Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, the football team picks up a pair of transfers. Men's basketball prepares to take on our rival, and women's basketball rolls on. Okay, here we.
[00:00:55] Okay. Welcome to episode 283 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. Hope y'all had a great weekend out there. Gamecock Nation. A lot of Gamecock sports going on. You had some Saturday, you had some Sunday. You could have just sat back, relaxed and watched the Gamecocks throughout the whole weekend, and there is nothing better than that.
[00:01:26] Christmas time coming up. Little bit a little chilly here in the Southeast, I must say. Really? Definitely feels like Christmas time. And I know I said it last time, but just preparing that Santa wish list. Gonna post on social media. Might even do a special Christmas episode here. Talking about who's been naughty, who's been nice, what kind of presence Gamecock Nation should get from the big man. I don't know. I don't know. I'm talking nonsense here. Got a fun episode for y'all today, kind of on the lighter side with, you know, a little bit of a lull in some other sports and news there, but nonetheless, got some stuff to cover for y'all here starting on Sunday. Little weekend recap here. Swimming and diving. That's right. They were in action at the CSCAA National Open Water Championships. Little bit of a mouthful, but it was a good event as the women's team came in second for the event and the men came in first. So shout out to our swimming and diving team. I don't really know too much about this event, but when you just look at open water championships, I mean, that's pretty sick. You know, you're talking. We're maybe not even in the pool. You know, we could just be in, like, an actual body of water. You see that during the Olympics sometime. So, yeah, that's pretty cool. But then moving over to the football team here, pretty busy weekend from Shane Beamer and company there as it is portal season. You know, we've talked about this where the Gamecocks have seen a few departures, but, you know, we're knocking on wood. We're crossing our fingers that a really good core group of guys are staying in the program. There hasn't been this, like, bomb dropping, jaw dropping departure from the Gamecocks football team. You're seeing the Garnet Trust doing a fantastic job of working with guys who are committed to staying here for next Year working with them to get nil deals. Dylan Stewart, Casey Henry, Fuller, the list goes on. But it also is that time of year where you're going to want to bring in some talent. And Shane Beamer has done a really good job really since he's been here at South Carolina of utilizing the portal, doing so really deliberately bringing in guys that they think will fit the culture of the program.
[00:03:52] Not necessarily chasing stars or the big name, not going after guys who were just looking after the biggest nil deal, but really good key contributors. And I mean, you can go back and look at the deal with Rattler, that changed a lot for the program. You look at guys like Kyle Kennard, Josh Simon, D. Knight, Rocket, even a guy maybe like Mario Anderson. Yeah, he ended up leaving, but that was a big time pickup, under the radar that they were able to develop and be a key contributor for that one season there. So all that to say maybe you kind of maybe were a little anxious that, oh, we weren't making a ton of moves, weren't bringing a lot of guys. Well, that all changed as the game picked up two transfer commitments over the weekend here. First one, edge rusher, Jalen Brown, he's transferring in from Missouri, which is fantastic. Anytime you can take talent away from an SEC team, especially one that you consider a bit of a rival and one that you play, you gotta love that. But then also, you know, when we look at the grander scheme of things here, Missouri lost another key defensive defensive player there, a really highly recruited guy on their defensive line. So we're talking 20, 25 schedule. We play them like, you know, who knows, maybe trying to. Maybe getting a little bit ahead of myself there, but nonetheless, here, Jalen Brown, he's transferring in from Mizzou. He'll have three years of eligibility remaining. His measurables are insane. He's listed as 6 foot 6, 265 pounds. Just a massive human being. Especially when you talk about an edge rusher. He actually was heavily recruited by the Gamecocks out of high school, so took a little bit of a longer route, took the scenic route, if you will, but he ends up with Carolina nonetheless. And you have to love that because that means that this whole staff, Sterling Lucas, Clayton White, Shane Beamer, they all know this guy. They definitely would have met with him. They've talked to his high school coaches, they have his tape. They know what they're getting in him as far as like the raw talent at minimum, right? And then you have to just love his size. Feels like the kind of Guy you bring in because he has a ton of upside. I believe he was a four star recruit at a high school. I think they have different rankings now for the portal and things like that. I believe he still clocks in right around a four star as well. So it might be a little bit more of a development project than bringing in a veteran like Kyle Kennard where he is a little bit more polished. So you may have to develop that a little bit. But the Gamecocks are set to have a pair of athletic freaks on the end of the defensive line next season. Between Jalen Brown and Dylan Stewart, of course. And then there's the guys already on the team there. Plus you look at Sterling Lucas and he really has shown a really good knack at developing his group. And so when you have a guy bringing in this transfer who has been in the sec, he's been in a strength conditioning program at the SEC level for a year already. I believe he did see a decent amount of action last season. I expect to see some solid results from him. So nice pickup there. And then the Gamecocks picked up offensive lineman Nick Sharp from Wake Forest. So Nick has two years of eligibility remaining. I think he had a medical red shirt at some point in his career. So possibility for two years there he has been a starter at Wake. And last season I saw some metric or something like that where it was talking about his pass blocking ability and it was really, really good. I think he basically let up just two sacks on the entire year. So you're getting a guy who is experienced, who is good, who has been developed a little bit. He's a little bit more mature, a veteran presence, if you will. And then on top of it all, he comes in with some metrics, if you will, to show that he can protect Lenora Sellers there. Expect him to compete for a starting job on the interior offensive line, probably one of the guard spots, really. And this is a good pickup because when you consider who the Gamecocks are having to replace in a Vershawn Lee, a Torricelli Simkins, right? You want to have that area be a position of strength and you want a lot of guys who can compete for those starting jobs. I do like the young talent that we have on the offensive line. I think Coach Teasley and Coach Beamer have recruited really well there over the last couple of cycles. But there still is some youth. And I think that Beamer looked at the situation that we all had to go through two seasons ago with just a lack of depth and lack of just sheer talent and raw ability on that side. And I think he said, I'm not going to let this happen again. So you can never have enough talent when we're talking about the offensive line, right? So you bring in a guy like Nick Sharp, he's experienced, he has played a good amount of football at the Power 4 level. He can come in and can compete for the job right away. So if nothing else, it's a really, really good depth and some versatility. He can play left guard, right guard, et cetera. But I do expect him to really be in the thick of it for a starting job come the fall. So, yeah, busy weekend from the football team. I expect some more commitments and visits, et cetera, to come in over the next seven days or so. I think this group is not done. I think we're going to see linebacker, I think we may see running back, wide receiver. All those positions could use a boost as well. So nonetheless, keep an eye out for that and I will of course update you all on social media. But talking about games that are actually being played, it is time to talk about the qzips here. Men's basketball the guys were in action Saturday afternoon against USC Upstate and the Gamecocks got the win. Fourth straight win for the guys here to the tune of 73 to 53. If anyone watched this game or read about it afterwards, you know that there was a pretty scary moment where a player from USC Upstate went up for a dunk and fell really, really bad awkwardly in his head and neck area. I saw that. I believe he actually is doing well, responded well, they took care of him and so we're always, always glad to see that. That was definitely scary there for a few minutes, but all seems to be well there. But it was a good effort for Carolina all around in this one. The three point shot wasn't really falling at a high clip as we had seen the last couple of games. I was hoping to have seen that. But you got a couple of big time performances in the post from Nick Pringle and cmb. And you know, I think that that's it's funny because I feel like I flip flop a lot on the identity of this basketball team here, but obviously when the shots are falling, that makes everything better, right? And you want to be able to do that. You want to be dynamic and you want your guards to be able to score at a high clip and you had some good contributions in this game from your guards. Jamari Thomas and Jacoby Wright had cut a couple nice games there, but when you Went into this season, you were talking about cmb and then you bring in Nick Pringle and you say, okay, like we're going to have some dominant and explosive guys who can play really good basketball in the post and maybe you don't have to play through them all the time, but you certainly want those guys to be able to lead you, you know, And Pringle has that just explosiveness that he's a freak athlete. And when he puts together strong performances, you're really seeing the rest fall into place. Cmb, he has been a machine. He has been steady Eddie, he has been consistent. Multiple double doubles. We've talked about this point in the year, so expect that to continue to grow, right? And I think we'll see games where you have a couple of guys who go off shooting the ball. But when we talk about the team last year, I think it was really led by that good guard play. Like CMB was an emerging talent and BJ Mack, of course, but he was able to shoot as well. You know, he was kind of that multiple dynamic type of big man that Lamont Paris likes. But this year I think you will see CMB do some of that, right? And he's going to do a lot of different things. But when you can get Pringle and CMB rolling like they did in this game, that might be the formula and then you sort of fill in the gaps with some of the guard play. But nonetheless, here it was a good effort all around. Carolina was up seven at the half and used a really strong defensive effort to open things up in the second half, which again we've talked about these last few games here, that the defensive intensity and the defensive effort has gone up since those first few games. And I think that is a great sign. And that also comes with time. You know, there, there's some new faces on this team. Yeah, we talk about a core group of guys who can be leaders and who know the expectations that Paris has. But you still have plenty of new guys on this team, right. And guys who are logging substantial minutes. And you're going to have to get on the same page.
[00:13:34] Defense, just like offense, but you know, maybe even to a higher degree, like is built on chemistry. Like you need to know what the other person is doing. You need to know how are we all on the same page. You need to communicate, especially if you're switching and things of that nature. So I think seeing the guys settle in a little bit, seeing this four game win streak with a couple of impressive wins and you know, talk about A team like Boston College going up there and handling business, that I think is a sign that this team is settling in and they're gelling in. I've talked a lot about ending this month strong, like ending this non conference schedule strong. And right now the guys are looking that way and they are trending in the right direction. So you're seeing some really good things from this team right now and hopefully it can continue. But back to this game here, player highlights. Nick pringle, he had 19 points. That's what I'm talking about here. CMB went for 13 and 11. Jamari Thomas had 11. So up next for the Gamecocks is a big one, y'all. Carolina is taking on those damn old Clemson Tigers Tuesday night at Colonial Life. We've talked about this before and it comes up every year that it really is just kind of silly how this game gets scheduled around the winter break. It, you know it's going to be a good atmosphere, it always tends to be. But it would just be absolutely electric if these schools could figure it out and schedule this game a little bit earlier in the year. Like it would just be so much fun. But nonetheless, here Carolina does have a challenge as Clemson is 9 and 2 on the year, currently ranked 16th. That might change a little bit with the upcoming rankings. They did just catch an L to Memphis in overtime, but defensively both teams are pretty even when you look at the numbers and how they play. But Clemson has had a pretty efficient offense to this point. You know, they made that big run in the tournament last year. They returned a couple of pieces from that and I think they've just continued to really grow from there. So it will be a challenge. But this is a rivalry game and we don't take any crap from anybody. Lamont has beaten Clemson before in his first year. You remember that credible shot. But this is a game where you're going to be at home. Teams on a roll again, trending in the right direction. So my crow to the game here is CMB needs to lead the way, okay? He is the most dynamic player on the team and in big games like this, that is who you need to lead you and you're at home again, kids are on break, but nonetheless, people stay for this game and people will come out for this game, right? So it should be a really good atmosphere. Home court advantage, teams on a roll. You're playing well. If you can catch this dub, it'll make up for a little bit of a groggy start to the season in a big way. Beating a nationally ranked team, a team that's trending well, that has postseason aspirations. If you can handle business here, it'll go a long, long way. We're talking net rankings and everything like that. And then right around the corner you have SEC play where you're going to have a ton of opportunities. Quad one, quad two wins all the way throughout the rest of the year. So big game Tuesday night. Get excited, get up for it. Let's freaking go.
[00:16:59] Now. Changing gears a little bit and going over to the women's side of things. The Ladies were in action Sunday afternoon also at home, and they beat USF 78 to 62. Last episode I talked about how USF has played good teams, close, power teams, closely, and so they might have been a little bit of a tricky opponent here. I really liked this response and this performance from the Gamecocks. Carolina started both halves really strong, started the game off strong in that first quarter and in the third quarter as well. That was really the difference maker. USF fought back, Give them credit in that second quarter. They fought back in the fourth, but the game was kind of out of hand by that point for them. So I think it speaks to Don's ability to really rally the troops at the break there and get them up ready to play for this game. All in all, really good effort up and down the lineup here. A couple of player highlights. We have Sinai Fagan with 14 points, Joyce Edwards with 15 points. Been really impressed. She has really flashed young player, all the tools that you want, really. And so to see her have a couple of big games early this year has been really nice to see Chloe Kitts 10 points and six rebounds. Next up for the Gamecocks, the Ladies will play Charleston Southern at home Thursday at noon. I actually think that game time was adjusted now it's noon, so mark your calendars accordingly there. My crow to the game is let the depth carry you. You know, I would like to think that the Gamecocks can control this one early and often. So I would love to see the bench players log some really big minutes here. But 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.
