Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, baseball rolls on. Men's basketball is more of the same, and women's basketball looks to bounce back. Okay, here we.
[00:00:54] Okay. Welcome to episode 299 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And I missed y'all. You know, I was only away for. For the one episode because of traveling and things like that, but missed y'all. And I mean, frankly, it seemed like a heck of a time to be away. I'll get into that a little bit later, but felt like I missed Monday and everything, you know, went apart. You know, just crazy. But gonna catch up on all that. But great to be speaking with y'all again. And yeah, as I said, it is episode 299, making next episode, Monday's episode, the 300th. I won't get into it all right now, but it's been a fantastic ride. It's been a lot of fun. But I teased it out last episode, and I'm gonna fully unveil it now. Bringing him back for the third time, aka 300th episode. We're, you know, keeping it with a theme here. Bringing back Kai Kroger for an interview. The now former punter for usc, someone who is looking to take their game to the next level, literally, as he gets ready for the combine. Talked about the fantastic turnaround season that this past one was, talked about his preparation for the combine, what life after football might look like, and just a pretty cool conversation with him. He's a super nice guy officially, and not to spoil some of the interview here, but he is officially a friend of the program. I had always called him that, but officially a friend of the program. So, yeah, make sure to tune in next episode for the interview with Kai. Spread the word. Interview with the Kaiseman coming up on Cox Talking Gamecocks next Monday there. But. All right, let's jump into things here. Got a week in review before we cover the major sports here. Starting out on Tuesday, women's golf. They finished third in the Moon Golf Invitational. That's great to see. And then also on Tuesday, softball beat UNC 11 to 3. Coach Chastain is off to a great start leading the Gamecocks this season. Seems like every time I turn around, there's good news coming from that team. Obviously, we're still into the early part of the year. Haven't gotten to SEC play, but there have been a couple of late inning come from behind wins. There's been a couple of dominating wins against programs like UNC and yeah, I mean, early returns on the new era of Gamecock softball appear to be very, very positive. So that's very exciting to see.
[00:03:49] But then moving off of the week in review, but sticking on the diamond, the baseball team was back in action. They had a pair of midweek games after sweeping Sacred Heart to start the year, which again, being away on Monday, I didn't have a chance to recap that. That was really exciting. You know, baseball is officially back. It felt great to sit down on my couch, pretend to be working and watching Gamecock baseball while doing that. Obviously, first game got a little dicey there in the middle innings, but Saturday and Sunday's game, very comfortable there. And I think it was very great to have Gamecock baseball back in our life. Seeing some familiar faces like Talmadge Kennedy, Ethan, but then seeing some of these newcomers like Scoby and whatnot, very, very cool to see. But then looking at the games that they recently played. Tuesday afternoon, the guys got the W against Winthrop 5, 3. So a little bit of a close call in this one, but the guys were out in Rock Hill for this weather was a little meh. Jarvis Evans Jr. Got the start and a no decision, going three and a third innings, giving up three earned runs. The bullpen was pitching a shutout after that though, so that was really great to see. Didn't let up anything. It was Brandon Stone with the win and Brendan Sweeney with the save. So going to be interesting to see moving forward who really slides more into those like that setup role, that closer role and who is that midweek starter. But in this one, Kennedy Jones got the party started early, homering in the first inning. Believe it was a two run shot. And then Talmadge Leacroy gave the Gamecocks the lead in the fifth with a two run double. Player highlights Kennedy Jones 2 for 4 with two ribbies and and Talmadge with 1 for 3 with two ribbies there.
[00:05:48] But then on Wednesday, the team was back in action, this time with a more decisive win over Queens 7 to 2. Things were tight late, but a four run eighth inning for Carolina sealed the deal. Ryder Guerino got the win and relief Parker Marlott and Roman Kimball closed things out. I think they went 2/3 of an inning each there. Nathan Hall 4 for 5 with a ribby, Ethan Petrie 3 for 4 with two RBI and Kennedy Jones 2 for 4. So first off, there were some folks out there talking about the Winthrop game being close and Queens being Close. Kind of late. But I think Paul Manieri summed it up really well. Like, that's baseball. And I think with Winthrop, you know, you're kind of away from the Friendly Confines a little bit. You're dealing with that. You know, there was a kind of cold out. It's just tough to generate some offense. It's still February. I think that's okay. And so really, in this very, and I want to emphasize very here, like we haven't even had the second weekend series.
[00:06:56] I like what I see from this team so far. I mean, mentioned it already, but on opening day, they had to battle a little bit in those middle innings. And then you had to battle against Winthrop as well. And both times they got the win. And we aren't sitting here excusing an early season loss like we have in recent years past.
[00:07:19] So maybe that's a little bit of a difference there. And I think when you read and hear about Paul Manari and his coaching style, he's a challenger and he wants his guys to be mentally tough and to be able to battle through some of this adversity. And I do think early on in the season you might see him not baby guys and let guys fight through some of the tough innings and things like that to make sure they're able to dig deep for when you are going against teams that are going to make it count if you don't put them away.
[00:07:52] But offensively, you know, this, this looks like a team, and I talked about it before the first series there, but it's a team that so far what I see is going to be more about manufacturing runs and not relying on the long ball, even though there's a few guys that have pop. And I think it just makes sense. You know, you obviously have to work with what you got in your lineup. But call me old school, I think if you're able to generate runs that way you can bring some offense that maybe for lack of a better term, you can do so a little bit more consistently. Right. If you're in a situation and the ball is just not going out of the yard or you got a pitcher that's a ground ball pitcher, it can be tough to rely on the long ball. And I know that that's what we see in baseball a lot. It's still very important to have guys that can go yard for you in your lineup. But so far we're seeing guys drive and run singles and doubles, getting on base, moving guys over, and then, yeah, you might have a big swing in a game or Two, we just talked about Kennedy Jones home running. We've seen Ethan Petrie in the first game have a home run, you know. But you're seeing, at least so far, what I'm seeing as a team that's generating runs differently offensively and that's what I like. And then pitching wise, I'd say there's a few guys you have to feel good about right now. Again, it's early, so you're going to continue to try and figure out these first couple of series who's more reliable out of the pen, who can be that regular midweek starter. So going to be really cool to track that. But you know, that first series pitching looked great. You know, again you got into a little bit of a rough patch. It's the first game, but outside of that you looked really well. And then against Queens you looked good too. And then, I mean really against Winthrop, you know, you gave up three runs. But bullpen coming in and shutting the door is nothing to bat an eye on. Nothing to bat an eye at, I should say there. But there was some tough news out of the program Friday.
[00:09:59] It was that pitcher Eli Jersenbeck is out for the season with season with a stress fracture in his elbow. This just makes your heartache, I mean shoot like the kid young player was promising last season as a freshman gets hurt, you expect him to have to battle back from that injury and come in and maybe be one of those dudes for this pitching staff this season. You kind of pencil him in to have a big role one way or the other.
[00:10:34] Said he was maybe a little banged up coming into the season, might have to rest. And then I guess it turns out it was a stress fracture. So your heart's just aches for this. Feels so bad for him. I'm sure he worked so hard to get back from that first injury only to come this close to get hurt again. So hopefully it's a speedy and full recovery for Jurs. Who knows what this means for his time as a Gamecock, but man, really wish him the best. Would love to see him get a full season in Colombia because he had some good stuff and he's young and has a lot of potential ahead of him.
[00:11:10] This weekend though, the Gamecocks have a weekend series against Milwaukee, which that sounds like I'm talking about major leagues. I got the brewers in town, but no, it's just Milwaukee University. Milwaukee, I guess, I don't know some of those random early season, early season series there. But nonetheless hosting Milwaukee probably even if it's cold in Columbia would be warmer than it is up in Wisconsin. So they're probably happy about that. Weekend rotation is the same as opening weekend. Friday, Dylan Eskew, Saturday, Matthew Becker, and then Sunday, Jake McCoy. So really excited to see the boys get it going again. Would love to see them continue this momentum against Milwaukee. Would love to see really everybody continue to contribute and continue to settle in in this early part of the season.
[00:12:01] But changing gears now, changing sports, it's fun. Now we got three major sports in action. You know, we're not just sticking with the hardwood here, so we're changing gears a little bit. Talking men's basketball.
[00:12:14] It's going to be brief.
[00:12:16] On Tuesday, the guys took on LSU in Baton Rouge. It was a weird night for the Gamecocks almost from the start. You know, you just had some weird stuff happening. I don't need to tell you some of the highlights that have been floating around there. But ultimately the Gamecocks fell into a familiar scenario. Being on the losing end, 81 to 67 of a game where it was a bad first half. You had a lot of mistakes, kind of scattered through the game, but you had a halfway decent second half, but you just still came up just short. Not even just short. Short period.
[00:12:50] Some player highlights from this game. Jamari Thomas, 23 points, CMB 16. It was interesting. I, you know, been like I always do. You know, I watch the teams, I read about the teams. Like I said, I'm just your average fan, right. And just trying to figure out what the heck is going on here. And I've talked at length about maybe the lack of depth, talked about maybe how some of the roles for guys haven't maybe panned out. Exactly. And the one name that I feel like keeps getting brought up that you miss is a Talon Cooper. And that was a veteran, savvy point guard, like any team would miss him. And I think that it's really true because I think this team misses that distributor. You know, Jamari Thomas is playing point guard for us. He's a scorer. You know, he went for 23 points. Talon Cooper last year. Yeah, he would go for double digits fairly regularly. But his deal was a distributor, a facilitator, so it allowed guys to play maybe more of a natural position of a 2. You weren't asking CMB to do too much. You had a guy like BJ Mack, though, who could hit that outside shot. I think having a big man that can do that is something that Lamont Paris likes. CMB just hasn't developed that really. Like, we Thought I don't know all of this to say, like, we are where we are, obviously, like, we're not coming out of the basement in the sec.
[00:14:23] We're still just hoping for our first win, which is insane.
[00:14:27] But as you sit here and, you know, we can talk about some of the mental errors late in games, we can talk about turnovers and things like that. Can talk about having, you know, a guy like Miles Studi out for the year.
[00:14:42] But I think ultimately what you have is guys maybe not playing their best fit of a position. And it's multiple spots.
[00:14:54] And, you know, I know the Gamecocks took a swing and had a couple of misses in the transfer portal.
[00:15:02] Lamont has recruited well. But, you know, you guys, you know, a lot of that's like maybe a guy like Eli Ellis who's not even on campus yet. So, you know, I still have faith in Paris. I still have belief that this program can't get good under him. I think they might need a little bit more resources in terms of nil money. But I think this season will certainly serve as a reminder, maybe is the best word for just having contingency plans and making sure that guys are maybe a little bit more flexible in their positions. I don't know. Something along those lines. That's my weekly rant about men's basketball being really just not. Not that good. It stinks to say, but yeah. Jamari Thomas, 23, CMB 16. Already said that. But up next for the Gamecocks, they will take on Texas Saturday night in Colonial life. No better time to get a first win than Saturday night. Come on, let's get it. Texas is 16 and 10 overall. 5 and 8 in conference. This is not a Texas team. That's like blowing anybody away. Okay, why not? My crow to the game. We're just picking stuff out of a hat at this point. Score more than 72 points. It felt like a magic number.
[00:16:19] Last few games, Gamecocks. I actually think back to back games at 67 points. It's been right around that average of like 68, 69 points. And guess what? The average is not doing it. It feels like when the Gamecocks are above 70, they're a little bit more competitive. I took a quick look at Texas's recent games. It seems like when their opponents are over 70, it's close. Or they lose.
[00:16:41] Fudge it. 72 points. That's the magic number. If they get 73 and lose hand up, I'm mushed it.
[00:16:49] But then moving over to the women's side of Things. Now, as I'm recording, the ladies are playing Arkansas as they look to bounce back after Sunday's game against UConn. So step one, as we always do Thursday nights when they're playing, we're going to send out good vibes to the ladies over the airwaves. From what I saw Arkansas, hopefully this really will serve as a bounce back game. But yeah, it felt weird having this shocking, jarring moment and game against UConn and then not having my Monday episode to talk about it with y'all. That's what I'm saying. Like how I was gone for one episode. Everything, everything just was spinny crazy.
[00:17:36] So I don't really feel like bringing up old feelings. You know, you're listening to this on Friday or Saturday probably, and why am I gonna rehash with y'all a streak ending, getting our butts cook cooked butts, cooked butts kicked from last Sunday. So I'm not gonna talk about that. But. But I think this was a wake up call for this group and for Don, and I think it speaks to some areas where this team can improve and, you know, what you can coach against. Right. And what you can coach up, rather. So, look, we've seen this team be vulnerable. We knew that this team might not have some of the same features as the last two years or so last three years. We talked about missing someone down low like Camila Cardozo, and I think that that's ultimately what you're seeing.
[00:18:31] UConn, though, has elite talent. We've seen Carolina beat teams this year with elite talent and we've seen Carolina lose to a couple teams with elite talent. So just tells me there's more parity this year in women's college basketball. I still think it takes elite talent to run the floor with South Carolina. I still am very confident in Dawn Staley and this program to make deep runs in both the SEC and NCAA tournaments.
[00:18:59] I just think this needs to serve as a reminder for this team that you're going to have to earn it. And you know, these teams are going to smell blood in the water. So you got to come prepared, you got to come ready to go and let's continue to push and end this regular season well and then let's get some momentum in a tournament setting. So outside of that, the ladies will take on Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon. Vandy is 19 and 7 overall, 6 and 6 in conference. They have a few solid games under their belts. Again, a team that also has a couple talented players. So you have to take it seriously and My crow to the game is strong post play.
[00:19:39] I think lacking some offensive production from the post was a killer against UConn. Obviously they had a couple players. Guards go off, right, but you got to be able to generate points down there. That's how Dawn Staley likes to play. When you go and look back, that's almost from the inside out, if you will. You want to have that good front court. So let's get some solid post play. I've said that a few times now, but, you know, maybe more so. Singling out as a Saniya Fagan, right, Someone who has stepped up is now having more of that role. Chloe Kitts is good, but I think we kind of know her game, right? There are some times where she'll get you 12 and 10, but there are some days where she'll give you 6 and 4. Sanaya, I think, is someone who can be more consistent day in and day out. I'm a big fan of hers. I like her game. So let's get some strong post play there and let's get this ship going again and let's get on a hot streak and roll through the end of the regular season here. But with that, that wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter or X is Cox Gamecox 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.
