Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, Dawn Staley makes history. As the women's team continues to roll, concerns for men's basketball and a national championship pick. Okay, here we.
[00:00:56] Okay. Welcome to episode 291 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 lovely weekend out there, Gamecock Nation. Maybe you have a long weekend out there and were able to sit back and relax, watch some crazy good NFL football games, snow games, and just not have the Sunday scaries, and we'll swap that out for the Monday scaries instead. But nonetheless, hope y'all had a great weekend out there. If you are in the low country of South Carolina, looks like. Looks like y'all might be getting some snow this week. So equal parts fun and probably a headache because that's just not what you expect down there. So enjoy that and have some fun, I guess. Whatever. Here. Got a pretty good episode queued up for y'all. I say pretty good because we have to talk about our men's basketball team and sort of the state of things. So it's not always the most pleasurable conversation here, but an informative. An informative episode nonetheless here. But before I jump into all Gamecock things, we have to talk about the big event going on Monday night, the national championship. We're going to be putting a bow on the college football season.
[00:02:21] I guess the. One of the good things with the expanded playoff is we're a little further into the year than we normally are, so it's a shorter amount of time. We have to wait until we have college football back. I don't know. That's just how my brain works. But you have Notre Dame taking on Ohio State tonight, and it's set to be a really good game.
[00:02:46] Interesting matchup here where you have Notre Dame. Can they get over the hump in this national championship setting in the modern era? You know, it's kind of funny Brian Kelly left saying, you can't do it there. Now you got Marcus Freeman there on the. On the cusp of it. You have Ohio State, who, one of the better teams in the country all year, had that trip up against Michigan, and it seemed to really get them right. And it's teams that pride themselves with some good defense. You have Ohio State, who, when you look across the board, has hire, recruited guys. Marcus Freeman has created a really good culture for Notre Dame. Ryan Day, can he get this big one and I guess kind of get that monkey off his back to a degree. Where can he win that big, big playoff game? So it's going to be a fun one. And I got a bet here for y'all here. I gotta pick. It's tough.
[00:03:41] I. I can see Ohio State, I think they're eight and a half favorites. As I'm recording this right now, I could see that, like, don't overthink it. Take Ohio State. They were able to handle things. They've been rolling in the playoffs. It's a national championship. Sometimes wacky things can happen. I'm going to go out the way that I came into this thing over. Just take the points. Root for offense. 45 and a half.
[00:04:08] It's not a crazy number. So I'm going with the over. 45 and a half. And you all know me. Y'all know me. I love the overs. So we'll take that. There should be a good game. And then we can officially turn the page to the 2025 football season as the Gamecocks wait to take on Virginia Tech. Some cool content coming out from the football team. Guys lifting, seeing some of the new freshmen and the transfers, seeing how they're so sore and how the SEC weight program is just different. It's just great. It's good stuff here. But then moving our focus here to Gamecocks, a little bit of a weekend recap for y'all here. Some other sports are in action. On Sunday, you had women's tennis. They were on the court. They beat Coastal Carolina 5 nothing. And then also Charleston Southern, 5 nothing. So a very nice and productive Sunday for the ladies there, so hopefully they can keep that up.
[00:05:03] But then moving towards the hardwood here, gonna talk Gamecock basketball. If you want to skip forward a little bit as I touch on men's basketball, I wouldn't blame you, but we do have to discuss the state of things here as the guys were on the road to Oklahoma. And just like the song, there was not any love in Oklahoma Saturday as the. As the team lost to the Sooners, 82 to 62. And yeah, I mean, it's just.
[00:05:37] You just gotta throw your hands up at this point, right? Scratch your head, whatever you gotta do with this team and this program this season. And the crazy thing is, in this game, it was close for a lot of it. Carolina was down just four at the half and really hung around for a good bit into the second, staying within striking distance. But just sure enough, Oklahoma pulled away. And you see the final result, a 20 point loss. And once again seeing just some sloppy Play from South Carolina. The turnovers were certainly better than the other day when we had 25, but the team still had 16.
[00:06:18] You know, I think Oklahoma had 12.
[00:06:21] So you're losing the turnover battle to take a football term here and it's just not going to get things done. And you don't want the team to play tight, right? You want them to distribute the ball. But some of these were just sloppy, like bad passes through traffic, being reckless with the ball, like, you know, getting it out of bounds, things like that. When you're down a couple of good players and when you don't have the depth to seemingly compete game in and game out with some of these teams, one thing that you can really try to control to even the playing field is the turnover battle, giving the other team chances. You know, I don't have the stats right in front of me, but when a team can put up points off turnovers and immediately turn your mistake into points, that's going to hurt you. And so if you can limit those things and control what you can control to a degree, that's how you can even some of these matchups here. And it's not like Oklahoma was a power team. You know, they had a good non conference record, but they were struggling in the SEC play too.
[00:07:34] So the contributions off the bench in this game also, they were just not what they had been the last two games when Carolina was right on the edge of some of these wins here. And then also Nick Pringle couldn't get going. So when you combine all of that, it's just a recipe for disaster for this team this year and more so like when you don't get production from Pringle and then you don't get production from the bench, whether that's Conyers or Scott or you know, Bozeman's Verdon, like some of these guys who have been able to give you some good quality minutes since Jamari and Miles Studi went down. When you can't do that and then you can't get your big time post player to get going in Pringle, it's just not going to happen. You kind of do need the stars to align this year for this team. Here, some player highlights from this game. Morris Ugasuk, 15 points. He's really come into his own. So credit this coaching staff and credit to Morris for putting in the work because he has taken a step forward these last few games and it's a very bright spot on this team. CMB went for 11 and 10, but outside of this you know, you're just looking at a very bad situation for South Carolina. It just is what it is. You know, there's no more hiding it. There's no more saying, well, you know, the SEC schedule for this team started off hard.
[00:09:03] We've had a couple of winnable games.
[00:09:05] You've come up short.
[00:09:07] You had. I know you're on the road at Oklahoma. Oklahoma hasn't been that good in the SEC.
[00:09:12] I win a bowl game, you lose by 20. A winnable game against Vandy, you come up just short, not able to pull off the crazy upset against Auburn. And so the team is sitting.05 in the SEC and frankly, seemingly doesn't have the makeup to get over the hump in these close games. So we are looking down the barrel of a very long and poor showing for the rest of the year. And it's crazy because I've said this before.
[00:09:48] When you look at the roster, on paper, at least it should be competitive. And I understand we have injuries now, but even so, you look at a guy like CMB Nick Pringle, like, you should be able to hang with teams when you have these two really good athletic post players. And then if you say, well, Ugasuk is stepping up his game, he's put 15, 20 pieces down, like, okay, you know, Jacoby Wright, I think went for 10 in this game. When you look at it, you should be competitive.
[00:10:19] But the end results and some of the play during games and now the record in the SEC like this is reminiscent of year one under Lamont when that team had nobody, you know, so it's a very interesting feeling where you feel like the team should be better than they are, but they just aren't. And so if you're Lamont Paris, the message has to be, you know, continue to believe that, you know, we can be competitive here, continue to pump these guys up and say, y'all do have some talent here. Help is on the way with Jamari Thomas, but it's not like we were killing it with him. But, you know, you are going to have some more depth come probably in the next week or so.
[00:11:09] But someone in that locker room, one of the guys on the team, needs to step up and be a leader to navigate these times and just get some different energy in that group. I don't know what that looks like. I haven't played basketball at a Power 5 level. But you need someone to step up in these dark times. And again, I'm sure there are guys in that locker room who do. I'm sure CMB is a vocal leader. Wouldn't be surprised if a guy like Nick Pringle is. But something needs to change.
[00:11:42] And whatever these guys were doing going into Oklahoma, right against Vandy Auburn, like they were playing hard, and this team played hard in that first half. It was just Oklahoma able to pull away. It's just doing your job, playing smart, good basketball and believing in each other, really.
[00:12:04] But on the same hand, you know, on the other hand, rather, you know, if you are Lamont Paris, you can, and you probably should use this season as more or less a development period for next season. And it sucks to say, you know, I'm not. I'm not saying throw up the white flag in every game, but when you look at a guy like Arden Conyers or Cam Scott, these are two guys who you really believe in. The program is high on. Conyers has given you some good quality minutes. You see it in there in him. But Cam Scott maybe needs some more time. So when you're going against some of these teams and the matchups are unfavorable, and if you get into the game and it's just not going your way, like you can afford to leave these guys on the floor to develop and, you know, kind of have some of those growing pains.
[00:13:06] So up next for next game, South Carolina takes on Florida at home Wednesday night. There's a lot of excitement around this one. I've seen that they're promoting a blackout. I've seen a lot of people said they're going to the game. So there's still some energy and there's still excitement in Gamecock Nation, which is why we are the best. But it's a tough matchup here. Florida is ranked fifth, sitting at 16. 2 overall. Overall, 3. 2 conference. My crow to the game is get production from the bench, mainly Art and Conyers. Again, we've seen Ugasuk develop this year. Conyers has showed those skills. Cam Scott has the ability. So let these guys get some minutes, continue to grow, and if you can get some production from them, you might be able to hang with Florida because that's really what you need right now. Because the starting lineup is solid, they can only do so much. You know, you need someone off the bench to give you some good quality minutes with good points, good rebounds, just overall, good production.
[00:14:12] But moving over to the more pleasant side of South Carolina basketball, that's the women's team first off. Huge, huge congrats to Dawn Staley. Y'all probably saw the news, but she was awarded a new contract. Contract Extension, I believe through 2029, 2030 season, making her the highest paid coach in women's college basketball history.
[00:14:39] I mean, it should have been that already, but she is the absolute goat. She has turned our South Carolina team into the crown jewel of women's college basketball. Bringing home national championships, doing so many great things in the community, and developing just amazing young women. And Dawn Staley is just awesome. We are so lucky to have her. Absolutely deserves to be the highest paid coach right there. So very excited. Congrats, Dawn.
[00:15:09] But the women also played Oklahoma this weekend, Sunday afternoon, and they laid a beat down on the Sooners. They actually hit the century mark, winning 101 to 60. Just something that you love to see, just a beat beat down. This was domination from the word go. Carolina ended the first quarter up 28 to 9. I thought it was a typo like, oh, 28 to 9. It was really fun to watch. Malaysia full Wiley doing her thing. Made ESPN national highlight with a rainbow three to end the quarter. Joyce Edwards can't say enough about this young player here. Really coming into her own and led the Gamecocks in scoring in this game.
[00:15:56] When you think about it, you know, during this run that Don Staley has had and is, you know, being rewarded for, there's been these pillars, right, like eras, if you will. And there's been a player who can play down low, but who's selfless and who is a good person, you know, takes it seriously, embodies the community like someone who is like a flagship player of the program.
[00:16:30] And I think Joyce Edwards could be this person. And I know she's young, but she is primed to be that next great player. And I'm talking like in the line of Asia Wilson, Aaliyah, Boston. And so now I think the program is looking for that next player to take over the, the mantle and carry the program for the next three or four years.
[00:16:56] And she has all the makings of it. And it's just really impressive to see in her young career here, her playing really well. I mean, I've talked about her, called her number plenty of times, and we're, you know, in the very early stages of SEC play. And when you talk about a program in South Carolina that has aspirations to have a deep SEC tournament run and a deep NCAA tournament run, she's incredibly young in her career in that perspective. So it's really cool to see there. Just overall, this team is just so deep and so good. They are dialed in right now. And it's really, I think ever since the early season struggles, for lack of a better word. And after the team did have that loss, they settled in and I think they understood their roles a little bit better and they've come together and they have looked like the best team in the country, frankly. Some player highlights from this game. Joyce Edwards, she had 17, Malaysia had 15 points and Raven Johnson went for nine points and eight assists. Up next for the Gamecocks is a huge matchup at home as they host the 5th, 5th ranked LSU Tigers. I don't need to get into this one. We know what this matchup and this rivalry has become.
[00:18:18] I believe game day will be in town for this. And yeah, this is just a massive game here in the regular season. These are two programs who have championship aspirations and who are also very familiar with each other, so should make up for a really competitive game. My crow to the game here is let our depth do the talking. I don't think that LSU has the depth to compete with South Carolina, period. Like, I think South Carolina is a more deep team. So if we can get production from, you know, Edwards for Wiley Johnson and others, I think we can wear down the Tigers. And when you get into the third and fourth quarter especially, I think you can see us, you know, handle our business hopefully. 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 Cox.
