USC Upstate (0-1) lost to a shorthanded South Carolina last night 78-60. Spartans were picked to finish 6th (last) in the South Division of the Big South. Niners lead the series 2-1 and won the most recent meeting 83-47 two years ago.
FYI - if the Niners men’s soccer team beats FAU in the opening round of the C-USA tournament, then a Friday matchup with Marshall will take place at the same time at Transamerica Field.
Two things jump off the page at me on the boxscore with the Gamecocks. Boxscore Upstate was outrebounded by 18 (52-34) and that includes 17 offensive rebounds. Also, the Spartans committed 20 turnovers against the Gamecocks which will cause you to lose on most nights. Mazone led Upstate with 20 pts and 6 reb and Breazeale added 17 pts and 4 reb.
Spartans probable starting lineup
PG Dalvin White 5’10”SR
G Jordan Gainey 6’4” FR
F Bryson Mazone 6’6” SR
F Nick Alves 6’6” JR
F Khydarius Smith 6’8” JR
PG Jalen Breazeale 5’10” FR (played more minutes than White in the opener)
On paper this looks to be another game that we can get a win, but that is why the games are played. I was disappointed that we did not get a look at Musa last game. Maybe he will be available for Upstate.
This should be a real test for Coach
They’re a pretty small team as well, our small ball match ups should work well against them. I still have nightmares about upstate after the Mark Price years though.
If you mean winning by a little when we should win by a lot, then it will be a test of his ability to pull that off.
Upstate MBB trivia:
• G. B. Hodge Center is the smallest arena in D-I with a seating capacity of 818
• NAIA national champs in 1982
Looking over the box score from 2 years ago when the Niners won 83-47 in Halton on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Here are the stats for the 3 who are still here:
• Vasic - 2 pts, 2 asts in 12 mins
• Williams - 7 pts, 3 rebs in 18 mins
• Young - 12 pts, 8 rebs, 3 asts in 24 mins
Five Niners of the 13 who played scored in double figures, while Spartans had none.
Six Upstate players from that game still on their roster.
I want to see this kind of game tonight. No nonsense, smothering win tonight from the Niners.
And highlights from previous meeting:
The line is currently at 14.5. I’d like to see us play like it. And step on their throats if we get a lead. No sleepwalking to let them back in the game… execution and focus for 40 minutes.
I would like a 25 point win
I was disappointed like most of you for only winning by a bucket against Monmouth. However, I do like the makeup of the team and see us having a great year barring any injuries.
With that said, would like to see us blow them out.
I just want a win. I don’t care by how many points. A small margin may lower outside perception but the likelihood of our schedule earning us an at-large bid to the tournament is low anyway so I don’t think it will matter.
How many points we win by could/should be an indicator of how good we are. If we win by 80 points I would think we are a better team than if we only won by 2. Sure we’ll have off days and bad matchups but when projecting how good you could do in the future there’s nothing wrong with wanting big 20+ point blowouts. Yes, it doesn’t mean much overall but helps your paper projections going forward a bit.
10 point or more winning margin with a flowing offense and limited turnovers and I am happy. Less than 10 I’m going to look at shot clock violations, getting shots off at the end of the clock and a few other metrics to decide if I’m concerned. If we lose this game def will want to look at the stats and see what happened unless it’s just mass injuries.
Compact crowd. 11-0 to start the game.
Question: why are the lights at the main entrance to campus so damn dim? Looks bad.
ugh. Horrible end to the half. 5 or 6 point swing, only up 12. Sloppy. That’s not stepping on their necks.
Nice to see the team scoring more points than last season.
well, it’s a win, but the same problems remain we need to clean up. Midway through the 2nd half, as seemed to be the norm last year, we would go cold and let the other team back in it. Want to see that cleaned up.
