Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, the running backs coach is hired. Men's basketball goes to overtime. And ladies basketball comes home with a victory. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay.
[00:00:56] Welcome to episode 210 of Cox Talking Game Cox. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 18 one to 2001. Hope you all had a great weekend out there. If you have an extended weekend because of the holiday and you're off work today or not in class or whatever, I hope you're still enjoying your weekend. Extended weekend. I myself. And in that, it's nice to get that extra day to rest, chill, maybe drink a little, whatever. It's nice. And if you don't have the extra day off, that stinks. But hey, I'm here for you. Get your 20 minutes in of Tim. Get your 20 minutes in of Gamecock Nation. Give you a little boost. Then you go about your merry way, and then it's a normal week. The weekend is right around the corner. It was an exciting weekend, just from a sports fan perspective. I know this is a college podcast here, but NFL playoffs heating up. Good. Wild card weekend. The Lions. Shout out the Detroit Lions. I'm not a Lions fan, but shout out them. To end a 31 year playoff streak is pretty phenomenal. And as a fan of a pro team, that stinks. I mean, it hasn't been that bad, but man, that must be such sweet relief there.
[00:02:20] But nonetheless, here. Got some stuff to review with you all here for Gamecock Nation before turning into scores and everything like that. Might be a little bit of a shorter episode today, but we'll see what we got here, starting with a little weekend in review here. Got an update from the football program here. A answer.
[00:02:42] A vacancy has been filled. That one where people were, I think, anxious to see who we hired here. This is the running backs coach. It has been filled. Shane Beamer hiring former Texas a m running backs coach Markel Blackwell. Now, Blackwell also recently coached at Ole Miss, so clearly he has a lot of connections and experience in the SEC, which is never a bad thing. At the same time, it is kind of like this is not unique to South Carolina or Shane Beamer. Like the SEC is just very SEC biased itself, right? If you are in the SEC, you are going to be shuffled around just having that experience and understanding the culture and what it takes to win and compete in the SEC.
[00:03:33] It really is second to none. So if you have that on your resume, a coach is going to probably look at you first or give you a better look than if you were coming from let's say like the big twelve. It just really is funny. I feel like other conferences don't hold that in such high regard. Like, I don't think you have a lot of Big ten coaches just shuffling from Big ten school to Big ten school quite like you do in the SEC. But again, I view it as a positive right.
[00:04:04] And in terms of what Blackwell has done, he has recently developed some very good running backs, most recently Ole Miss running back star Quishon Judkins and he also helped develop Kareem Hunt. So that was what we were missing with know. Recruiting wasn't the best, but it was okay under him, in my opinion. It was the development of the running backs where you never really saw someone taking that great next step right from year one to year two or in his know, from year one to year three. So if we can bring in someone who can recruit at an adequate level, no worse than hardesty, but who has the experience of getting the most out of his players and growing and developing. Quishon Judkins had a fantastic freshman year and he just transferred from Ole Miss, but he was set to be a very key part of Ole Miss and one of the better backs in the SEC. So if you can have someone on your staff who can get the most out of your guys, especially now going into this season where you brought in a couple of transfers and you have more talent and more depth in that running back position, if you can have a guy who's like, okay, you got a rocket, Sanders and Oscar Attaway, guys who are good right now, I'm going to make them even better. Fantastic. Then you look at some of the younger guys, Braswell and whatnot. If we can bring them along and we're looking ahead here, but in two years those guys are ready to be premier backs. That's what you want to get. That's the key for college coaching. It's different now with the portal era where you can bring in a guy who's already a little bit more polished. But my opinion, you still need someone to get the most out of your guys and you still need someone who can develop. That's just coaching in general, right?
[00:06:14] That's any level of sport you want to continue to get better. So that's my long way of saying I think the Blackwell hire is good. I didn't know who he was coming in. I think I'm not alone in that. There were some other names being thrown around there. I did not really know who he was coming into this announcement, but after reading up on him and seeing who he's coached and thinking about a little bit more. I think it's a fine hire. I think it's a good hire. And it's funny that now we got two former a. M. Coaches. I think the game plan I read was actually, had Jimbo not been fired, that these two guys were set to be retained, if not even extended. So that staff, that administration, they had faith in Blackwell and Coley. So by extension, I feel like we should feel decent about them as well. Right? And we'll see how it goes.
[00:07:08] But nonetheless, here, let's move over to games that are being played, scores that happened starting off here with men's basketball. The men were on the road again this last Saturday and came away with a win in overtime, 71 to 69 and whoo.
[00:07:27] This game was anything but pretty. But I will take that win. I will take that win always. The Gamecocks came out of the gate looking good. It's like a 70 run or something like that. But Mizzou settled in and got their offense rolling. Meanwhile, really, the story of the entire game for South Carolina was the turnovers. I think they had 16 turnovers on the game just shy of their season high. And the Gamecocks were just simply not taking care of the ball and the points off turnovers that Mizzou was able to generate. It was just insane. You simply can't let that happen to good league opponents and expect things to go okay. And I said this the other episode, that there's not many bad teams in the SEC this year, right? Mizzou's record wasn't anything to gawk at. Right?
[00:08:25] And the point fact of the matter is though, you're at their place. They have experienced guys, veteran guys. You just can't let that stuff happen to SEC opponents. But despite that, Carolina battled in this game and just as I have said before, and we all have thought before this season, you saw the maturity of this team as the second half was one where the team was behind but never really got out of striking distance. And just when things were coming to a head, guys hit shots when it mattered most. Talon Cooper with a huge rainbow three point shot to tie things when overtime hit.
[00:09:09] When overtime came, I felt that it was almost a really good, like a reset for Carolina because throughout the whole game it was really their own misgivings that allowed Mizzou to be in the game in the first.
[00:09:27] Like with all of the turnovers and guys like Michi, I'll get to in a know Michi had an off game. He did so your star player was off. You're turning over the ball like it's nobody's business. And so you have Mizzou in the game, you battled back, you got some momentum in your own corner. Talon Cooper puts you into overtime. I thought that that would be a time where the team could say, okay, we were screwing around for this entire game. We have a chance now to play clean, good basketball and we can go out and win this game and play our game. And I think that that's what they did because you came out and you played good basketball. Josh Gray, shout out. Quick shout out. Two late massive free throws and then overtime was rolling. Jacoby Wright was the MVP, hitting the game winner with seconds left. And then the boys locked down on defense and got away with a very hard fought win. Jacoby Wright also with some clutch free throws in overtime. As you know, like I said a second ago, it was anything but pretty. But a w is a w is a w, especially on the road in the SEC. And we will take that and we will certainly take a two and one record in the SEC.
[00:10:53] Also of note in this game, Colin Murray Boyles got his first start of the year. So that was really exciting to see Stephen Clark moved to the bench. And who knows if that's going to be permanent.
[00:11:05] I think it makes sense. I think it was something that was probably bound to know. Murray Boyles is an exciting player. He's got a high ceiling, simply put. I mean, you look at the numbers and the box scores at the end of these games, he's more productive than Stephen Clark is. I think Clark provides that veteran presence. He knows where to go with the know. He's made some clutch rebounds, he's had timely, you know, timely assists. I don't know if he should be starting. I'm fine with either. But I think you get Murray Boyle's that starting experience and it almost gives you a little bit of an x factor, right? And you saw some different looks this game with the rotations and things like that. But nonetheless, here, player highlights. BJ Mac had a massive game going for 21 points. Talon Cooper, eleven points and eight rebounds. And then Jacoby Wright also with eleven points. And of course the clutch shot to win the game. Michi Johnson, he did have an off game, just five points, which honestly makes the win even all the more impressive. And again, it shows that this team is deeper and more mature than the ones we have seen in the past.
[00:12:21] This game happens to the team last year. That team folds. That team doesn't have the depth to keep it up. That team doesn't have the maturity to keep it up. You lose that game last year for sure.
[00:12:35] This year the guys will realize it was their own mistakes that were keeping Mizzou in the ball game. And then even when Mizzou got a little bit of momentum in overtime, which just like a brief moment of time, really, the guys were able to weather that and get the job done. And then ultimately, again, it wasn't a buzzer beater shot that won it. You got that shot with, I think it was about 12 seconds left, 10 seconds left. It was the defense. The defense locked down, did not allow Mizzou to get a good shot off at the end of the game and you ultimately got the w. So to do so without Michi Johnson and to do so with a 1001 turnovers, seemingly again, it makes it a very impressive win. And as a fan, if I can say, all right, our team didn't have their best game and they beat a team that as it stands right now, isn't the best of the SEC. But what was it? They had eight or so wins coming into this and it makes you think, well, if we play clean basketball and Michi plays well, that looks fantastic, right? So it just goes to show it's still work in progress. Basketball is going to have its ups and downs, but nonetheless, this was a huge win. Something to be excited about. Up next for the gamecocks is a matchup with Georgia at home Tuesday night at 09:00 p.m.. Late. Georgia is twelve and four overall. They are also two and one in conference. Fun fact, this is a t shirt, q zip giveaway, little q zip on a t shirt type of deal. Really funny and just really cool to see that the school has embraced this really Internet sensation of the quarter. Zip Lamont Paris, that's just what he wears and they are the fighting Qzips. It's just fun to see. Georgia is coming off a loss to Tennessee, who they played very close throughout. Though both Georgia and Carolina. They're not really teams that fly around scoring a thousand points like Alabama, but nonetheless should be a good game. My quote of the game here is lean on that defense. South Carolina's defense has given SEC opponents and really all of their opponents fits so far, sort of minus that second half of the Alabama game.
[00:15:01] But with Georgia coming in as the visiting team, you want to disrupt their passing lanes, create turnovers, force them into bad shots, just make their life difficult. In colonial life. It is a late tip off, but I have faith in the Carolina fans to still create a tough atmosphere.
[00:15:20] Moving on to women's basketball here, the ladies also took on Mizzou. This was last Thursday, though. They got the win 81 to 57. The Gamecocks had a great fourth quarter to really seal the deal. But Mizzou, they were not going away quietly, especially coming out of halftime. Really put up a fight. Brie hall had herself a game going eight for ten from the floor. Don Staley said after the game that she found a rotation, really a lineup rather of bench players mixed in with the starters that played with the most chemistry and really got this game going. And I think what you're seeing in this team is it's a very talented team and it's a very well coached team. But you have several key players who either one haven't been through the grind of an SEC schedule like Tina Pow pow. Or you haven't asked to produce at such a consistently high level in league play. That's kind of like Brie hall, right? She had a fantastic game this game. But when you look at maybe some of these two types of players, two types of personalities on your team, that's just what you're seeing, right? And what that has equaled to this part in the year is ultimately wins because the team is so talented and Don is such a good coach. But things haven't always been as smooth, right? Don has been critical of the team's performance in some wins and in this game, despite a huge margin of victory at the end, it was like twelve points difference. It was not that out of hand in the third, really. So you're still maybe kind of ironing some things out, right? And I'm confident that this team is still primed for a good, deep postseason run. But if we see some bumps along the way, I don't think that is cause for concern is all I'm saying. Some player highlights here. Brie Hall, 21 points, tahina pow pow, 15 points and Ashton Watkins with ten points. Up next for the ladies is a matchup against Kentucky at home. 07:00 p.m. Kentucky is eight and nine overall. They are one and two in conference. My crow to the game here is it's just keep finding that chemistry, right? Just like I was talking about. Dawn should keep rotating in players getting different lineups on the floor to find the best chemistry. Because I'm looking at this as now is the time where you need to find that, right? Who can you turn to in given situations? What lineup is the best defensively? What lineup is the best to shoot the ball what lineup is the best to sort know, crash the boards and things like that.
[00:18:20] Great time to iron some things out. Still earlier in the SEC schedule. Postseason is coming into focus a little bit, but you still got plenty of time until that. But nonetheless, here 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 do the podcast. I appreciate all y'all go cops.
