Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, women's basketball sets up a top five matchup. Men's basketball loses a close one. And the football staff adds a lot through the transfer portal. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:56] Okay.
[00:00:58] Welcome to episode 368 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. Gamecocks. I mean, my goodness, what a jam packed sports weekend. I mean, wall to wall football between college and the pros. Like my eyes are gonna pop out of my head. I've had very little interaction with the outside world. Just locking myself in my house, watching TV on the couch with the puppy. Just oh my gosh. I mean, wow. I mean, just to quick, just to quickly touch on it. College football playoff. The Indiana Oregon game. Like, my goodness, Indiana is a freaking machine. Doubted at every single turn and one game away with really no indication that anything but anybody's gonna stop them to completing the most incredible turnaround maybe in sports history from where they were to where they are now. And that Ole Miss game, instant classic. That second half was just out of this world. Good.
[00:02:10] It's going to set up a very compelling national championship, basically a home game for Miami. But Indiana has traveled so well. It's just going to be a really, really fun one. And then of course we had lots of Gamecock action going on that I'm about to touch on. And it really was nonstop between the football program dropping news and then Saturday and Sunday basketball and then you got NFL playoffs sprinkled in. Just my goodness gracious. Just excited to take a breath here and look forward to even more exciting things to come in the, in the days ahead here. But let's jump into a weekend recap. I feel like it's been a little bit since I've done one of these. There hasn't been a lot of action going on outside of the major sports. So Saturday, swimming and diving took on Virginia Tech. The women won 196 to 98. And the men lost 185 to 113.
[00:03:03] And then on Sunday, men's tennis was in action and they beat North Florida. There's North Florida again, 6 to 1. North Florida, we play them in everything. It feels like it's crazy. I don't know, maybe I'm just like zeroing in on them for no good reason. But nonetheless, a good action packed weekend there and no program, no team kept our attention throughout the weekend quite like the football team. I mean, the portal has been portaling. I said that last episode. But this has been an incredibly busy week for Shane Beamer and this staff and the weekend was no different. It just felt like you would get. It almost felt like hourly we were getting hit with a big report that someone was going to commit to South Carolina or someone did commit to South Carolina or South Carolina is in on this big time prospect. And it has been a very fruitful and rewarding portal season for Shane Beamer and team here. So.
[00:04:09] So I'm going to just read off some names. I'm going to read off the names for who right now. The, the way I'm tracking it here, who has committed since the last time we spoke. And then I'm going to touch on a few guys. I can't go into a breakdown of all these guys because if I did we'd be here till Tuesday before I even touched on the basketball teams. So definitely would recommend diving into this on your own if you really want to know the ins and outs of some of these players. But again, I'm going to touch on a few others in detail here. But I believe we picked up on Upton Belfont who was the kicker from Texas Tech. Since then we've had defensive back Quaysheed Scott from Kentucky, offensive tackle Jacarius Peak, offensive lineman Emmanuel Poku, running back Sam Dixon, wide receiver Nitro Tuggle, offensive lineman Dane Arnett, and then you had the brothers Collins, defensive lineman Kelby Collins from Alabama along with his brother Edge, Drew Collins from Arkansas State and then also Northern Arizona offensive lineman Seth Smith.
[00:05:18] So yeah, it's been a busy few days for shane Beamer & Co. And you absolutely have to give them credit. I mean they have taken some big swings in this portal season and have landed a few. There's a few guys who, you know, we were targeting and they went elsewhere. That's, that's going to happen, right? It's recruiting, it's the nature of this game here. But there are some big time targets that we were in on and we landed at big time positions of need. I mean, Jacarius Peak, pretty sure he was the number one rated offensive tackle in the portal. He's coming from NC State. He is very, very experienced. That's after losing a guy like Josiah Thompson. Lenora Sellers has his blind side protected by a very accomplished offensive lineman, Emmanuel Pokou from East Carolina. He has had recognition at the conference level there. Another guy who was a leader on his team, very productive and has played a lot of football Nitro Tuggle from Purdue, I believe he was also at Georgia as well. Very talented wide receiver, had I think almost 600 yards this past season with about five touchdowns. So a guy who is productive right now has been productive at the power four level and you hope can continue some of that when he gets on campus. You look at Nitro as a guy who can replace what you got from Vandravius leaving, right? And then remember we got another wide receiver in, Jaden Gibson who was more of a bigger bodied, high upside guy coming off of an injury.
[00:06:48] And then you look at some of these other pickups here, maybe more for the depth side of things with Arnett and then Seth Smith on the offensive line. But you need to have that with the, some of the guys that left. And you also want guys who can potentially grow into those roles in the Brial system and then in the defensive backfield, you're getting some help there. So all around very productive in the transfer portal. And there's also, I believe, I forget, I forget the guy's name right now. Shame on me.
[00:07:24] Snapper, bringing a transfer, long snapper, things you love to see. That's Beamer ball right there, baby. But yeah, I think when you look at who Beamer is bringing in, right? And you know, additionally when you talk about the Collins brothers here, you're looking at a lot of guys who are experienced and who have played a lot of football. And in addition to that playing football and at a higher level, I feel like in the past Shane Beamer has tried to find these diamonds in the rough. Like, yeah, there's exceptions to that. Of course, when you look at Rocket Sanders, Spencer Rattler, Stogner, right, There's a few guys, but there had been a lot of guys like a Mario Anderson, right, or a Torricelli Simpkins who you're taking swings at guys at lower levels, believing in their ability to take the step up. Sometimes it works out like those two guys, other times it hasn't worked out because that is a lot to put on a guy going up a level, especially if it's at a position of need and you're going to put a lot on him.
[00:08:27] So while there is some of that when you're talking about guys from Northern Arizona, Ferris State, East Carolina, even with that, they are experienced, they're football smart, they're veteran players. But there's plenty of examples of guys coming from the Power 4 level. Kelby, Collins, right? You have Nitro, Tuggle. There's these guys who are experienced and who have played at a high level and who have been coached well to this point. You know, there's a couple guys who have been in the transfer portal a few times, and Shane Beamer is bringing them aboard at a position in need.
[00:09:05] And I think that's something Beamer shied away from. I think he wanted guys to come to South Carolina and stay here and grow. You don't want to be a portal merchant, and I totally understand and appreciate that. But right now you can't afford to do that. If there is a guy who has two years of eligibility left, let's just say, and he's been at three schools and you think he might jump ship after this year.
[00:09:26] But he's a defensive lineman.
[00:09:28] Screw it. We need him. And I think Beamer is taking a different approach to this portal season than he has in the past. And look, sometimes you see teams try to build through the portal and it doesn't work. You get the wrong bunch of guys, chemistry's off, you know, but sometimes you take big swings in the portal and you refill and you reload and you have a lot of success. You've seen plenty of examples on both sides in college football over the last couple of years. So right now, on paper, I'm loving what we're seeing beefing up both lines of scrimmage, sprinkling in some skill positions where you have to. There's a couple of places where you could continue to add as well. But, I mean, you're getting long snipers, you're getting kickers, offensive defensive lineman edges. You know, every position that you had question marks for, you've at least addressed in some capacity.
[00:10:23] And again, there's still young guys on the roster who you can develop into that. So, again, I know I touched on a lot of guys and I spoke more than maybe initially sold, but nonetheless would definitely encourage y' all to take a look at this year's transfer class and get excited. I mean, there's a lot of good going on in South Carolina football this offseason, and it's a kudos to this staff, some of the player retention we're seeing. Gabe Brownlow. Dinley officially said he's coming back. I didn't think that was a question, but you know, he is. You know, there's a lot of good going on right now this offseason. And of course, it's easy to be excited in January, right? It has to has to work, and you got to still stay excited into October and November. But this is a great start, right? There's this beats being behind the Eight ball, right? This beats saying, well, we're really thin here and, you know, hopefully no one, you know, underperforms. So kudos to the staff, but all right, now, looking at games that have actually been played, starting with men's basketball here, the guys were in action Saturday afternoon. It really was the perfect appetizer to kick off a fantastic weekend of NFL football as the guys took on Georgia at home and unfortunately dropped one here. Close one, 75 to 70. This was tough. You know, the guys went into the first half down six, but went on a run in the second half right around that midpoint, and we're up, I believe, six, maybe even eight points. They had a lot of momentum.
[00:12:01] The shots were falling, the defense was looking well. You had Georgia off balance, and slowly but surely the momentum went away and the shot decision became questionable. Georgia got some momentum. There was a couple of fouls that were, you know, up in the air that went Georgia's way.
[00:12:21] And slowly but surely, you saw this lead slip through the fingers of this team. You know, the end. There's a few things we can certainly point at here. I continue to point at shot selection.
[00:12:35] I think that's been tricky. Someone on social media pointed out that we haven't had a player outside of, you know, like in the last. I think it was like last 10 years or so, maybe even more than that average. I believe it was six assists a game outside of Talon Cooper. So you're not seeing a lot of consistent distributors. There's not a true point guard, per se, on this team, and I think that has showed at times and down low. I mean, Georgia was definitely more physical. They were bigger.
[00:13:06] When Chris went out late in the game, that wasn't talked about a lot. I think his presence was missed a good amount. And it's tough. Lamont Paris talked about free throws. You know, you went 15 for 21.
[00:13:23] If you, you know, if you have those six back, that's the difference. Right?
[00:13:28] But overall, it's just. It's. It's tough. 7, 7 for 24, shooting the 3.
[00:13:35] All right. I mean, again, shot selection, you know, you had some guys who missed good looks. You know, you had some guys who rushed shots that, I mean, I know, I know Michi is a three point shooter. We've seen his range.
[00:13:51] There were some that were just like, what are you doing? Like, you're just so deep. And then there were some where he, like, even being a little deep was wide open and you felt he could have taken the shot and he decided to give it up and you know, then everyone's all out of sorts and yeah, it just, it kind of felt like what we've seen at times from, from this team where you have a lead against the Power 4 team and they're able to come back on you, you're not able to close the door. And, you know, you were able to hang on against LSU because it was a pretty, pretty wide lead and this was a bit of a test and said, hey, you got this lead back, you got the momentum, what are you going to do with it? And the guys weren't able to get it done. A couple of timely baskets they could have had, a couple open looks that they could have had late in the game. Just didn't quite get there. You know, they battled. They battled to the very end, you know, when it was six points, five points, you know, and this ended up being the difference. Player highlights here. Mike had 18 points, Michi with 11. Eli Ellis was 13 off the bench. He had a good game.
[00:14:56] Eli hit some big shots, but you know, he had a couple, two that were questionable.
[00:15:00] So tough one, Definitely a tough one there. Next game for the guys, Wednesday night at Arkansas. Arkansas is currently ranked 15th overall, sitting at 12 and 4 on the year. My crow to the game here is be a strong rebounding team. This is definitely a weak point in my opinion of this team. You saw it against Georgia, you've seen it against some of these other power four teams. Arkansas is good in that department. So if you can just hold your own and perform a little bit above your average, that could keep you in the game. We just need some good second chance shots and be able to capitalize on that.
[00:15:38] And then looking at the other side of things here, women's basketball, they were in afternoon. They're in afternoon action. In action on the afternoon, whatever you want to say. Also against Georgia here with very different results, beating the Lady Bulldogs 65 to 43. It was a little bit of a slower day. It felt like offensively shots weren't falling at the same clip that we were used to seeing this year. You know, a couple of folks had a off day compared to how we normally like to see, but it was a strong second half effort and really, in my opinion, it was the defense in that second half too. Some big individual efforts though, offensively from Medina and Joyce really elevated the team. So still able to cruise to a. What's that? 22 point victory. But it definitely was one where at times you felt the door was open a little bit, but defensively just really wasn't able to really was not able to get, you know, Georgia any breathing room, which was great. It's really what you want to see. Player highlights from this game, Joyce Edwards with 14 points, Medina with 14 and 10.
[00:16:48] Next game for the ladies is a massive rematch against Texas here. And I was sitting down, getting ready to record this, thinking, all right, we're going to have a top five matchup with undefeated Texas. Meanwhile, they lose to LSU, dropping their first game. So they will be 18 and one, of course, one of those 18 games, 18 wins, rather being the sole loss for the Gamecocks. So you have a very intriguing matchup now with both teams who feel like they're destined to still meet at some point late in the year here, one loss apiece, probably still going to be a top five matchup. But now with each something to prove that that one loss was an anomaly. And it does make you think, does Texas lose two in a row? That's going to be tough to say. But I do believe that from a South Carolina perspective, we are more experienced in several departments. I think we can go into this matchup with some more confidence.
[00:17:50] Maybe then we did that first go around, especially with that. That was like a weird little, you know, that tournament, if you will, you might play this team, you might play that. You're not quite sure. So preparation is going to be on our side.
[00:18:03] And I think this team has more momentum than we did a little bit earlier in the year. And again, more experience, more confident in several departments. But very intriguing now another layer where Texas is no longer undefeated. And so we're going to see how this goes. A massive, massive game that does have some implications for late in the year. Here, my quote of the game, protect the basketball. Texas averages almost 14 games a steal. The Gamecocks have to be smart and not gift Texas any baskets. But with that, y', all, 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.
