Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, South Carolina basketball is having a very special moment. Spencer Rattler hits senior bowl, and we are in the month of Carolina baseball. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:58] Welcome to episode 214 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 18 one to 2001. And my, oh my, does it feel good to be a Gamecock. I mean, wow. That's all you can say?
[00:01:21] Wow?
[00:01:22] I'm going to take a little quote, paraphrase a little bit here from Andy Bernard. Shout out the office.
[00:01:32] I wish there was a way to know that you're in the good old days before you left them.
[00:01:39] Well, let me tell you something, y'all. Right? Now, this moment, it's the good old days. South Carolina basketball, between the men's and women's program is sitting at 37 and three at the beginning of February.
[00:01:56] We are seeing top wins nationally, captivating wins on both programs.
[00:02:05] One program is number one in the country and has reestablished themselves as such, as if it was even still in question.
[00:02:15] The other is sending shockwaves through the SEC and through the country. And we have a coach of the year candidate.
[00:02:25] And this is not to say that this won't ever happen again. And this is not to say that this is a fluke moment. Because if you're a believer in Lamont Paris and Don Staley, the hope is that regularly we could be sitting here saying both of our teams are kicking ass.
[00:02:45] And hopefully one day soon we can say both of our teams are nationally ranked.
[00:02:51] But right now, at 37 and three, that is a hell of a record.
[00:02:59] And to be sitting here with the multiple big wins all sort of clustered right know, LSU on the women's side in Baton Rouge, the Kentucky win on the men's side, going to touch on this in a second. But the game at Tennessee, this is a moment, and let's enjoy it because you don't know what the future is going to bring. But take a step back and enjoy this and think about just how good both of our basketball teams are. Basketball school, basketball school, basketball school.
[00:03:40] Keep contributing to whatever nil fund you feel comfortable with because that goes to this, too. Don't think that it's just football or whatever.
[00:03:51] Give Lamont Paris all of the resources he needs. Continue to fuel the machine that Don Staley has built.
[00:04:00] This is a fantastic moment, and I think it's especially sweet because there were legitimate question marks going into this year.
[00:04:12] On the men's side, you're coming off a very bad year. You had to believe the only way was up. You bring in the transfer guys, you feel better about it. Second year into Lamont, but there were just still question marks, right?
[00:04:26] You didn't know what you were going to know. You listened to me before the season started. I was hoping for an improvement and it was like, maybe you can sniff the NiT, but let's just hope to finish middle of the road in ESCC. That was basically what I was hoping for on the women's program.
[00:04:45] I don't think anyone thought they were going to fall off a cliff, but you didn't know how the new faces were going to step up to the moment. And they've answered the call and then some.
[00:04:59] So it's not like we were going into the year.
[00:05:02] Two programs expected to be great. One was expected to be very good. The other one was picked last by the writers in our own league, the ones who theoretically know the ins and outs of these teams.
[00:05:17] So it's a special moment. It really is. And it's a blast right now to be part of Gamecock Nation. It is so fun. Everyone is on a high right now as it stands today, which doesn't always happen being a Gamecock fan, where pretty much universally everybody is in a good mood, social media is nothing but good things. Dunking on the haters, dunking on people that didn't rank us.
[00:05:45] It's just fun. It's a fun moment right now, and there's going to be challenges ahead and there's going to be moments where things aren't so smooth. But take a second right now and soak it in because it is awesome. It is freaking awesome. And for those of us who have been dragged through the ups and downs of South Carolina sports, and those of us who really were dragged through this men's season last year and the year before that, and just pulling your hair out sometimes is so, so sweet.
[00:06:22] And it's this untapped which is now happening.
[00:06:26] It's the tapping of the basketball. Excuse me, basketball pandemonium in know Don has already showed that we can pack out colonial life regularly.
[00:06:40] Now Lamont gets his crack at it.
[00:06:44] So cool to see. It is so, so cool to see. Gonna dive into all of that just in a second here. Weekend review there's not really a whole lot to get into. No games to report other than basketball here, but not so much a review, but a look forward. We are in the month of South Carolina baseball, y'all. Opening day is about two weeks and change. Two, three weeks or so. Going to be awesome. Going to be great. Can't wait to preview that. Can't wait to cover those guys. Should be a fun season. A lot of returning talent to be excited about. Ethan Petrie, Gavin cassis. So very fun to see. But, yeah, the countdown is really underway. I can't believe it's here this month. How about that? And then fun note here, Spencer Ratler and Xavier Leguette, they are bawling, bawling out in the senior bowl practice this week. It's just been nothing but great footage. Spencer Rattler, I mean, I think there was this.
[00:07:41] I don't know what the word is here. He was like under the radar last year, right? The record of the team didn't do so great. There were moments he had bad picks, whatever. But we knew the year that he had and we saw the growth that he had from year one at Carolina to two. And then when you look at how he left South Carolina to how he started at Oklahoma, that growth is there. And I think now you have these people who cover college football, but who cover the pros, who are seeing like, wow, this guy can ball. So it seems like he's improving his stock. Xavier Leguette, just doing his thing. The guy's a freaking beast.
[00:08:20] Running routes in a crop top jersey. If I had abs like that, I'd be doing that, too. Darn right. If I had hops like that, too, I would probably not work a desk job as well. But here we are nonetheless here. Let's get into some sports here. Let's get into some scores here. Starting off with men's basketball, if I didn't really preface it already, believe us.
[00:08:45] Believe us. Believe us. Now rank us now. Rank the Gamecocks. Gamecocks should have been ranked. But no. And the stupid. Net rankings. Who gives a crap out? Net rankings. Net. Schmidt's rank. The Gamecocks. That's what matters. Because Tuesday night, we saw what happened. The Gamecocks went up to Knoxville and upset number five, Tennessee by the score of 63 to 59 to mark South Carolina's first road win against a top five team since 1997.
[00:09:27] I bet you there are people listening to it this right now, who might not have been born then.
[00:09:34] That is phenomenal.
[00:09:36] And you can put the year aside.
[00:09:41] Going on the road to defeat a top five team, that is a feat.
[00:09:47] That is a huge feat. And I mean, what more can you say about this? It was just such a special moment.
[00:09:58] Know, we had the win against Kentucky. You followed that up with a nice win versus missoul.
[00:10:05] And now it was funny because the people on the outside, it was almost like they're making up excuses. It wasn't necessarily that South Carolina beat Kentucky. It was that Kentucky had an off game.
[00:10:19] And so the haters and the people who probably didn't vote for us in the AP poll are sitting there saying, well, go do it on the road.
[00:10:28] Go do it on the road when it matters. Do it against an elite score. Do it against a veteran team. Do it against a team that's vying for a deep run in the tournament.
[00:10:39] What did South Carolina do? Answer the bell.
[00:10:43] I mean, this was a masterful, masterful game.
[00:10:49] This game plan that Lamont Paris had and the brand of basketball that he has, this team playing is incredible, and I feel like I'm running out of adjectives to describe it, but his game plan was darn near perfect.
[00:11:08] The defense is relentless of this team. They were absolutely controlling the pace of this game from the word go. And yes, there were moments where Tennessee got it going a little bit, but it always came back to this median of slowing it down and forcing Tennessee to go deep into the shot clock, which then, in know it kind of limits some of the possessions you get for the gamecocks. But that's been the case all year. Gamecocks are still able to make the most out of it, controlling the pace and then again, weathering those storms.
[00:11:51] Tennessee did go on a couple of runs and you're on the road.
[00:11:57] They got a couple of really good scorers. You're thinking to yourself, okay, like, what's going on here? I won't lie back in my head. I have second half of Alabama there. But no, this team showed poise and was able to be in a position to win the game late. And the late game coaching was fantastic.
[00:12:20] That got me super excited. That is something that I was sitting up and saying, wow, look at this.
[00:12:27] Working the game clock, working the shot clock, but not just bumming around at the top of the key, right? Not just swinging it around the three point line, working the ball in, getting it low to BJ Mack and then letting him go to work because he was able to do a couple of things right.
[00:12:50] In that case, BJ is able to work it.
[00:12:54] Get to the glass, get a layup.
[00:12:58] He'd work it in. He'd go to the glass, he'd get fouled. He's a pretty good free throw shooter, and he did well at that. And then option three in that he would not score or not get fouled. Sometimes we were there to get that rebound. If not, well, guess what happened we just killed 20 some Od seconds.
[00:13:20] And so it was sort of a win win, and I just loved that. And it was putting trust in your veteran player, trust in a guy that really helps that offense go.
[00:13:32] And then there's not enough good things to say about Miles studie.
[00:13:36] I mean, that is a bad, bad man.
[00:13:41] Those late game free throws were cold blooded. First game back, guy's got a freaking sling on his shoulder still, and he goes and he scores the most clutch free throws of the year. Shushing the crowd while doing it, talking to himself, hyping him up while doing it.
[00:14:00] And the guys on the floor late in the game, they were all the free throw shooters. Tennessee knew what they were doing. They fouled studie, who was, statistically speaking, the worst free throw shooter of the bunch. And he went up there and went four for four.
[00:14:15] These last two weeks of South Carolina men's basketball are not flukes.
[00:14:22] The league this year is tough, and there are going to be games that don't go our way. The remaining schedule, it's still no cakewalk because there's so many good teams in the league, but this is not a fluke. This team is built for this. Beating Kentucky and Tennessee in back to back weeks is absolutely a result of this veteran led team holding each other accountable and Lamont Paris instituting his brand of basketball, which is clearly throwing these elite, so called teams of the SEC off their game.
[00:15:05] It's not a fluke. You keep seeing these beat writers and these bloggers for Kentucky and Tennessee scratching their heads saying, well, we blew that game.
[00:15:17] What about the more likely scenario in that? The Gamecocks are just damn good.
[00:15:23] And when you play the Gamecocks, you better be prepared for 40 minutes of hell. It's a rock fight from start to finish because things don't come easy.
[00:15:36] Our guys tend to play bigger down post.
[00:15:39] It's a physical game. It's a more hard earned game. Defense is premium.
[00:15:45] And as special as the win at home against Kentucky was, what this team did Tuesday night on the road, that is as impressive as it gets. It's more impressive.
[00:15:59] Tennessee is a veteran team themselves. They have an elite score in connect. Connect, he put on an all time game. He scored like half the team's points, and they still lost. If you told me that connect went for what, 30 something, I said, shit, we probably lost that game.
[00:16:16] You were able to hold everybody else in check, and a lot of those points kind of came late, which kept them in the game. But point being, he was held in check pretty often. Right. Winning on the road is not easy. This team did not flinch. This team is relentless and they are cold blooded.
[00:16:36] Some player highlights from this game. Talon Cooper, he's been on a tear. He's been a fantastic addition that sometimes I feel may get overlooked in the mix. Not really so much now, but nonetheless he went for 18 points and five rebounds. BJ Mac 16 points and five rebounds. Miles studie first game back 13 points. Josh Gray wanted to give him a shout out. Six points but seven rebounds and he looked sharper than he did against Missouri. He has had this funny knack the last two years, including this one of just getting better as the year goes on and getting better against SEC opponents. And with his size, you need that note here. Michi Johnson went for three points and it's know, you've seen know he had a nice game against Kentucky. But you look back the last two weeks or so it's kind of been up and down. He's had several games now where it's been three points. He went over and won four points here.
[00:17:37] Of course you want him to score a lot and he will.
[00:17:42] He was off a little bit. He's going to work through this.
[00:17:47] But it's also he doesn't have to, you know what I mean? Because you got guys like BJ, Miles, Talon, Jacoby to pick up the slack. Zachary Davis had himself a cold night, but that's another guy that could go off for 810 points. So it's a really nice luxury to have where this is a team that is not reliant on one player to go off. It's not like oh, here's your lottery pick and if he goes off, we're going to win the game. And if not we might be in a little bit of trouble.
[00:18:24] Johnson was, you know, that's our leading scorer. That's a guy who's year two under Lamont Paris. We know that he can turn it on and he can go off for 15 points like it's nobody's business, but he doesn't have to.
[00:18:39] So it's a very nice thing and that's what I think makes this team tough to beat.
[00:18:44] What do you do? You double BJ Mac. Okay, well, you're going to leave Talon Cooper or Miles studie open.
[00:18:51] So it's a very interesting and fantastic thing to watch. Up next are the Gamecocks. It's a rematch with the Georgia Bulldogs, this time in Athens Saturday at 01:00 p.m. UGA is 14 and seven overall, four and four in conference. Last time these two met a couple of weeks back. Georgia did get the best of South Carolina, but since then the gamecocks have not lost and UGa has only won once. They pushed Alabama to the edge but came up short. The Gamecocks are obviously looking to keep this hot streak going while on the road and similar to the game after Kentucky against Mizzou, right? You want to avoid that hangover, so let's hydrate up, guys.
[00:19:34] Last time I felt that the big difference in this game was the post play. Georgia's center really got the best out of our bigs, so also the free throw shooting was abysmal from the Gamecocks, so hopefully one or ideally both of those things can be corrected. My crow to the game here was a spoiler, but play better in the post. Last game there was a big disparity of rebounds when it was all said and done. So if you can keep things close in that department, even just a margin of one or two off in either direction, I would imagine that the rest of our team should be able to pick up the rest and handle business. Let's go Cox. This will be a big win moving over to women's basketball here. Now the women are actually playing Auburn as I am recording this. So as is customary, we send our good vibes over the airwaves to the planes. Auburn is in the bottom half of the SEC, so hopefully our ladies can handle things well. But this really builds up to the women's showdown Sunday afternoon at home against Ole Miss. The Revs are second in the SEC, sitting at 15 and five overall and five and two in conference. You already know that the fams will be out in full force. Going to be a great one at CLA. Feels like Ole Miss has been a team on the rise, so this could present a challenge. You gotta be ready to go. You gotta be sharp in this one. If you're Don Staley and company, my crow to the game here is slow down Marquisa Davis. She leads their team in points and rebounds. When you have a player like that who can sort of do it all, got to find a way to make someone else beat, you know what I mean? But should be a good one. It's a big, big weekend of South Carolina basketball and again, enjoy it. And every time these teams win, enjoy it. This does not happen every year. Soak it in. It's a great time to be a gamecock. That wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter or 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.
