Men's Basketball: Gamecocks pile on points in Jadwin rout

“We played a very good team tonight, and they were very well prepared,” head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 said.

The Gamecocks (5-1) plucked the ball at will from the hands of the Tigers, notching 18 steals over the course of the game. Star guard Devan Downey, who posted seven steals, was a pest throughout the night, sparking South Carolina’s aggressive defense and flustering Princeton.

In total, the Tigers gave up the ball 26 times in the game, resulting in 31 South Carolina points. Princeton, in contrast, had only 10 points off giveaways.

When South Carolina wasn’t forcing turnovers in the first half, Downey was pushing the ball up the court at breakneck speed. Though the Gamecocks didn’t generate too many first-half fastbreak points — only four — they did move the ball into the offensive sets quickly and efficiently, leading to good shooting opportunities as the Tigers were still trying to recover defensively.

“Their pace overwhelmed us,” Johnson said.

Princeton’s best stretch of the game came halfway through the first period. Down 19-11, the Tigers went on a 13-4 run that gave them their only lead of the game.

Junior guard Marcus Schroeder kicked off the run with an open three pointer after Princeton pushed the ball into the paint. After a defensive stop, junior center Zach Finley put back a missed three pointer, cutting South Carolina’s lead to five.

The Tigers continued to play good defense, and senior guard Jason Briggs took advantage, converting a layup to cut the lead to a single point, but the Gamecocks responded with a couple of baskets.

After a layup by freshman guard Patrick Saunders, a series of turnovers and missed shots by both teams kept the score at 23-20 South Carolina. With six minutes, 42 seconds left in the half, Finley took the inbounds pass and took a nifty step, squirting around his defender and extending himself fully for a layup.

Sophomore guard Dan Mavraides claimed the defensive rebound off of a missed layup by forward Mike Holmes and quickly moved the ball to Briggs. Briggs pushed the ball into the paint and threaded a perfect pass to Finley as the defense collapsed. Finley’s layup gave the Tigers a 24-23 lead with 5:53 remaining in the first half.

“We were the ones out there doing it,” Johnson said of the solid stretch of play. “We have promise. We have the potential to win some nice games this year.”

But from that point forward, things pretty much spiraled out of control for Princeton. All of a sudden, shots that had been swishing through the net weren’t.

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“We got some shots that didn’t go down,” Johnson said. “I think we had some guys that were comfortable shooting the ball taking shots. When it doesn’t go in, it’s tough luck.”

The Tigers’ offense sputtered as the Gamecocks finished the half on a 13-0 run to take a commanding 14-point lead into the break.

After Holmes made a jumper to open the second half, junior forward and captain Nick Lake sank a three-pointer to cut the lead to 13. After another South Carolina bucket, sophomore forward Kareem Maddox inched Princeton back, 43-30, but the Tigers came no closer the rest of the game.

Mavraides led Princeton with 15 points on 3-7 shooting from the floor and 7-9 from the line. Freshman guard Doug Davis continued his stretch of double-digit scoring games with 13, going 6-8. Downey poured in 22 points for the Gamecocks.

There were flashes of potential for Princeton, and this was a tough opponent, but the overriding message came through: This team has got some hours to put in at the gym.

“I think from the standpoint that we’re not ready, yeah,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of work to do.”

The one thing you won’t hear from Johnson? Excuses. Though Princeton continues to search for its first home victory, this is the same team that rebounded from a 0-2 start to string together a pair of road victories. Johnson expects to see a similar recovery.

“Don’t feel sorry for us,” Johnson said. “Right now it’s kind of tough. We came out at halftime and it was as bad as we’ve been all year. But we’ll bounce back.”