Background on South Carolina

[Class71]

From what I read SC is a great defensive team period. Steals the ball, defends against the 3 and keeps overall scoring low.

There offense, however, well to put it bluntly sucks. Ranked 149 by Pomeroy.

Best player in scoring and rebounds is Sindarius Thornwell Height 6-5 and  Weight 211 lbs.

Stats:

2016-17 Season
PPG   RPG   APG
21.0   7.2   2.8

They also have a 6' 9" Sophmore and a 6' 10" and a 6'9" Freshman for bigs. Everyone else is 6'6" and under. Looks like most of the production is from the starting 5.

Please add additional background since we are all very interested.

I think if we protect the ball, play reasonable defense and we pass well we have a great chance to put Frank's team away.

[GoldenDieners32]

Their bigs foul a lot

[MU82]

Teams that do a good job of running us off the 3 line tend to hurt us. We'll need to move the ball well and move our bodies well to find openings and open men - no secret there.

Vandy went into their place and beat them. They have two very close wins over Georgia. And that's all I know about them right now! Nuthin'!!

Oh wait ... I also know we're gonna beat 'em silly.

[murphmurphy]

South Carolina Beat Michigan by 16 & Syracuse by 14 back in Nov, Lost to Seton Hall by 3 in Dec, beat Georgia by 6 and by 2. lost to Vanderbilt by 9.  Lost 4 of last 6 games.  If MU plays well, shoots 50% or better from 3, shoots 80% from stripe, MU Wins.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

South Carolina Beat Michigan by 16 & Syracuse by 14 back in Nov, Lost to Seton Hall by 3 in Dec, beat Georgia by 6 and by 2. lost to Vanderbilt by 9.  Lost 4 of last 6 games.  If MU plays well, shoots 50% or better from 3, shoots 80% from stripe, MU Wins.

Ah, the good old basketball transitive property.

[rocket surgeon]

Their bigs foul a lot

if the refs don't call this game like an NBA play-off game, then we should be ok.  like a box of chocolates?

[jfmu]

Haven't read a ton but see they are pretty good at turning teams over. Do they press often?

[GGGG]

This is one of these contrast in style games that can be so hard to predict.  We could lose by a dozen...we could win by a dozen...really it is just a toss up.

[tower912]

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/stats/_/id/2579

Statistics.    Not a great shooting team.    Not very balanced scoring.    They butter their bread on defense.   A number of small guards.   Most of their scoring seems to come from 6'4-6'6 wings.  Purely from a height perspective, this isn't a terrible match up for MU.  I don't know if MU is going to be able to stick with the 3 midget back court.    Sure hope that either (A) JjJ is working his butt off in practice this week or (B) HC has cleared his head.   
The minutes and points distribution for SC tells me that they rotate a bunch of their small guards through to pressure the ballhandlers.   The two bigs are young and skinny.   But the team defends like crazy and is very physical and aggressive.     MU is going to have to cowboy up.   

Finally, there are no easy tournament games.   To paraphrase Yoda, there is no try.   Only do. 

[rocky_warrior]

SC does concern me for a matchup..  Their computer numbers (KenPom) are probably closest to Providence - and we know how well those games went.  SCs defense is 30 spots better than PC,  but their offense is  41 sports worse than PC. 

Limit turnovers, go up strong for rebounds, and have a decent shooting game and Marquette has a good chance.

[Babybluejeans]

Friend of mine who's seen them a lot this year says on offense they have a "serious case of hero ball." The numbers bear that out.

So, the keys to a win appear to be 1) focus on shutting down Thornwell, 2) protect the ball, and 3) generate good ball movement to open up space on the floor for clear looks. 

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Actually, the best thing for us may have been playing Seton Hall in the BE tourney. Got that clunker out of the way and maybe we can refocus on our ball movement. By the sound of things, SC has a similar team.

Bold prediction, Markus and Rowsey don't play great but Haanif and JJJ carry the team in this one.

[silverback]

The last couple of years, SC faded badly in the second half before hanging on to get a bid out of the SEC. They don't come into this game hot. Now, which team shows up from MKE? The squad that bombed Creighton and Xavier, or the guys who hit too big a stage at MSG.

And, that's a lot of abbreviations, BTW.

[MU82]

Actually, the best thing for us may have been playing Seton Hall in the BE tourney. Got that clunker out of the way and maybe we can refocus on our ball movement.

Bold prediction, Markus and Rowsey don't play great but Haanif and JJJ carry the team in this one.

Your prediction may or may not be right, but one thing is certain: We need Markus and Rowsey to avoid the live-ball turnovers that sometimes plague them, especially Markus. Kid, you ain't 17 no more!

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Your prediction may or may not be right.

Really taking a hard stance on that one, eh?

[mu_hilltopper]

Keys:

1. Don't spend a lot of time on Defense, it wastes energy when you could be scoring.
2. Shoot a lot of 3s and make 50%+ of them.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

I went over to the SC forum just to take a peek and I'm pretty sure 3/4 of those people posting there have never watched a basketball game in their life.

[Benny B]

I went over to the SC forum just to take a peek and I'm pretty sure 3/4 of those people posting there have never watched a basketball game in their life.

I'd suspect it's pretty much NASCAR, football and Ow My Balls 24/7.

[NotAnAlum]

The fact that they pressure the guards scares the heck out of me.  Offense isn't difficult to generate when you're giving up steals and breakaway layups.  We have shown to be very vulnerable to this type of defense.  I'm extremely concerned about how Markus deals with this both the tournament jitters and the pressure.  So much so that I'd seriously consider playing a lot for Katin to help Rowsey bring up the ball and reduce Markus's first half minutes using him more as a shooting guard off the ball. Once we do get the ball to the half court we should establish Fish and Heldt where we should have a big advantage.  If we can establish that THEN have the centers look to pass back out for open 3s.  That is how we get the 3s working.  BUT we've got to get it up the court first.

[Jay Bee]

If MU plays well, shoots 50% or better from 3, shoots 80% from stripe, MU Wins.

#FTsNoMatta

[PGsHeroes32]

Let Treadwell get his

And bomb away from deep

[PGsHeroes32]

*Thornwell

I got the Vikes bust on my mind

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Fouls will play an interesting role in this one. On one hand, starting forward Chris Silva has had 4 or more fouls in 19 of the last 24 games.  Tons of foul outs during that stretch. On the other hand, Sindarius Thornwell has to have one of the highest FTR's in the country. He has attempted double digit free throws in 9 games out of the 26 he's appeared in. Ridiculous.

[MU82]

On the other hand, Sindarius Thornwell has to have one of the highest FTR's in the country. He has attempted double digit free throws in 9 games out of the 26 he's appeared in. Ridiculous.

Good thing FTs no matta!

[brewcity77]

Fouls will play an interesting role in this one. On one hand, starting forward Chris Silva has had 4 or more fouls in 19 of the last 24 games.  Tons of foul outs during that stretch. On the other hand, Sindarius Thornwell has to have one of the highest FTR's in the country. He has attempted double digit free throws in 9 games out of the 26 he's appeared in. Ridiculous.

It'll be interesting to see how the refs handle things. Is Thornwell that good at drawing fouls, or were SEC refs generous with him as SC's only real star? Will Rowsey be able to draw a "Rowsey" on their defenders, or will the refs see it as him jumping into contact?

And off topic...What the holy F**k happened in the South Carolina/Alabama game? Thornwell got to the line THIRTY-THREE times? Four overtimes or not, that's ridiculous.