Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, the basketball teams have opposite weekends. Players declare for the NFL draft and I give a CFP pick. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:54] Okay. Welcome to episode 287 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 been pretty cold here in the Southeast. Hope y'all are staying bundled up. And if you were dealing with sleet and ice storm. If you are listening to this from the Midwest, my goodness, hope you are safe and sound. But feels weird. Sort of a weird weekend here where you didn't even have the prospect of Gamecock football to look forward to. I've been in this mode, really since mid August, late July, where you're just looking forward to games and then you're finally in the throes of the season and you're getting into a nice rhythm. And then, yes, you're waiting for the bowl game, but there's all these reports about practice and opt outs and you're just kind of working towards something. And now it's just. I feel empty.
[00:01:55] I feel empty. It's always that week or two where you just kind of gotta get used to life without Gamecock football. Still college football on. I saw Pete Lembo and Buffalo won a bowl game. Shout out Pete Lembo. Glad he's doing well up there. Miss him. You know, no disrespect to Joe Decamillis, but I do miss the Lembo press conferences. Those were always very entertaining here. And we still got the CFP to look forward to, which I will touch on a little bit towards the end of the episode here. But glad to have y'all with me here.
[00:02:28] Interesting weekend among Gamecock Nation. Interesting weekend to say the least. Sort of two ends of the spectrum here. Fully focused on basketball season until for further notice, really. So we'll be breaking down those games and then a quick weekend recap as well. So let's jump right into it. We actually did have some other sporting events in action this weekend. On Saturday, you had the swimming and diving team. They were in action against Virginia Tech. The women won 175 to 125. So shout out to the ladies there. And the men were on the wrong side of things, 204 to 96.
[00:03:12] So mixed bag from the swimming and diving team, but shout out to the ladies as well. And then this weekend, you did have a little bit of news from the football program.
[00:03:23] Was really just a Slew of guys declaring for the NFL draft, some of whom it's more of just the formality of entering your name in the draft. They were seniors. They're not coming back. Guys like Rashawn Lee, Davon Campbell, Debo Williams, Kai Kroger, among others. So it always hurts to, you know, when, you know, it's finally, finally done. Not that there was any hope there, but I think there really are a lot of guys from our team that will be in the draft that can be contributors at the NFL level. I think you look at Kai Kroger and the work that he has done over the last four years, he has been consistent. He's fought through a little bit of adversity. We obviously know he can bring a little bit of dynamic ability with his ability to, you know, throw the ball and whatnot. But that's really cool. A guy like Debo Williams, Demetrius Knight, like these guys, I. I honestly could see playing at the next level. Vershawn Lee is a guy that is a Gamecock through and through. He did everything in his power to help that offensive line. He was as steady as you could ask for and just shout out to these guys. Then you also had a couple guys who I don't think it was a question that they were going to declare, but they didn't necessarily have to, first one being TJ Sanders was really cool to see the work that he did to elevate his draft stock over the last call it year and a half, you know, he was someone that was kind of in the rotation. But when he got more of his time last season he flashed and then this year he continued to flash. I've even seen some mocks where he's going at the end of the first round. We'll see if that happens. But I do think he's a pretty high draft pick. A lot of athleticism, going to miss him along the defensive line. And then Nick Emmanwari, he officially declared, had a really nice message and I know we talked about it last episode, talked about the halftime sitting out situation. My stance doesn't change that. I think if you're going to do that, just don't do the whole game. But he did take to Twitter and he did try and clear up some of the mystery around that, I guess. So shout out to him. You know, I don't think there was ever a doubt that Nick E. Was an incredible contributor for this defense and for this program.
[00:05:50] When he declared, excuse me, when he committed, he said, clemson is on the clock. He won two out of Three at that time when he said it, we hadn't beaten them in what, seven years. He won two out of his three rivalry matchups there. He was a thumper back there. So athletic, so great. Just a really true impact player from really the word go.
[00:06:14] That was a weird thing that happened in the Cheez Its Bowl. But he did clear it up. He said he apologized and took ownership for any miscommunication that may or may not have happened between him and the coaches. Maybe it was a deal where he thought that that was known that that's what it was going to be. His plan was. And it didn't get all the way up or I don't know. I'm not going to speculate on it anymore. Good on him for clearing it up. I don't think there was ever a doubt that we were going to say, like, oh, I don't like Nick Amenwari or anything like that. He was an incredible player for this program. He had a really nice message. Gamecock for life. So shout out to all these guys. Best of luck. Going to be really fun to watch the draft when that comes around in the spring and see where these guys go.
[00:06:58] But moving on to games that are actually being played, not talking about the future draft, here it is, as I had said earlier, full on basketball season. Talked about going into this weekend, that it was SEC play beginning for both men and women. The ladies started a little bit before the weekend though. So let's get this over with and let's talk about the guys. You know, the excitement and everything that came around with ending December strong, ending the non conference schedule really well and looking forward to SEC play. That faded pretty quickly as the guys played Mississippi State in Starkville Saturday afternoon in what was frankly an afternoon to forget. Get.
[00:07:46] So keep in mind, I guess, keep this in mind. It's going to make us feel better. It's going to make me feel a little bit better. But take that for what you will here.
[00:07:57] Mississippi State is a ranked team. They're ranked in the top 20. They very well might go up in the next ranking. They are a deep and talented team. We were on the road, so there's all those things kind of working against you, but I don't know, even so this was just a really, really poor showing. Ultimately, the gamecocks lost 85 to 50. And I mean, just even at the half, it was just, ugh, really tough. You know, I went into this game thinking that, you know, you have an opportunity here where you ended the month of December strong. You beat Clemson, you have a little bit of momentum on your side. Things seem to be gelling a little bit more.
[00:08:43] And I said, you know, what an opportunity to go on the road. And yes, Mississippi State was ranked. You're on the road, all that jazz. But the SEC is good this year. And if Lamont Paris wants to be competitive, you're going to have to find ways to at least be competitive in these games. Because when you're going to against the likes of Bama or Florida, Kentucky, like Auburn, rather like, these teams are good.
[00:09:12] And so I looked at it and said, well, maybe, just maybe this team can kind of keep some of this momentum here. Maybe State is a little overrated and you can go in there and make a game of this. But literally from the opening tip off, that was just not the case. You know, I talked about how the team has run into this strange pattern of having slow starts. You know, we saw that against Presbyterian the game before last, and I said, I wonder how that would translate into SEC play, because that's a dangerous game. And we knew right away the game started on a 15 to 2 run. Carolina was held to just 18 points in the first half. 18 points, that's just bad. That's bad ball. It is. You know, you just had too many turnovers from Carolina, bad turnovers, and you had a very uncharacteristically bad game from CMB.
[00:10:11] Gamecocks shot just 2 for 19 from 3.
[00:10:16] And so again, it's just, that's not going to get it done.
[00:10:20] And you have to find a way to start these games better. And it's just clear that this.
[00:10:32] I like the players on our team. I just think there's. There's a little something missing and I'm not sure what that is. And you know, you see people talking about, you know, you're comparing this year to last, where at this point in the year, I think we're past that. But, you know, I think maybe you do miss a guy like Talon Cooper. It's not necessarily missing someone like Meeche who could just get really hot and take over a game. In this game, Zachary Davis had a good game, right? But I think it's just you need things to kind of break a little bit your way now. Whereas last year's team, they were able to compete in different ways. If it was going to be a higher scoring game, they could do that. If they wanted to grind it out defensively, they could do that. Whereas this year, I don't necessarily know if that's it. I think maybe they are A little bit thinner than they were.
[00:11:23] You know, you talk about a guy like Cam Scott where he needs to continue to see minutes, like, he can be good, he's going to continue to develop. But I, maybe I was off base here, thought maybe he might be a little bit more ready to go right away, but I don't know. I'm just. I'm literally spitballing with you all right here as to trying to think about what the heck happened Saturday afternoon. I mean, but again, it's. It's funny because you had 18 at the first half, you end up with 50 points. So even just looking at it on paper, obviously there's a better effort in the second half, and the guys, they didn't mount a comeback, but compared to what they were playing, how they were playing in the first half, they. They played better. And, you know, watching it, you. There were a couple of moments where, you know, you hit, you. You got a bucket, you got to stop another bucket. And you're like, well, you know, if you go on a massive run here, maybe you can cut into this. But it just never came.
[00:12:19] So you have to just look at this one and say, it is what it is, I guess. Player highlights, like I said, Zach Davis, 22 points.
[00:12:26] CMB five points, 10 rebounds. Nick Pringle, eight points. So again, you're looking at some of these guys that you expect to be big time contributors. You're getting. What's that? Terrible at math? 13 points between CMB and Nick Pringle. That's just not going to get it done. If one of them gets 13, it's a different, you know, that's kind of more in line with what you're hoping to see here. But up next for the Gamecocks, they return home and will welcome Alabama Wednesday night. So this is exactly what I'm talking about here. The SEC is going to be relentless this year, and South Carolina already will have the hardest strength of schedule here, so don't expect to catch your breath anytime soon here. Alabama is currently ranked fifth. They could move up in the next rankings after they torched Oklahoma over the weekend. My crow to the game here is start fast. You know, we've just seen far too many slow starts from this team. And now that we are in league play, these teams are just too good to try and play catch up after digging yourself into a deep hole. And I don't really know what. What that is, right? Like, I don't know what the exact solution is. That's why Lamont Paris gets paid the big bucks. I don't know. If you tinker with the lineup a little bit, something has to be done to find a way to light a fire under these guys in the first half. Because if you go down 15, 20 points at the half to a team like Alabama, that's incredibly hard to come back from talking about a team that's good and that's deep, like a team that has Final four aspirations. So need to be ready to go into this one and just find a way to get out of the gate and just. Just hang around at the half, right? If we're a second half team, fine. But hang around, right? Can't be 15, 20 points. Like eight points. All right, maybe 10.
[00:14:30] All right. But I will preview the game after that. I believe it's Auburn at home as well. We'll preview that next episode, but hopefully the Q Zips can get out of the gate and get. And get hot. Because again, with the strength of schedule, this team really can go. 500 in SEC play and have a legitimate case for the postseason. So it's. Can you steal four, maybe five wins on the road and can you win your fair share at home, too? So you just got to believe, you know, it's we're first game in SEC play. I'm not hitting the panic button yet, but there are some red flags that hopefully can get addressed.
[00:15:12] But moving over to the women's side of things here, the Ladies also took on Mississippi State this weekend. That's always fun when that happens. The Ladies also got off to a slow start against Mississippi State, but only in this game, the difference was the Ladies were able to come out on top, winning to the tune of 95 to 68. Talk about the real turnaround there. I mean, after the first quarter, the Ladies were down by nine again, keeping within striking distance. See what I'm saying? But after that, it really was all Carolina and the Sharks. The sh.
[00:15:48] The shots.
[00:15:50] The shots started falling.
[00:15:54] Pause.
[00:15:56] The Gamecocks were able to generate a lot of points off turnovers in this one, which I liked. And once again, getting strong contributions from the bench. Tessa Johnson looked great in this one. And, you know, this is a team. It's like when you. When you watch them and when you read up on them like, this is a team that once they hit their rhythm, they're dangerous. You know, I don't want to like sound. I was just saying to the men's, you don't want to compare past seasons, but when you have the body of work that Don Staley does, like, I think you can sort of compare chapters in this dynasty, right? Like last year and the year before that. It was a team that could just dominate from from the opening tip off because there were just so many different weapons and they could beat you in so many different ways that oftentimes immediately teams were done. This year I think it has taken them a few games where it's a slow start, a slow opening quarter, right? And I'm not even saying like a half like a slow opening quarter, a slow few possessions because I think it is largely led by the guard play. So you got to have some of the shots settle. You might have to get a couple of subs in to figure out who's going to be feeling it that night, right? So once that happens though, they can be dangerous. Multiple players can hit that dagger three at any time and the post play is there. Maybe not at high of a clip as we may be used to, but it is there and it's a matter of again finding who that hot hand is. Is it Ashen Watkins? Is it Chloe Kits? Right, Whoever it may be.
[00:17:40] So some player highlights from this one. Tessa Johnson, 22, Chloe Kitts, 1710 and and Tahina Powpow, 15. So up next for the ladies, they will be hosting Texas A and M at home Thursday at 5pm Texas A&M is currently 8 and 6 overall. They actually lost their SEC opener to Tennessee. My crow to the game in this one, get continued production from Chloe Kitts. She has had some strong games but in my view has lacked some consistency this year. Again, the guard play is there for Carolina. Someone's going to get hot. Okay, so if Kits can be that steady presence down low, I think it will go a long way and hopefully she can settle into a nice groove in SEC play. But with that, that concludes the Gamecock portion of today's episode. So I have bonus coverage of the College Football Playoff. Huge college football fan. As you all know, and I'm sure you all are as well, college football semifinals are this week. Notre Dame takes on Penn State Thursday night and Ohio State takes on Texas Friday night. So maybe this is me itching for a little action or whatever it may be. I'm going to give my picks for this. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you all my pick for the Notre Dame game right now and then next episode, which will drop on Friday, I will do the Ohio State Texas matchup. So for Thursday's game I'm taking the over of 45 and a half. I also kind of do like Penn State plus two. But my official pick for Penn State Notre Dame. I'm going with the over 45 and a half. Both are able to score at a high clip. Yes, both have solid defenses, but when you look at it over the course of time, I think both can get there. Really excited for these games. Can't believe national championship is right around the corner. But with that, 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 cock.
