By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) Their star guard was outstanding. Their big men dominated inside. Still, it came down to some last-second strategy for Gonzaga to move on to the NCAA Tournament championship game for the first time.
Nigel Williams-Goss scored 23 points, Gonzaga's big men combined for 27 and the Bulldogs kept South Carolina from taking a game-tying shot in a 77-73 victory Saturday night in a matchup of first-time teams at the Final Four.
"Just an awesome, awesome basketball game, with just how hard both teams competed," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "It took everything we had to hold them off and come back."
The Bulldogs' 7-footers, senior Przemek Karnowski and freshman Zach Collins, took care of things on both ends of the court, combining for 18 rebounds. Collins also had a career-high six blocks.
"That's my job is to go in and rim protect," said Collins, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds. "I had four fouls today. But I thought, you know, getting those blocked shots would help us."
Gonzaga (37-1), the top seed in the West Regional, will face North Carolina, the top seed in the South, for the title on Monday night.
"To be playing the last game of the year, that's crazy cool," Few said.
Williams-Goss missed a shot with 12.7 seconds left and South Carolina rebounded and called a timeout, trailing 75-72. South Carolina passed the ball around and Gonzaga fouled Sindarius Thornwell before he could shoot with 3.5 seconds left. Thornwell made the first free throw and missed the second on purpose in hopes of his teammates grabbing an offensive rebound. Killian Tillie rebounded for Gonzaga, was fouled and made two free throws to cement the game.
"We had been practicing it all year and we always want to foul under 6 (seconds)," Few said. "Josh Perkins did a job being really patient and not fouling on the shot. The second part is you've got to get the rebound, and that's what's been difficult for us at times. They executed great."
Thornwell said the idea was to get in position for one last quick shot.
"The plan was to miss it left and hopefully Chris (Silva) could tap it out to somebody," he said.
Williams-Goss, a second-team All-American, led the Bulldogs to a 14-point lead in the second half but it disappeared quickly as the Gamecocks (26-11) went on a 14-point run to grab a 67-65 lead with about 7 minutes to play.
"When things got tough we banded together and pulled through," said Williams-Goss, who had six assists and a brief injury scare after turning an ankle underneath the basket.
"There was no way I was going to come out of the game. This is the last two games of the season," Williams-Goss said. "Now we're 40 minutes from a championship."
Collins and Karnowksi then accounted for the next 7 points, including a 3-pointer by Collins and a thundering dunk by Karnowski.
South Carolina still wasn't done. The seventh-seeded Gamecocks scored 5 straight to get within 74-72 with just over 2 minutes left.
"Since the beginning of the season that's what we worked for, moments like this," Silva said. "And we try to do our best to respond the way we learn how to respond."
PJ Dozier led the Gamecocks with 17 points and Thornwell, the leading scorer in the NCAA Tournament at 25.8 points per game during the first four rounds, finished with 15 on 4-for-12 shooting after starting slow.
"They just crowd the paint," Thornwell said. "They forced me to pass it out on my drives. And just protecting the rim real well."
Karnowski went down on the court in the first half after being poked in the right eye as he took a shot underneath the basket. He left for the last 5 minutes of the half, but Collins picked him up, finishing with 8 points at halftime.
"I got blocked but he just put the finger in my eye," Karnowski said. "I had blurry vision, a little bit shadow. I couldn't really open it."
"Throughout the whole second half it was getting better and better," he said.
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: The Gamecocks entered the tournament having last won a game in 1973. They had four wins to reach the Final Four, including victories over the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds in the East region.
Gonzaga: The Bulldogs now have a chance to play for a title after already getting further than ever before in the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga had made three Elite Eights without advancing to the Final Four.
BLOCK PARTY
The teams combined for 14 blocked shots, eight by Gonzaga. Collins had six and Silas Melson had two for the Bulldogs. Silva had three for the Gamecocks, while Thornwell had two and Dozier had one.
THREES ABOUND
Gonzaga, which had a school-record 12 3-pointers in the regional final win over Xavier, went 9 for 19 from beyond the arc Saturday. Jordan Mathews was 4 for 8 while Williams-Goss and Melson had two each and Collins had one.
NUMBERS
Silva had 13 rebounds for the Gamecocks. ... South Carolina shot 37.9 percent (25 of 66) for the game while the Bulldogs were 29 of 60 (48.3 percent). ... Gonzaga committed 12 turnovers and the Gamecocks had just five.
UP NEXT
Gonzaga meets North Carolina for the national championship on Monday night.
Showing posts with label South Carolina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Carolina. Show all posts
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Role reversal: Gonzaga to face underdog South Carolina
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Gonzaga, often cast as the gutty underdog, finally finished the climb to its first Final Four, doing so as a No. 1 seed. The Bulldogs' reward: playing a gutty underdog.
South Carolina, which advanced to the Final Four as a seventh seed in the East, is hardly a Cinderella, coming from the Southeastern Conference. But the Gamecocks seemed more like bracket-filler than bracket-buster when they lost five of their last seven games before the NCAA Tournament.
The combination of high-scoring senior guard Sindarius Thornwell and some hellacious wear-you-down defense has been more than good enough in the past two weeks, however, as South Carolina knocked off the No. 2 (Duke), No. 3 (Baylor) and No. 4 (Florida) seeds in the East.
The Gamecocks, like Gonzaga, will be appearing in their first Final Four when the game tips off Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET in Glendale, Ariz.
"We're defending at a high clip again, which is allowing us to get out in the open court and get opportunities," South Carolina coach Frank Martin said. "And our inside play has gotten good again. It kind of disappeared on us there the last month of the season. But our inside guys have played well in the NCAA Tournament."
The Gamecocks (26-10) will need that against a big Gonzaga frontline that features 7-foot, 300-pound Przemek Karnowski, blue-chip 7-foot freshman Zach Collins and 6-9 forward Johnathan Williams. The player who really makes the Zags go, though, is Washington transfer point guard Nigel Williams-Goss, who was selected to the 10-man Wooden Award All-America team.
Williams-Goss had 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists as Gonzaga blew out Xavier 83-59 in the West Regional final, showing the offensive and defensive efficiency that have been season-long hallmarks. Critics might have doubted the Bulldogs' level of competition in the West Coast Conference, but Gonzaga showed steel in surviving the defensive pressure of fourth-seeded West Virginia in the Sweet 16.
Williams-Goss, Williams (a transfer from Missouri) and Cal transfer guard Jordan Mathews have helped transform Gonzaga (36-1) into a more dangerous, more athletic team.
"It was no secret that we were coming in here to do something as a collective unit," Williams-Goss said. "If we wanted to do things individually, we would have just stayed where we were at."
The best player on the court might be Thornwell, the SEC Player of the Year. He is averaging 25.8 points in the NCAA Tournament, scoring at least 24 in each outing.
"His kind of whole package is very dangerous," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "Just kind of the intensity that he brings to the game. He can hurt you on the glass. He can hurt you shooting it. He can hurt you off the bounce. He gets to the free throw line a lot. Yeah, he's definitely going to be a handful."
South Carolina can't be counted on to hit from 3-point range (33.7 percent for the season), but the Gamecocks allow just 29.8 percent from behind the arc.
They have forced an average of 17 turnovers in four NCAA Tournament games, outscoring every team in the second half by an average of 13.5 points. They unleashed a 65-point second half against Duke.
That defense will put a lot of pressure on Williams-Goss, who averages a team-high 16.7 points as well as 4.6 assists. Karnowski averages 12.2 points in a balanced scoring effort.
Martin counters inside with 6-9 Chris Silva and 6-10 freshman post Maik Kotsar, who has been playing well, including hitting a late mid-range jumper that was key to holding off Florida.
"We play in the SEC," Martin said Tuesday. "I understand some of you guys never watch us play, but, my god, anyone see Alabama play? They were big. Anyone see LSU? They were big.
"If we were one of those smaller mid-major schools, this is where you start kind of worrying if can you handle size. ... Our team has been exposed to everything: size, athleticism, winning, losing, good, bad, suspensions. Those kids have not thrown in the towel or blinked one time all year."
Gonzaga, often cast as the gutty underdog, finally finished the climb to its first Final Four, doing so as a No. 1 seed. The Bulldogs' reward: playing a gutty underdog.
South Carolina, which advanced to the Final Four as a seventh seed in the East, is hardly a Cinderella, coming from the Southeastern Conference. But the Gamecocks seemed more like bracket-filler than bracket-buster when they lost five of their last seven games before the NCAA Tournament.
The combination of high-scoring senior guard Sindarius Thornwell and some hellacious wear-you-down defense has been more than good enough in the past two weeks, however, as South Carolina knocked off the No. 2 (Duke), No. 3 (Baylor) and No. 4 (Florida) seeds in the East.
The Gamecocks, like Gonzaga, will be appearing in their first Final Four when the game tips off Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET in Glendale, Ariz.
"We're defending at a high clip again, which is allowing us to get out in the open court and get opportunities," South Carolina coach Frank Martin said. "And our inside play has gotten good again. It kind of disappeared on us there the last month of the season. But our inside guys have played well in the NCAA Tournament."
The Gamecocks (26-10) will need that against a big Gonzaga frontline that features 7-foot, 300-pound Przemek Karnowski, blue-chip 7-foot freshman Zach Collins and 6-9 forward Johnathan Williams. The player who really makes the Zags go, though, is Washington transfer point guard Nigel Williams-Goss, who was selected to the 10-man Wooden Award All-America team.
Williams-Goss had 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists as Gonzaga blew out Xavier 83-59 in the West Regional final, showing the offensive and defensive efficiency that have been season-long hallmarks. Critics might have doubted the Bulldogs' level of competition in the West Coast Conference, but Gonzaga showed steel in surviving the defensive pressure of fourth-seeded West Virginia in the Sweet 16.
Williams-Goss, Williams (a transfer from Missouri) and Cal transfer guard Jordan Mathews have helped transform Gonzaga (36-1) into a more dangerous, more athletic team.
"It was no secret that we were coming in here to do something as a collective unit," Williams-Goss said. "If we wanted to do things individually, we would have just stayed where we were at."
The best player on the court might be Thornwell, the SEC Player of the Year. He is averaging 25.8 points in the NCAA Tournament, scoring at least 24 in each outing.
"His kind of whole package is very dangerous," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "Just kind of the intensity that he brings to the game. He can hurt you on the glass. He can hurt you shooting it. He can hurt you off the bounce. He gets to the free throw line a lot. Yeah, he's definitely going to be a handful."
South Carolina can't be counted on to hit from 3-point range (33.7 percent for the season), but the Gamecocks allow just 29.8 percent from behind the arc.
They have forced an average of 17 turnovers in four NCAA Tournament games, outscoring every team in the second half by an average of 13.5 points. They unleashed a 65-point second half against Duke.
That defense will put a lot of pressure on Williams-Goss, who averages a team-high 16.7 points as well as 4.6 assists. Karnowski averages 12.2 points in a balanced scoring effort.
Martin counters inside with 6-9 Chris Silva and 6-10 freshman post Maik Kotsar, who has been playing well, including hitting a late mid-range jumper that was key to holding off Florida.
"We play in the SEC," Martin said Tuesday. "I understand some of you guys never watch us play, but, my god, anyone see Alabama play? They were big. Anyone see LSU? They were big.
"If we were one of those smaller mid-major schools, this is where you start kind of worrying if can you handle size. ... Our team has been exposed to everything: size, athleticism, winning, losing, good, bad, suspensions. Those kids have not thrown in the towel or blinked one time all year."
Monday, March 27, 2017
South Carolina headed to Final Four, beats Florida 77-70
By JIM O'CONNELL
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) South Carolina added a missing piece to its rich basketball history.
The school of Frank McGuire, Kevin Joyce, Brian Winters, Mike Dunleavy and Alex English is going to the Final Four for the first time.
Add the names Sindarius Thornwell and Frank Martin to the top of the list.
Thornwell's 26 points and the Gamecocks' swarming zone defense meant a 77-70 victory over Florida on Sunday and a berth in the Final Four.
Martin, he of the booming voice and terrifying faces, led the seventh-seeded Gamecocks to the biggest victory in school history and now they will face Gonzaga, the No. 1 seed from the West Regional, in the Final Four on Saturday at Glendale, Arizona.
"Anyone that's in sports dreams of moments like this," said Martin, who was doused with water and dancing as soon as he entered the locker room. "It's not something that you start dreaming it the year you win 25 games. You dream it every single day."
The game was as close as expected until the final minute. There were 14 lead changes and 10 ties. The last lead change came on two free throws by Thornwell with 2:24 left that made it 65-63. Fourth-seeded Florida managed just three field goals over the final 3:55.
Thornwell, the regional MVP, followed the deciding free throws with a nice assist to Maik Kotsar for a 4-point lead. It seemed Thornwell, who scored eight straight points for the Gamecocks, was always where he needed to be including making a steal with 40 seconds left that turned into a 73-68 lead.
"Plays needed to be made down the stretch and I stepped up and made plays," Thornwell said.
Teammate Duane Notice knew Thornwell would come through.
"He's capable of doing anything on both sides of the basketball. So it doesn't surprise me," he said. "His senior leadership just kicked in. He don't want us to lose. He don't want our season to end."
"Thornwell was just being Thornwell," Florida coach Mike White said of the SEC player of the year as voted by coaches. "He's one of the best players in the country."
PJ Dozier added 17 points for the Gamecocks, Chris Silva had 13 and Kotsar 12.
Justin Leon had 18 points for the Gators who managed a 40-33 halftime lead on 7-for-12 shooting from 3-point range. But that was it. Florida was 0 for 14 from beyond the arc in the second half, a lot like the 0-for-17 effort the Gators had in their first meeting with South Carolina this season.
"We still got our open looks, but they just, I guess they just went farther than what they were in the first half," Leon said.
South Carolina, which forced Florida into 16 turnovers, finished 23 for 31 from the free throw line, including a 9-for-10 effort from Thornwell.
It was the third straight game the Gamecocks were trailing at the half and went on to win.
"We felt like we was doing the right things. We felt like everything was going good for us, it was just the ball wasn't falling in, and we just needed a couple more stops," Thornwell said. "So going into halftime we always just buckled in and locked in on what we needed to do to win and took it one possession at a time."
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: This had been South Carolina's deepest run in the NCAA Tournament. ... The Gamecocks beat No. 2 seed Duke and No. 3 Baylor on the way to the Elite Eight. ... Until this tournament the Gamecocks hadn't won an NCAA Tournament game since 1973.
Florida: This was Florida's first NCAA Tournament game against a Southeastern Conference opponent. ... The Gators entered the game with an all-time 44-24 record against the Gamecocks, including 1-2 under White. ... The Gators were trying for their sixth Final Four appearance and that includes the titles in 2006 and 2007.
FAMOUS FANS
Among those in attendance at Madison Square Garden were Hall of Famer Rick Barry, whose son Canyon plays for Florida, Paul McCartney and Darius Rucker.
UP NEXT
South Carolina will meet Gonzaga in the Final Four on Saturday.
Sunday, March 26, 2017
SEC rivals Florida, South Carolina battle in East final
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NEW YORK -- After his team knocked off Baylor in the first game of the East Regional semifinals on Friday, South Carolina coach Frank Martin was extremely complimentary of his Southeastern Conference rivals.
"I want to credit the teams in our league in the SEC for preparing us for the kind of games that you have to play at this time of year," Martin said. "Those coaches, those players that we fought against every single day got these guys prepared to harden, to understand how hard and how disciplined you have to play to have a chance to win at this time of year."
On Sunday, his seventh-seeded Gamecocks (25-10) will face one of them for the third time this season when they meet fourth-seeded Florida (27-8) at Madison Square Garden with a trip to the Final Four on the line. It's the first time since Kentucky and LSU in 1986 that two SEC teams will meet in a regional final.
The Gamecocks advanced with a strong defensive performance in a 70-50 victory over the Bears. The Gators won an 84-83 overtime thriller over Wisconsin on a 3-point buzzer-beater from Chris Chiozza.
Florida and South Carolina split its two regular-season meetings, with the Gamecocks taking a 57-53 decision on Jan. 18 in Columbia and the Gators paying them back with an 81-66 win on Feb. 21 in Gainesville.
South Carolina went 12-6 in the conference. Florida was 14-4.
Many predicted the East Regional final would be a Duke-Villanova classic; in their place will be two schools from a conference mostly known for high-caliber football.
"As a Florida Gator, sitting here as a proud Gator, it is a football conference," admitted Florida coach Mike White. "And it's a basketball conference, and it's a gymnastics conference, and a softball conference, and no one is more aware of that than the Florida Gators. There's excellence throughout the conference in every sport. Men's and women's.
"But SEC basketball, do we have some momentum? Yeah, I think so. I do. And I know that there's been some negativity toward the SEC potentially underachieving over these last couple years. Within our conference, we know the potential and I think that our conference has, is full of good coaches, tremendous talent, a lot of young talent, recruiting classes continue to get stronger and stronger and we have three (Kentucky, South Carolina and Florida) in the Elite 8.
"And who knows, I mean, I think the SEC's going to be better next year, I really do. With the guys that are coming back, and again the young talent that will continue to grow within our league."
South Carolina advances to its first Elite Eight in program history after making it to the Sweet 16 for the first time. Martin's squad is a defensive force. It limited Baylor to just 30 percent shooting, forcing 16 turnovers and holding the Bears to a season-tying-low 22 first-half points.
"We pride ourselves on our defense," said South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell, the SEC Player of the Year. "We know that's our bread and butter and we know we have a good defense and we go out and guard. We know it's a 40-minute game, and we know teams are going to make runs, but we can't take our foot off the pedal, we got to keep the pressure on and keep guarding."
NEW YORK -- After his team knocked off Baylor in the first game of the East Regional semifinals on Friday, South Carolina coach Frank Martin was extremely complimentary of his Southeastern Conference rivals.
"I want to credit the teams in our league in the SEC for preparing us for the kind of games that you have to play at this time of year," Martin said. "Those coaches, those players that we fought against every single day got these guys prepared to harden, to understand how hard and how disciplined you have to play to have a chance to win at this time of year."
On Sunday, his seventh-seeded Gamecocks (25-10) will face one of them for the third time this season when they meet fourth-seeded Florida (27-8) at Madison Square Garden with a trip to the Final Four on the line. It's the first time since Kentucky and LSU in 1986 that two SEC teams will meet in a regional final.
The Gamecocks advanced with a strong defensive performance in a 70-50 victory over the Bears. The Gators won an 84-83 overtime thriller over Wisconsin on a 3-point buzzer-beater from Chris Chiozza.
Florida and South Carolina split its two regular-season meetings, with the Gamecocks taking a 57-53 decision on Jan. 18 in Columbia and the Gators paying them back with an 81-66 win on Feb. 21 in Gainesville.
South Carolina went 12-6 in the conference. Florida was 14-4.
Many predicted the East Regional final would be a Duke-Villanova classic; in their place will be two schools from a conference mostly known for high-caliber football.
"As a Florida Gator, sitting here as a proud Gator, it is a football conference," admitted Florida coach Mike White. "And it's a basketball conference, and it's a gymnastics conference, and a softball conference, and no one is more aware of that than the Florida Gators. There's excellence throughout the conference in every sport. Men's and women's.
"But SEC basketball, do we have some momentum? Yeah, I think so. I do. And I know that there's been some negativity toward the SEC potentially underachieving over these last couple years. Within our conference, we know the potential and I think that our conference has, is full of good coaches, tremendous talent, a lot of young talent, recruiting classes continue to get stronger and stronger and we have three (Kentucky, South Carolina and Florida) in the Elite 8.
"And who knows, I mean, I think the SEC's going to be better next year, I really do. With the guys that are coming back, and again the young talent that will continue to grow within our league."
South Carolina advances to its first Elite Eight in program history after making it to the Sweet 16 for the first time. Martin's squad is a defensive force. It limited Baylor to just 30 percent shooting, forcing 16 turnovers and holding the Bears to a season-tying-low 22 first-half points.
"We pride ourselves on our defense," said South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell, the SEC Player of the Year. "We know that's our bread and butter and we know we have a good defense and we go out and guard. We know it's a 40-minute game, and we know teams are going to make runs, but we can't take our foot off the pedal, we got to keep the pressure on and keep guarding."
Saturday, March 25, 2017
South Carolina beats Baylor 70-50 to advance to Elite Eight
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Apparently South Carolina is getting the hang of winning NCAA Tournament games.
The Gamecocks, who hadn't won a tournament game since 1973, got their third this year. One more and it's on to the Final Four.
"It's a great win for the program," Gamecocks guard Duane Notice said. "It's a good feeling when we continue to make history and I think once we get a taste of it, we kind of get addicted and want to continue doing it."
Sindarius Thornwell scored 24 points and seventh-seeded South Carolina cruised past third-seeded Baylor 70-50 on Friday night in the East Regional semifinals, the Bears' worst NCAA Tournament loss.
The Gamecocks (25-10) were in control from the middle of the first half on, mixing defenses and hustling all over the Madison Square Garden court to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time.
"We have been real good defensively all year, we were on point definitely today," Gamecocks coach Frank Martin said.
South Carolina will meet Florida, which beat Wisconsin 84-83 in overtime, on Sunday with that trip to the Final Four at stake. It will be an all-Southeastern Conference matchup with the teams having split two regular-season meetings.
DJ Dozier and Chris Silva had 12 points each and Notice added 11 for the Gamecocks.
Johnathan Motley had 18 points, 12 in the second half, for Baylor (27-8), which just couldn't get any offense going. The Bears, who were ranked No. 1 for one week this season, missed 11 of their first 13 shots from the field and it didn't get a whole lot better the entire game. They finished 17 for 56 from the field (30.4 percent), including 3 for 13 from 3-point range.
Thornwell made defending Motley sound easy.
"We stayed aggressive and made his catches hard and we knew that he likes to score in the paint and let his catches be extended outside, that way he got to take more than one dribble to score; he can't just turn and shoot over the top of you," Thornwell said.
Motley said the defense was "extremely tough."
"That's what they game-planned for. And they did a great job of executing their game plan. We couldn't, really couldn't buy a basket."
South Carolina opened the second half on a 12-6 run to get the lead to 49-28. The largest lead was 63-41.
Baylor was able to close to 11 points but that was as tight as the game would get.
The Gamecocks went on a 16-0 run that lasted 7:44 in the first half. They turned a 15-15 tie into a 31-15 lead with 2:50 left in the first half. The Bears went 0 for 10 from the field and committed four turnovers in the run. South Carolina's biggest lead of the half was 37-20 on a 3 by Notice with 29 seconds to play. It was 37-22 at halftime.
The Bears shot just 25 percent from the field in the first half (8 of 32) and committed seven turnovers.
"What they do is a great job of making it difficult and then basketball's such a game of momentum and after you get off to a bad start, sometimes it's hard to get in a rhythm or hard to get in a flow," Baylor coach Scott Drew said.
Martin is glad the rest of the country is getting to see the Gamecocks and their intense defense.
"It's beautiful to us. Which is what matters," he said. "I'm sure there's people don't like it. That's their prerogative."
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: The Gamecocks came into the NCAA Tournament having lost five of seven. ... The Gamecocks' previous largest margin of victory in the NCAA Tournament was 78-70 over Texas Tech in the first round in 1973.
Baylor: The Bears came into the NCAA Tournament having lost four of seven. ... This is the Bears' fourth straight tournament appearance. They were trying for their third Elite Eight appearance. They lost to Duke in the round of eight in 2010 and to Kentucky in 2012. ... Baylor was 9-1 against the Southeastern Conference since 2012-13. ... Baylor's previous worst loss in the NCAA Tournament was 69-52 to Wisconsin in the Sweet 16 in 2014. ... The 22 points matched Baylor's low for a half this season.
UP NEXT
South Carolina will face Florida in an all-Southeastern Conference Elite Eight game on Sunday.
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Apparently South Carolina is getting the hang of winning NCAA Tournament games.
The Gamecocks, who hadn't won a tournament game since 1973, got their third this year. One more and it's on to the Final Four.
"It's a great win for the program," Gamecocks guard Duane Notice said. "It's a good feeling when we continue to make history and I think once we get a taste of it, we kind of get addicted and want to continue doing it."
Sindarius Thornwell scored 24 points and seventh-seeded South Carolina cruised past third-seeded Baylor 70-50 on Friday night in the East Regional semifinals, the Bears' worst NCAA Tournament loss.
The Gamecocks (25-10) were in control from the middle of the first half on, mixing defenses and hustling all over the Madison Square Garden court to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time.
"We have been real good defensively all year, we were on point definitely today," Gamecocks coach Frank Martin said.
South Carolina will meet Florida, which beat Wisconsin 84-83 in overtime, on Sunday with that trip to the Final Four at stake. It will be an all-Southeastern Conference matchup with the teams having split two regular-season meetings.
DJ Dozier and Chris Silva had 12 points each and Notice added 11 for the Gamecocks.
Johnathan Motley had 18 points, 12 in the second half, for Baylor (27-8), which just couldn't get any offense going. The Bears, who were ranked No. 1 for one week this season, missed 11 of their first 13 shots from the field and it didn't get a whole lot better the entire game. They finished 17 for 56 from the field (30.4 percent), including 3 for 13 from 3-point range.
Thornwell made defending Motley sound easy.
"We stayed aggressive and made his catches hard and we knew that he likes to score in the paint and let his catches be extended outside, that way he got to take more than one dribble to score; he can't just turn and shoot over the top of you," Thornwell said.
Motley said the defense was "extremely tough."
"That's what they game-planned for. And they did a great job of executing their game plan. We couldn't, really couldn't buy a basket."
South Carolina opened the second half on a 12-6 run to get the lead to 49-28. The largest lead was 63-41.
Baylor was able to close to 11 points but that was as tight as the game would get.
The Gamecocks went on a 16-0 run that lasted 7:44 in the first half. They turned a 15-15 tie into a 31-15 lead with 2:50 left in the first half. The Bears went 0 for 10 from the field and committed four turnovers in the run. South Carolina's biggest lead of the half was 37-20 on a 3 by Notice with 29 seconds to play. It was 37-22 at halftime.
The Bears shot just 25 percent from the field in the first half (8 of 32) and committed seven turnovers.
"What they do is a great job of making it difficult and then basketball's such a game of momentum and after you get off to a bad start, sometimes it's hard to get in a rhythm or hard to get in a flow," Baylor coach Scott Drew said.
Martin is glad the rest of the country is getting to see the Gamecocks and their intense defense.
"It's beautiful to us. Which is what matters," he said. "I'm sure there's people don't like it. That's their prerogative."
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: The Gamecocks came into the NCAA Tournament having lost five of seven. ... The Gamecocks' previous largest margin of victory in the NCAA Tournament was 78-70 over Texas Tech in the first round in 1973.
Baylor: The Bears came into the NCAA Tournament having lost four of seven. ... This is the Bears' fourth straight tournament appearance. They were trying for their third Elite Eight appearance. They lost to Duke in the round of eight in 2010 and to Kentucky in 2012. ... Baylor was 9-1 against the Southeastern Conference since 2012-13. ... Baylor's previous worst loss in the NCAA Tournament was 69-52 to Wisconsin in the Sweet 16 in 2014. ... The 22 points matched Baylor's low for a half this season.
UP NEXT
South Carolina will face Florida in an all-Southeastern Conference Elite Eight game on Sunday.
Friday, March 17, 2017
Marquette-South Carolina Preview
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South Carolina is back in the NCAA Tournament after an absence of more than a dozen years.
The Gamecocks won’t even have to leave the state to play at the start of this week’s tournament.
Assigned to the East Region, seventh-seeded South Carolina meets 10th-seeded Marquette in Friday night’s first round at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.
South Carolina (22-10) will play in its first NCAA Tournament since 2004. This is the ninth time overall for the Gamecocks in the tournament.
“Happy for guys who signed up to help us build this,” Gamecocks coach Frank Martin said. “It has been a grinding five years. It’s fun to be a part of it again. There’s nothing like the NCAA Tournament. … This whole week should be a week of celebration for our players and our fans.”
Martin has coached in 10 NCAA Tournament games, all with Kansas State. His teams have won at least one game in each year it has been part of the tournament.
“The one thing I’ve told our players, don’t just be happy to be in it,” Martin said. “Be focused and prepared to make a run now that that we’re in this exclusive group. You’ve earned your way into this thing.”
Marquette (19-12) is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013. This is the first appearance under third-year coach Steve Wojciechowski.
“It makes it all worth it,” Wojciechowski said. “Really excited to be part of March Madness. This is another step in the right direction.”
Martin said he’s impressed with what Wojciechowski has done with a Marquette program that has a special tradition.
“Marquette is one of those programs, one of those basketball-rich powerful schools,” Martin said. “It’s great for South Carolina to play one of those basketball schools that has a lot of credibility.”
Marquette’s only other time as a No. 10 seed came in 1997, when it lost in the first round to Providence in Charlotte, N.C.
This season, the Golden Eagles won four of their final five regular-season games before losing to Seton Hall in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals. They own a 74-72 victory in January against Villanova, which is the NCAA Tournament’s overall No. 1 seed.
The Golden Eagles have made a school-record 312 3-point baskets this season. Scoring won’t come easy against the Gamecocks.
“They’re one of the best defensive teams in the country,” Wojciechowski said. “They really get out in pressure and try to turn you over. They make passes hard.”
South Carolina went 3-6 across its last nine99999 games.
“Contrary to popular belief, we didn’t limp to the finish line,” Martin said. “We didn’t lose to bad teams.”
Martin said he was pleased with the No. 7 seed because the NCAA committee respected his team’s work throughout the season. Guard Sindarius Thornwell averages 21 points per game.
Martin said the potential impact of the Gamecocks’ fan turnout could be diminished because of the huge followings for Duke and North Carolina, two schools also assigned to the site.
Still, he’s happy to be at that venue.
“We’ve played in that building,” Martin said. “We’ve won in that building.”
Wojciechowski said he hopes his ties to Duke (player and assistant coach) keeps some of the Blue Devils fans around to pull for his team. Duke meets Troy in the evening’s first game.
The South Carolina-Marquette winner takes on the Duke-Troy winner on Sunday.
South Carolina is back in the NCAA Tournament after an absence of more than a dozen years.
The Gamecocks won’t even have to leave the state to play at the start of this week’s tournament.
Assigned to the East Region, seventh-seeded South Carolina meets 10th-seeded Marquette in Friday night’s first round at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.
South Carolina (22-10) will play in its first NCAA Tournament since 2004. This is the ninth time overall for the Gamecocks in the tournament.
“Happy for guys who signed up to help us build this,” Gamecocks coach Frank Martin said. “It has been a grinding five years. It’s fun to be a part of it again. There’s nothing like the NCAA Tournament. … This whole week should be a week of celebration for our players and our fans.”
Martin has coached in 10 NCAA Tournament games, all with Kansas State. His teams have won at least one game in each year it has been part of the tournament.
“The one thing I’ve told our players, don’t just be happy to be in it,” Martin said. “Be focused and prepared to make a run now that that we’re in this exclusive group. You’ve earned your way into this thing.”
Marquette (19-12) is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013. This is the first appearance under third-year coach Steve Wojciechowski.
“It makes it all worth it,” Wojciechowski said. “Really excited to be part of March Madness. This is another step in the right direction.”
Martin said he’s impressed with what Wojciechowski has done with a Marquette program that has a special tradition.
“Marquette is one of those programs, one of those basketball-rich powerful schools,” Martin said. “It’s great for South Carolina to play one of those basketball schools that has a lot of credibility.”
Marquette’s only other time as a No. 10 seed came in 1997, when it lost in the first round to Providence in Charlotte, N.C.
This season, the Golden Eagles won four of their final five regular-season games before losing to Seton Hall in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals. They own a 74-72 victory in January against Villanova, which is the NCAA Tournament’s overall No. 1 seed.
The Golden Eagles have made a school-record 312 3-point baskets this season. Scoring won’t come easy against the Gamecocks.
“They’re one of the best defensive teams in the country,” Wojciechowski said. “They really get out in pressure and try to turn you over. They make passes hard.”
South Carolina went 3-6 across its last nine99999 games.
“Contrary to popular belief, we didn’t limp to the finish line,” Martin said. “We didn’t lose to bad teams.”
Martin said he was pleased with the No. 7 seed because the NCAA committee respected his team’s work throughout the season. Guard Sindarius Thornwell averages 21 points per game.
Martin said the potential impact of the Gamecocks’ fan turnout could be diminished because of the huge followings for Duke and North Carolina, two schools also assigned to the site.
Still, he’s happy to be at that venue.
“We’ve played in that building,” Martin said. “We’ve won in that building.”
Wojciechowski said he hopes his ties to Duke (player and assistant coach) keeps some of the Blue Devils fans around to pull for his team. Duke meets Troy in the evening’s first game.
The South Carolina-Marquette winner takes on the Duke-Troy winner on Sunday.
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