Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, women's basketball wins the SEC tournament, Men's basketball ends the regular season, and baseball notches a sweep. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:55] Okay. Welcome to episode 304 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And we are the champions. It is championship Sunday here in Gamecock Nation, and boy, does it feel good. What a way to cap off just a jam packed, exciting weekend. I mean, really, Sunday afternoon championship on the line, conference tournament on the line, and we get to enjoy. Oh, my gosh, it just feels great. You can't not start off the show with just an elation, if you will. Just. It was great. You know, it was a fun, fun weekend of basketball. And it just really tied in well to just around college basketball. Like, you're seeing big moments like, March is freaking here, y'all. Just whether it's the smaller conference tournaments, whether it's moments on the women's championship games, you have the men in the power conferences wrapping up their seasons. Incredible games, rivalry games, just very, very cool. So, yeah, I'm gonna get into it, of course, in a few minutes here, but it just feels so great to be champions and just what an accomplishment. And if this doesn't get you excited for what's to come the next couple of weeks, basketball wise, I don't know what does, because this is just fantastic. And college basketball, it can be a roller coaster at times, but I think we can all rally to March Madness. And we all Gamecocks love, love and take such great pride in our women's team that it just feels great to see them have that great success. So fantastic, fantastic. Going to jump into that in a second here, but let's do a quick weekend recap from round Gamecock Nation. It was a busy weekend here. Starting off on Friday, softball was in action. You'll remember softball was rolling undefeated into a weekend series with top ranked Oklahoma. They started on Friday. They unfortunately dropped the opening game 10 to 9. Well, actually, let's put a bow on softball, since we're on the subject here. They lost the opener 10 to nine. They had a double header on Sunday because of weather. They lost the second game, also 10 to nine. And then the third game, the finale, they ended up losing and getting swept 2 to 1. So obviously that stinks, right, because you had this team rolling. Expectations are, you know, being raised. Excitement is certainly being raised. And you had the team put out a fantastic hype video going into this series and talked about it before, but this is like a huge measuring stick, you know, and to be the best, you got to beat the best. And right now, Oklahoma is just at the top of the sport. South Carolina has off, has been on a great tear going into this one. I am incredibly confident when I say Oklahoma is going to sweep multiple SEC teams, there's no shame in that. But what I will take away is that the Gamecocks battled. These were not blowouts. Carolina battle back coming up just short Friday. And then obviously you saw both games on Sunday were one run affairs. So that tells me that, you know, this team can hang with some of the best. You know, maybe we're not quite over that hump just, just yet, but for the first series under coach Chastain in the sec, for this team to have to open with Oklahoma, I mean, that's. That's hard right there. And they battled, they hung tough. So I absolutely think they should take a lot of pride in their performance there. And I think there's learning opportunities here. I think there's growth opportunities here. And hopefully, as the ladies continue to move on through this SEC schedule, they'll find wins. And I totally feel confident in that.
[00:05:20] But looking else on Friday here, women's tennis was in action. They unfortunately lost to Tennessee four to one. Beach volleyball lost to North Florida five nothing. They also beat Florida Gulf coast three to two.
[00:05:36] And then you had. That was actually it on Saturday. There we go, movement. Friday, excuse me. Saturday, equestrian beat UT Martin 11 to 7. Men's tennis beat Ole Miss 4 nothing. Beach volleyball lost to FIU 4 to 1 and also lost to Stetson 3 to 2.
[00:06:00] And then moving on to Sunday, you had women's tennis beat Kentucky 4 nothing. So sort of a mixed bag around, around the sports there on the weekend there. But some big highlights there, of course, but none bigger than the women's basketball team mowing through the SEC tournament. And let it be known that the SEC still runs through usc. Of course, I'm talking about the women's basketball team winning the SEC tournament back to back to back. Just fantastic, fantastic there. And it was not without its challenges, you know, and this was a fantastic effort from, from the whole team, you know, and I think you saw that on display. You know, I talked about going into this tournament that everything that we've talked about throughout the year, you needed to see on display. You needed good guard play. You really wanted elite defense from your guards, but you needed the post play to show up. And I think that's exactly, exactly what you saw, I mean, Chloe Kits, this is the Chloe Kits Legacy Tournament. There someone who definitely took a step up in their game this past season, but it's not without its ups and downs. But she is someone who is a veteran at this point, right. Should be a leader in that locker room. Someone who knows what it takes to win at the highest level, knows the standard that Don Staley has. And when it mattered most, it was Chloe the closer. I mean, in that opening game against Vandy, early on we were cruising, you know, with. It seemed like we were kind of going to walk away with this one. But Vandy staged a big comeback. Next thing you knew, you know, you're like, my gosh, this is a game here. And so late in the game, what did the team do? They turned to their leader and they turned to an experienced veteran in Chloe Kits, who just kept getting the ball possession after possession and was the closer. Career high. Friday. Gamecocks ended up winning 84 to 63.
[00:08:26] Just a fantastic effort. And I don't know when, when I saw how the team overcame a really sluggish third quarter. Dawn Staley talked about it funny enough before that, you know, when they interviewed her at halftime, they, you know, she said good basketball is contagious and we want to keep doing that, but bad basketball can also be contagious as well. And I don't think she meant to, of course, but she kind of mushed it a little bit right where the third quarter, it just was kind of uncharacteristic, especially compared to the first half. Right. Like those first two quarters. And it allowed Vandy to creep back into things and they, you know, and they got some talent on that team too. They're a well coached team as well. But credit to South Carolina, credit to Chloe Kitts for closing the door on that and then ended up really expanding on that lead there. Saturday, the Gamecocks took on Oklahoma, winning 93 to 75. And again, it just was a deal where you felt like at least I did. When the ladies won how they did on Friday, it seemed like maybe they shook off, I don't know, a little something. And then we're really ready to roll there. Really just good, solid first half against Oklahoma. Really didn't give them a chance to breathe much. And you know, you really like the effort they. That you saw there. Which led us to Sunday, where we meet again, Texas. And the ladies took on Texas for the SEC conference tournament. Ladies ended up getting the win, 64 to 45. And I mean, this was a very interesting Game to start where you had both teams really starting slow. You know, especially in that first quarter, the folks on the telecast were talking about how the night before Texas had a late game. They might have been just physically tired. I think what you saw was two teams who know each other incredibly well, who've exchanged blows this season in big time matchups, just battling it out and not giving an inch.
[00:10:46] But as the game went on and things settled in, you saw just a relentless defense from South Carolina that just never gave Texas an inch. It was just incredible. You know, Texas, they love to pound the paint. You know, they were talking about it. But anybody who's watched them knows they don't take a lot of threes. Their game is to be inside. They like to get to the line. They like to create that type of offense. There's Don Staley and this staff, amazing job getting ready for that and seemingly incredibly willing to play off of their defender, right, like the person who they were defending, to sag inside and create chaos in those passing lanes and just you saw stretches like that second quarter was just phenomenal where you had just nothing from Texas. I mean, Texas scored six points in the second quarter. That's a team that was right at the top of the country, that was right at the top of the sec, that's in the conference final.
[00:12:01] And you're holding them to six points. Just South Carolina had their number, never let them get in a rhythm.
[00:12:08] And it was just, you just felt it where we were just demoralizing them. And then in the second half, like, yes, Texas found more of that rhythm and they were able to generate offense more, whether it be getting to the line or things like that. But any time that they seemingly got a little bit of momentum, South Carolina was able to answer right back, like, sure, Texas got maybe two, three buckets in a row. South Carolina would answer with a three. And just the offense from this team in this game looked phenomenal. Patient passing, finding the open person. You know, you saw fantastic efforts, driving, kicking out, just fantastic work. Chloe Kits had a fantastic game. Saniyah Fagan doing a lot of the unsung work and doing that incredibly well.
[00:13:03] You saw tournament Tessa in action. How many times have we talked about her this season where if she could get going, can be that X factor, right?
[00:13:12] So it was just a fantastic, fantastic effort and game plan top to bottom in this one. And I'm just so proud of the ladies. It was just a great, great game. And yeah, the SEC still runs through usc. Don't you ever forget it. Some Player highlights from this one. Khloe Kitts went for 15 and nine. Tessa. Tessa Johnson 14 points and Saniya Fagan 11 points, six rebounds. And it was just a fantastic way to cap things off, you know, and to put it, like Malaysia, folweiley said. I love winning.
[00:13:49] So next we await selection Sunday to see what the tournament field looks like. I think this has solidified South Carolina as a number one seed, maybe even the number one overall seed. Who knows? But fantastic work by the ladies. I'm really excited to see what they have next. And you know, this team has responded to adversity this year. They've grown and I think you're seeing them potentially playing their best basketball right now, which for any other team in the country is scary to think about.
[00:14:25] But all right, changing gears here, sticking to the hardwood quickly, going to touch on men's basketball here. It was their regular season finale as the guys lost to Tennessee 75 to 65. The team battled in this one, you know, still giving them credit, still fighting here. Things were tied up at the half. They were close in that second half, but Tennessee was able to pull away there at the end, thus ending the regular season for the men's basketball season. Player highlights from this one. Jamari Thomas, he went for 20 points. Nick Pringle, 16 points, 14 rebounds Zachary Davis, 10 points.
[00:15:05] So next, Carolina will head to Nashville next week for the SEC tournament. Of course, the men's side there, the Gamecocks, will face the number nine seed, Arkansas at 1pm so we'll see how it goes. You know, obviously Carolina beat Arkansas in the regular season. Wouldn't it be something if this team wins a couple of games and just causes chaos in the SEC tournament?
[00:15:34] Not a lot outside of blind faith to think that, but you never know. You know, the SEC is kind of chaotic as we saw this past weekend, so you never know. It'll be fun to watch. And yeah, we'll wish them all the best. And then once that's done, you know, I'll like I like I said before, I'll put together some thoughts and we'll put a bow on men's basketball season as we look forward to next one, which hopefully will be a different story.
[00:16:06] But then moving away from the hardwood and on to the baseball diamond here the team brought out the brooms as they swept Morehead State. That feels good, you know, to have that weekend series and sweep handle business in front of the home crowd. Just things, things that you love to see, right? Friday, The Gamecocks won 11 to 7, South Carolina actually came from behind in this one thanks to a five piece in the eighth inning. It's funny, we've, we've seen that a couple of times this season where Carolina may be down in some of those early innings, but hangs close, doesn't let it, get it out of reach, and then finds a big spot late in the game to really just get after it, which I think is this is a sign of a team just not giving up. A team that's going to battle and understands that you got to play for nine innings, you know, and that that's coaching, that's, that's culture. And unfortunately we didn't see the fruits of that against the team from the upstate. But you know, as you peek around the corner and you see SEC play coming in like that, very well come could come into play because those teams are teams that are tough outs, you know. So it was great to see that. Matthew Becker got the start and a no decision. It was Tyler Pitzer who got the win in late relief. Ethan Petrie, two for five with four RBI. Great day at the office for him. Kennedy Jones three for four with two ribbies. Which brings us to Saturday. The Gamecocks won 16 to 11. Sheesh. Nothing but offense in that one. Carolina jumped out to a big lead early in this one. Morehead State battled back in the middle innings, but again just consistent offense from South Carolina and just a big, big pop in that early innings there where it was just too much to overcome. Jake McCoy got the start and a no decision. Zach Russell got the win in relief. Evan Stone 1 for 3 with four ribbies. He huge. And Bo Hollins 2 for 4 with two RBI himself.
[00:18:16] Sunday. Carolina ended up winning and sweeping, but in opposite fashion as they won one to nothing. So kind of funny how that works. Feel like that's baseball for you. You get 16 to 11 game one day and the very next one nothing. Nathan hall was responsible for the lone run, driving in Talmadjali Croy. Great to see him back in action. And Dylan Eskew got the start in a no decision. Brendan Sweeney got the save there. Up next for the Gamecocks, the team takes on Georgia State Wednesday night at home as they look to continue rolling there.
[00:18:53] 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.
