Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, women's basketball continues to roll. Asia Wilson gets honored, and men's basketball comes up empty yet again. Okay, here we.
[00:00:55] Okay. Welcome to episode 294 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 week out there, Gamecocks, and are ready for the weekend ahead. If anyone out there was doing dry January, you have made it. Congratulations. I know the perfect way to celebrate. How about a celebratory drink? How about that, huh? February 1st. On a Saturday, too. Nonetheless. I mean, that's just divine intervention if I've ever seen it. That Saturday. You can crack that beer. One month you worked off the holiday cookies.
[00:01:39] Just worth it. And you know, you got some Gamecock sports going on this weekend. Of course. Tune into.
[00:01:46] Got the. Got the Pro bowl games, if that's your thing. Not. Not mine. But nonetheless, here, college basketball just rolling, rolling along, some crazy games. Very interesting season, just from a overall perspective. Got a good episode for y'all here. Talking hoops. Talking a lot of hoops. And we'll get all into the highlights and the takes and all that jazz. Gonna be a familiar pattern as we've gotten used to, with the women's team doing one and then the men's team doing something completely opposite of that. But before I get into that here, got a week in review for y'all here. Got a couple of news and scores here. Starting on Wednesday, the men's tennis team, they were in action. Very fun to see. They beat Queens University, seven nothing. And then also on Wednesday, they beat College of Charleston, seven nothing. So how about that? A seven, zero, seven, probably seven love, if we're being correct here. Seven love. Seven love. Set. I absolutely love to see that. Shout out to Gamecock men's tennis. And then other news here. This is more football related. Gamecocks have been showing out in the Senior Bowl. We had a few guys invited there. TJ Sanders, Kyle Kennard, Demetrius Knight. I've seen nothing but good things from them. It's pretty cool to get a peek behind that process where you see who have they been interviewing with? You know, I think it was Kennard said he talked with New England. Dean Knight said he talked with Dallas. And then to see some of these highlights from the practices and the scrimmages, all that jazz. TJ Sanders is a monster. Kyle Kennard, monster. I actually think them two are sitting out of the actual game, which I Didn't. I didn't know that that's like, a thing, but apparently it is. But Demetrius Knight will be playing in the game, and I think his stock has been steadily rising. Wouldn't be surprised if he gets drafted later than maybe some of us think he is worth, so to speak. But I would not be surprised even more to see him flourish in the NFL. I think he has the IQ and the ability to really do that. And then Gamecocks also have some representation in the Shrine Bowl. O'Donnell fortune is in that. So really cool to see this. This time of year where guys are figuring out the next steps. Torricelli Simpkins posted that he got an invite to the combine, so that's really cool to see. And just any Gamecock representation that you get in these types of events, it really does go a long way. Like, there are these little things that add up, whether it's for recruiting or to boost, you know, the narrative of NFL pipeline and all that jazz. So shout out to these guys and hopefully, best of luck on the next steps there. And then also from the football front, we had the final recruiting rankings for the 2025 cycle, if that's your thing. South Carolina finished 18th according to 2, 4, 7 sports. I think on whether it's on three or one of the other sites, I actually think I saw us come in at 16. I want to say maybe 15, but 247 is the one that, you know, I tend to follow a little bit closer. So 18th top 20 recruiting class, and it's crazy to see some of these things, like 18th in the country. That is impressive. I think in the SEC, I saw it was 9th or 10th, so technically speaking, you're below the middle, so you're below average. But South Carolina's recruiting class in the Big Ten, I think would be fourth in the Big 12, like, second, and in the ACC top three. So it's just crazy competitive in the SEC. Like, nothing new that I'm reporting here, but it's always just kind of makes you laugh. That's like you bust your ass to get a top 20 recruiting class, something that the vast majority of schools would absolutely kill for. And then you look at the SEC and you're like, middle of the pack, just like, wow. Like, it is just truly, truly tough to win in this league. But speaking of winning in the sec, talking women's basketball here as the ladies were back in action Monday night, they were on the road out in Rocky Top, taking on Tennessee, the Lady Volunteers, you know, a program that they take a Lot of pride in that. And they've been down the last few years, but they've been competitive, but they've been good this year. I believe they're under a new coach, which don't quote me on that, but I'm almost positive there. But really, this brought the end of what had been a gauntlet of an SEC schedule for the women. And not that it drastically eases up, but there's a game or two right around the corner that you can kind of take your breath a little bit. Right. Like we were talking Tennessee, lsu, the list goes on. But nonetheless, here the ladies got a big win on the road Monday night, winning 70 to 63. Again, one of these games where it starts off a little tight, which, you know, it's a competitive league. You know, women's college basketball has been elevated, but the ladies were down one after the first quarter here. But thanks to Joyce Edwards and company, the ladies went on an 18 to 1 run, ultimately taking a 35 to 26 lead into the half, where the ladies dominated the third quarter as well. You had really strong guard play led by Powpow, Malaysia Fol Wylie. Raven Johnson had a really nice game as well in the fourth quarter. Tennessee did make a push. You know, they. They had a nice quarter there. They ended strong, but ultimately it was too little, too late. And, you know, it kind of tells you the story there. You win by seven, which is a, you know, good win. Right. Comfortable, relatively speaking. Right. But when you look at the box score and you watch the game, it was a deal where Tennessee really did, you know, surge in that fourth. So this game could have been a little more lopsided had they not done that. But that's why you build these leads. So ultimately you can have a little bit of margin for error there. Some player highlights from this game here. Joyce Edwards, 18 points, continues to shine. She's getting freshman of the week accolades, really coming to her own again. I've. I've said it before, and I'm going to touch on this player in a moment here, but you look at South Carolina women's basketball, and there have been anchors for these teams, like, almost like eras, if you will. Asia Wilson, Aaliyah Boston, Camila Cardozo. You know, it was a little bit different where she only had one year, sort of as the sole post down low player. But there's always been these anchors who can play in the post and who can bring the type of play that Dawn Staley likes to have in her team. And it's early and you don't want to put, you know, undue pressure on a player who is so young like Joyce, but I really do see that next era under her, really. And, you know, not to get ahead of myself here, but you really can get excited with it where you could say, well, you have a young player who's still coming into her own in full Wiley, you have a young player who is only beginning their development in Joyce Edwards, some other young talent on the team, maybe a Tessa Johnson. You know, you can throw in there strong recruiting and you can start to kind of see the next era and wave of players for this program. And it's just really cool to see, you know, I mean, we, we love what Don has built and it's just really cool to see it in action, frankly. So anyway, went off track there. Side tangent reel it back in here. Joyce Edwards 18 points. Malaysia full. Wiley 11 and Raven. Johnson had 10. Great game by Raven there. Up next for South Carolina, the ladies will be taking on Auburn at home on Sunday. This game is also the Asia Wilson jersey retirement game. So I just mentioned her a second ago, but someone who I think you can point to as the beginning really of this dominance, like the program was getting better and better and better. And then Asia Wilson comes along and it really is that foundation for the program that we know today, you know, getting that national championship for the university for Dawn Staley. She has a statue in front of the stadium, just representing the state incredibly well, has done really cool things with the university, partnering with them in business. She's in the fricking commercial. She is absolutely dominating at the next level in the wnba. She is a gold medalist and just all the while still representing usc. So, well, talking about it a lot, meeting up with Dawn Staley, a lot like maintaining that relationship, showing up for these big games, being on tv, talking about the program, it's just really, really cool. And again, someone who now enough time has passed where it's time to retire the jersey and someone who you really can say led to a lot of this success, you know, and it's not just success. Like, we're very blessed. We're very lucky right now with this program to be as dominant as we are. Like, we are the gold standard in women's college basketball right now. We have been for the last few years. And when you look at the roster and you look at across, you know, the league, there's some good teams, but I still think it's us, and I think it's us for the, for the next several seasons, as long as Don is at the helm really, and a lot of it you can trace back to Asia Wilson, the big time player who stayed home and took the program to the next level. So incredibly cool to see. Incredibly well earned and it should be a fun day, ideally a stress free game as Auburn is 11 and 10 overall. They're 2 and 6 in conference. I was trying to think of a crow to the game for this one and I wanted to keep it fun. When we're going to stick with the theme and we're going to say do it for Asia, you know, just have the game that Asia would have. Play hard, give it your all. And she's going to be, you know, in attendance, obviously. So win this one for Asia, ladies.
[00:12:38] And then changing gears here, if we're going to use the analogy, kind of we're moving backwards in the vehicle now. We were moving 100 miles an hour with women's basketball. Now we're emergency break. Trying to go backwards with the men's team. And I say that respectfully. The Gamecocks were also on the road and it again, more the same. I, I, I hate having to get here and say the same thing episode after episode as the men lost to Georgia 71 to 60. And it really was more of the same.
[00:13:14] 17 turnovers and you're down 14 at the half.
[00:13:19] You know, a rally in the second half, you know, winning, you know, having more points in that second half wasn't able to get you there. Once again you come up empty and it's just tough, man. Like we all want them to win so bad. And I, at the risk of repeating myself for the thousandth time, I mean, there's not many more things you can say at this point. Like it just is what it is. We don't have the depth to compete with a lot of these teams. For whatever reason, this team is the most turnover prone team I've ever seen. Maybe in America, maybe ever.
[00:14:00] And I don't know what it is. You know, there are some guys on that team who you really hoped they would have developed this year. You were relying on them to develop this year. You know, maybe a guy like Jacoby Wright, maybe a guy like Zach Davis.
[00:14:20] And there's flashes of it, it's just not there. Like maybe you're at, like maybe because of the depth they're having to do too much, you know, I mean, you really only had two guys who came to play in this game and that was CMB and Jamari Thomas, you know, and credit where credit's due, like credit shout Out Jamari Thomas. You know, I was. And, you know, this still might be the case. His style of play and the fit of what Lamont Paris needs from his point guards. It might not exactly be the perfect fit, but he has come back from injury battling and playing a lot of minutes right away, and he's generating points.
[00:14:59] A couple games ago against Mississippi State, he was getting to the line, generating contact, creating points, and then in this one, he was ballin, and it was him and cmb.
[00:15:12] Outside of those two guys, nobody was in double figures. That's not gonna get it done. I'm sorry.
[00:15:21] It's just not. And it's crazy because, you know, I remember getting on the airwaves, so to speak, getting on the podcast two years ago when Lamont was in his first season and having a lot of these similar conversations, but with a team that was decimated, like a team that was. Was taking anybody, it felt like.
[00:15:44] And yeah, you had Michi Johnson on that team, but just having these conversations of like, only two guys are in double figures, like, that's not going to get it done.
[00:15:54] But this team, it feels like they shouldn't have that problem. But it's a lot of the same issues that I feel like we talked about two years ago, but it just doesn't make sense on paper. You know what I mean?
[00:16:07] I mean, we had two guys in our starting five combined for two points.
[00:16:14] Two guys in the starting five combined for two points.
[00:16:20] That's just not going to get it done. It's just not. Unless you had a guy come off the bench who's not Jamari Thomas and drop 15.
[00:16:30] There's just not depth in this lineup. And for lack of a better term, there's just no explosiveness, you know, And I feel like you need to see that from the guard play, you know, And Jamari's doing it, but he needs help. These guys need help, man.
[00:16:49] So I don't know what the answer is. Player highlights from this one, CMB 18 and 5. Jamari Thomas, 19 points. So it's like those guys put in work. That's a great day at the office. You know, if you're telling me, like, okay, you're, you know, your star post player is going to get 18.
[00:17:06] Your point guard, who's coming off the bench because of the injury scored 19.
[00:17:12] You'd probably think you're. You're right in that game.
[00:17:17] Instead, What?
[00:17:19] Lost by 11. Just tough. It's tough. Up next for Carolina, Saturday night, the guys host Texas A and M.
[00:17:28] No West. No rest for the Weary. No. West. No. East. No up, no. Down. The hangies are ranked 13th. They are 16 and 5 overall, 5 and 3 in conference. They feature an offense that averages five points more than South Carolina and a defense that averages three points fewer. So tough matchup on paper there. They're. They're a program that I feel like has been pretty solid for the last few years, but this year things I think have clicked a little bit more for them. So my crow to the game here, I'm just throwing stuff at the wall with this team, hoping that we can put something together that sticks. So I'm putting it once again on our post players, the guys who you envisioned would lead this team. And you don't even have to say cmb, but I'm going to put Colin, Murray, Boyles and Nick Pringle have to combine for at least 35 points. I'm putting a big number on these dudes. I think. I think Nick had six or eight against Georgia. No, no, let's go for 12 to 15 points and let's get CMB right around 18 or 20 combined for however much that is. 28, 30, 35 points. I'm putting 35. We're making. We're setting the bar high here because if those guys can combine for a sizable chunk, everything else should fall into place.
[00:18:53] 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.
