Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox talking Gamecocks, the basketball teams start conference playing. The win column, portal editions roll in for football, and the baseball team gets some nice preseason love. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:58] Welcome to episode two, oh eight of Cox talking gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 18 one to 2001. And we're a basketball school, y'all. Let it be known far and wide that the University of South Carolina is a basketball school. Wow. It was basketball bonanza. Basketball fever has hit in Columbia, and I love it. So much action throughout the whole weekend. So much excitement. Men's program, women's program, Lamont Paris, Don Staley, all so much fun. SEC play kicked off in a big, big way. And then personally, for me this past weekend, it was just basketball nonstop. I went to an NBA game on Friday and then had the men's team on Saturday, women's on Sunday, nonstop hoops for your boy. It was a ball weekend. Lot of fun here. Hope you all had a good one as well. So, as you can imagine, I have a lot to review with you all. It was a busy weekend, really busy weekend around athletics, not just on the court here. Starting with a few things in review from this weekend, starting with the baseball team, they received a preseason ranking of 13th in the country from perfect Game USA. That is some nice preseason recognition and praise there. You all know with college baseball, there's like a million places where you can get rankings and things like that. But that is a great one. Early to see. And I think when you consider how the team ended, maybe some of the departures as well, maybe a few question marks in the pitching rotation specifically, that feels about right. I think when you were looking ahead of the Gamecocks and the rankings there, there were a few teams that I'd say maybe I feel that we are better than right now on paper. But hey, that's why you play the games. And I'm confident in this team. Excited for this season. And I would imagine that when it's all said and done, the Gamecocks will be improving on that ranking and when it's all said and done in the postseason, a lot higher than 13 there. But that was exciting to see. Excited for the yardcocks. It's coming up. It's coming up, y'all. But then moving over to the football program here, have more portal updates. It just doesn't stop as someone who is always on their phone looking at the Gamecocks, reading articles about the Gamecocks, reporting, for lack of a better term, on the Gamecocks, the portal giveth a lot of action and a lot of content and it can make your head spin. And I had my rant diatribe the other day. If you are just someone who says I can't keep up with this, I am just going to wait till August like 100%. I don't blame you. That's why I'm here to give you the spark notes on it, because keeping track of who's interested in what, who's visiting, what weekend and when it is a lot my brain is at max capacity keeping names of players and where they're transferring from and just my brain is really at max capacity here. But I'm going to try to summarize this for y'all as best as I can here, starting with very piece of interesting news here. Tight end Brady Hunt is in fact sticking with the Gamecocks last episode and this time last week it was reported and pretty much just out there that he was not with the Gamecocks, that he was decommitting. All signs pointed with him then going to Texas a m. But apparently that was not the case and he is sticking with his commitment to South Carolina. And if that is not the perfect encapsulation of the chaos and chaos really that is at the transfer portal, I don't know what is right. He is still a welcome addition, though. I think that rounds out the tight end room nicely with experience and size and all that jazz. Different skill sets as well. So was certainly happy to see him end up with Carolina, but it was quite a journey to get there, really. And then the Gamecocks added a pair of linebackers from the portal. This was welcomed news. First, Demetrius Knight is transferring in from Charlote. I believe he actually also played a little bit at Georgia Tech as well, but last season he led Charlote with 96 tackles and one and a half sacks. He's coming in with experience, maturity, leadership, obviously can play hard. I think he also played a lot on special teams as well before really blossoming last season in the linebacker position.
[00:06:06] Next was the transfer from Pitt, Bangley Kamara. Kamara totaled 54 tackles and two sacks last season, so both of these linebackers are coming in with a lot of experience, also coming in with some maturity, and most importantly, they're coming in with speed. It's like that movie speed. That's what I want to hear about our linebackers now, and that was really the factor that this staff wanted to improve on. It's just widely reported that that was something they needed to and wanted to find in their next group of linebackers were guys who were just faster and quicker to the ball. And as much as it sucks to see stone and pup leave, this staff responded in a perfect way by bringing in players who bring that extra tool of speed more so than the two guys who left. And then you're also coming in with experience and production at a high level that they would hope to have had from the guys who have left, right? So it's almost more of a proven commodity, if you will, with these two linebackers. Now it is short term. I believe both have just one year of eligibility left, but you got to believe that the plan would be to play them and then you go with some of the younger guys who are coming in and are also on the roster there. So again, love the response from this staff. You don't like to see your current roster leave like stone and pup, et cetera, but you deal with it and instead of just throwing your hands up and saying, well that stinks. No, you go into the portal and you get two guys, bring them on campus, they have experience, they're older, they're more mature, they can bring some leadership. And all of a know that linebacker room isn't looking all that dire anymore. So kudos to this staff there and obviously we got to get them coached up, got to get them acclimated to the SEC. But when you just look at some of these numbers here and read about what these guys have done, where they have been previously, you feel good about the type of person and type of player that Beamer brought into the program here. Also, South Carolina added wide receiver Gage Larverdi. Larvadian, sorry there, Gage Larvadian from the portal. Gage was previously at Miami, Ohio. He comes in with just one year of eligibility as well. He has over 2000 career yards and 13 touchdowns. This staff did a nice job of bringing in experience and depth to reload that room. Now, I am still a little bit of concerned with the lack of clear wide receiver. One obviously the biggest hope we have is that Nick harbor is taking a big leap in year two and can be that guy and if that happens, the rest will fall into place nicely. But if not, it might just have to be sort of a wide receiver one by committee or where you have a bunch of solid wide receivers, not one who's head and shoulders skill set above the rest. And you got to just find the hot hand, so to speak. So it'll be interesting to know you also have guys like Tyshawn Russell as well, Peyton mangrove like, there are guys in that room who could continue to develop and could emerge, which justin step has done. You look at Josh van, Xavier Leguette, he's been able to help a guy take that next step who's been with the programmer who has some experience under his belt. So maybe that happens this year, right? But obviously you are looking at Nick harbor to take a big leap. He's obviously running track right now and everything like that. So first off, you know, he's staying in shape, but when he gets back into football related activities, it's going to be hyperdrive. It has to be for him to improve on the route running and everything like that. But really exciting weekend for the football program. I love the way this staff has responded. I don't love some of the guys who have left. Right. It sucks to see those guys leave. But the response has largely been as good, if not better, of an answer from this staff. There's, I think one out there as it stands right now, one welcome home tweet that we are waiting to hear who that may be. Is it a quarterback? Is it an offensive lineman? Time will tell. And then also, I believe this week the football team reports for winter workouts. So that's exciting. Should be some good content as well. Just hype videos of the dudes lifting and getting after it. All that jazz. So full steam ahead for Beamer and company, but very excited to see here. But now moving on to games that are actually being played, scores that are happening. I'm talking men's basketball here. The guys opened SEC play this weekend and even just watching on tv, you could feel the intensity and you could feel that excitement and intensity from Lamont, you could see it from the players and you could hear it from the fans at colonial life. I mean, the place was rocking and Lamont Paris was, for back of a lack of a better term, animated. Right? He's not a guy who's like yelling and screaming a lot, but he was playing defense on the sideline. He was really into it, hyping up his guys, hyping up the fans, John, with the officials a little bit. It was some of the most emotion and intensity that we've outwardly seen from him, at least in my observation. And I think it was because he knew the moment where he has a good team going into SEC play opening at home, and it was his chance to make an impression and it was his team's chance to prove that the non conference record was not a fluke and the team did that starting off league play. The right way, beating Mississippi State 68 to 62. And simply put, the court cocks are fun again.
[00:12:19] And even more simply put, Michi Johnson is him.
[00:12:24] What a game, y'all. I mean, that was a fun game. A good game, intense. That's a SEC basketball game between two good programs. Mississippi State is a very physical team and they had the size advantage on South Carolina. But Carolina was able to create so many second chances and capitalize on that and then dig deep late and you get the job done.
[00:12:52] In fact, Carolina won the rebounding battle 35 to 26, which is fantastic. Talked about that before the game. That that seemed to be the strength and the one stat you could look at and say, well, Mississippi State, they're better rebounding team than South Carolina. That could be an issue. Carolina fought for the rebounds, created second chances and took advantage of the second chances. Fantastic. Now, the cox did start slow here. They were in a hole early on to start the game and were chasing down state in that first half for the most part. But the boys got hot and once they were able to settle into a groove offensively, they were actually able to go into the half with a two point lead. In the second half you saw Michi Johnson and you saw him catch fire as he was doing it all. I mean, both ends of the floor. He was really cooking. He was in the zone, he was hyping up the crowd, the crowd was chanting his name. You also had Miles studie had himself a great day as well. That cannot be overlooked what Miles studie did as well. CMB had nice flashes. Talon Cooper did a great job of distributing the ball and I was impressed with how he was avoiding the press late in the game. That was also with Michi as well, but avoiding the traps. You just had a nice team showing. Jacoby Wright had some clutch shots as well. And this is just what you've seen from this team. A little know, at one point it really felt as if Carolina was going to put this game away with a few minutes to go, but Mississippi State battled back and then you had some bad miss free throws from South Carolina deep late in the game down the stretch. That allowed the bulldogs to creep back in it. But it was none other than Michi Johnson himself who got a massive steal at the end of the game and then knocked down both free throws to put the game on ice.
[00:14:50] This was a game where you saw the experience in the players that Lamont brought in here, right? You saw the transfer guys at work. This team battled through a tough start. They didn't blink at being outsized and they weathered the storm late in the game and were able to come away one and O in the SEC against a solid Mississippi state team.
[00:15:15] Some player highlights for you all here. Michi 24 points and six rebounds. Miles studie 15 points and six rebounds. So now the team is sitting at 13 and one and really you feel like in a prime position to continue to build off of this. Again, it's going to be tough in the SEC. There's good teams out there, but that's a huge win, right? And again, Mississippi State, they are no slouches there. Now, the next game for the men is Tuesday night on the road at Alabama. So in Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide, for the last couple years they have been towards the top of the SEC under Nate Oates and a team that really has been a mainstay of the tournament as well. The Tide are currently at nine and five. They are one and O in conference as well. Their calling card has been and still is their offense. They average about 91 points per game compared to Carolina's 75. Both teams will want to shoot the ball though, so should make for an exciting game if nothing else. But my crow to the game here is make Alabama play our game.
[00:16:30] Carolina's defense has been very solid through this point in the year, right? And it's been a nice complement to the team's three point shooting ability, right. Gamecock shoot a lot of threes. They have a pretty high percentage so far of making them, but it's been the defense that has bailed out this team at times. So if Carolina can slow down Alabama and not make it a track meet where guys are having to score 85 plus, right, if that can happen and you can keep the scores lower a bit, then I believe Carolina has the shooters and the players to make the difference down the stretch. So slow down the game a bit, make them play our game hard. Defense, timely shots, don't have it be this 90 to 87 type of deal, that's Alabama's game, right? They want to run up and down, they want to shoot threes and all that jazz. We want to slow it down a little bit and then hit our threes when we want them to. So should be a good one. Tuesday night, SEC play fully underway for the men here.
[00:17:32] Now moving over to women's basketball here. Two games to report on and spoiler alert said that weird, this team is rolling. Thursday night the ladies opened SEC play with the win as well, defeating Florida 89 to 66. Tahina Pow Powell led Carolina with 17 points and then Sunday afternoon the women were back in action this time at home against Mississippi State and got the win 85 to 66. Pair of 66 wins here. And despite the margin of victory, this team had a battle in this game early especially. And Don Staley after the game, she was pretty critical of the team's effort and said something along the lines of, it was good enough to win this game, but the effort is not good enough to win this league. So I like that. Right? You have a coach who is not going to be content, you're not going to put your feet up or anything like that. This team still has a lot to prove. They've been really good to this point in the year. They're perfect this point in the year. But the Gamecocks were even faced with a small early deficit in this game and then into the third. We're only just up by ten and we know in college basketball, whether it be men's or women's, the other team can get on a run and ten points can go away in the blink of an eye. So you got to be able to play a little bit cleaner. You can't let teams hang around like that. Luckily, Brie hall came to the rescue and hit some huge three pointers, which helped really accelerate the team and end up with this nice victory here. Tahina pow pow kept up her hot hand as well. When it was all said and done, Carolina was able to pull away and they're rolling. Like I said, they are two and o in the SEC. Player highlights here, Brie Hall, 15 points, Camilla Cardozo, 13 points and 14 rebounds. Chloe kits and Tahina pow pow each had twelve as well. And with that win, both South Carolina basketball teams are currently 27 and one. Just an incredibly impressive start from both programs. Like I said, basketball fever has hit Columbia. What a time. What a time.
[00:19:52] Up next for the ladies is a game Thursday night at Mizzou. The Tigers are nine and five on the year. Owen one in the SEC. My quote of the game here is, I'd like to see Brie hall stay hot. If she can get cooking, get into double figures. It makes it that much harder for any team to defend this Gamecock squad, especially with another shooter opposite her. And pow pow. So let's see Brie hall get hot. Let's see the Gamecocks stay rolling there with that, y'all. That wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media Twitter X is Cox gamecocks. Instagram is just the name of the show, Cox talking Gamecocks. And please, like, subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all y'all. Go, Cox.
