out “Happy Clowney Day” cards to Clemson friends and co-workers.
"They've just discovered a new use for sheep over there at Clemson... wool." - Lewis Grizzard
by GwinnettGamecock on Feb 12, 2011 7:15 PM EST reply actions
This loss was inexcusable
even a girl’s j.v. team scores more than nine a half. It is ZERO consolation to say we were in at the end (had Ellington made his shot) since we should never been trailing.
We are now officially the worst team in the SEC East and clearly in danger of slipping under .500. We played Ellington who was clearly under duress; somehow, we even let Ellington take the final shot despite being 1-11 from the field and 0-5 from three.
“The first half was an absolute fluke,” said Darrin Horn after the game.
No, it wasn’t a fluke, Coach. It was your coaching. And its a 40 minute game.
I wonder if Oliver Purnell might be lured away from Marquette.
They wore garnet helmets.
Yeah, I really didn't like that comment from Horn. What we have here is a team that has shown a decided inability to play sound offensive basketball...
and a slumping star with an injury getting too many minutes. That’s on coaching.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog By and For Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Feb 13, 2011 2:05 PM EST up reply actions
A slumping freshman
Ellington is not yet a star anywhere beyond South Carolina HS basketball.
"They've just discovered a new use for sheep over there at Clemson... wool." - Lewis Grizzard
by GwinnettGamecock on Feb 13, 2011 2:46 PM EST up reply actions
Fair enough; wrong worde choice. But is the guy we've chosen to stake our offense on.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog By and For Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Feb 13, 2011 4:29 PM EST up reply actions
In other words, the closest thing this team has to a star, unless you want to include Muldrow for his defensive prowess.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog By and For Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Feb 13, 2011 4:30 PM EST up reply actions
I think the problem is everyone (including the coaches)
has to a certain extent looked at Ellington as the next Downey instead of a freshman playing PG in the SEC. There is no reasonable defense for the amount of PT he has received the last few games. He is a FR either going through a slump or hitting the wall. Either way, there is no reason to believe it is in the team’s best interest to let him play through the slump or shoot his way out of it, especially when we have another FR PG at least as capable* on the bench.
I could only listen online, but it sounds like that last possession was an awful design and even worse execution that left our 5’9" 1-10 FR G trying to shoot over their 6’9" preseason conference POY. That is just indefensibly stupid.
*The knock on Smith is he is a slightly better distributor and weaker shooter. As a PG, I think those generally even out. Right now, a PG that recognizes he cannot shoot would be a major improvement over a PG that cannot shoot but believes he can.
"They've just discovered a new use for sheep over there at Clemson... wool." - Lewis Grizzard
by GwinnettGamecock on Feb 13, 2011 5:48 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah, that was kind of what I meant, only put more eloquently by you.
Ellington is not a star, but our coaching staff views him as one, and continuing to allow him to play this many minutes and shoot so many shots is really hurting us.
I would fully support giving Smith more playing time at this point. Smith is a better distributor, and with the way Ellington has shot the ball lately, it’s become indefensible to say that Ellington gives us a decidedly better offensive option. Playing Smith at PG and looking to Galloway, Muldrow, and to a lesser degree Richardson and Cooke as our main scoring threats is what I’d like to see us try, if only for a few games.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog By and For Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Feb 13, 2011 6:12 PM EST up reply actions
Melvin Watson wasn't a star either his freshman year
but you could see he was something special. Ditto Ellington – he has the look of a future All-SEC player.
Like Ellington, Melvin made his share of frosh mistakes – the worst when he dribbled the ball off his leg out of bounds in the final seconds of a close NIT game against Bama. That didnt bother me at all, just like Ellington’s mistakes dont really bother me.
BUT – all that being said, the fact Ellington was playing and took the final shot despite being (a) injured and (b) cold as antartic pack ice – is 100% poor coaching.
We’ve been blessed with better guards at Carolina than we’ve deserved … Downey, Kelley, McKie, Davis, Melvin Watson — and Jamie Watson if you count him as a swing man who in a rational universe would have played more time at the 2 than the 3 position.
McKie, Melvin and Larry Davis played for Fogler – our best coach during the period, but even he arguably let them down by failing to recruit and coach inside players. The others all, in my opinion, were abysmally under-coached – not withstanding the fact that Davey Odom is a great guy and a gentleman.
In my opinion, Ellington deserves a better coach now. So do we as fans.
They wore garnet helmets.
I don't know a lot about basketball strategy ...
… but just from the statistics, and what I’ve observed, I’d go with Galloway, Smith, Muldrow, Cooke, and Jefferson to start. I’d give Richardson and Ellington some major minutes if they’re on that day, particularly if Galloway is having an off performance. The rest of them you just have to rotate in for a few minutes to see if they’ll do anything that day.
Jefferson is the biggest question mark for me. He’s a 6’9", 215 pound senior who is second on the team in blocks, despite only having Slawson and Spinella below him in minutes played, and he has the highest field goal percentage on the team. Granted he hasn’t taken nearly as many shots as most, but still. He must really stink in practice, ‘cause otherwise I don’t get it.
stuff 'bout stuff.
It does seem like Jefferson is efficient enough when he plays to deserve some extra minutes.
That said, I think Horn would def. go with Harris over Jefferson.
Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog By and For Gamecocks Fans.
by Gamecock Man on Feb 14, 2011 9:36 AM EST up reply actions
Harris hasn't scored in double digits all season.
In fact, he hasn’t done anything in double digits all season other than getting ten rebounds against Radford back in mid-November. Harris has had five games with 20+ minutes of playing time, and Jefferson has had one. Maybe Jefferson is worse, but I don’t think he’s getting a chance to prove himself. It’s not like the guys we have out there are doing anything.
stuff 'bout stuff.
by silver82blade on Feb 14, 2011 12:11 PM EST up reply actions
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