In a match-up of two SEC East teams looking to get back in the division race, the Gamecocks will face Kentucky this weekend in Carolina Stadium.
The pressure for Carolina of staying in the hunt for the East is coupled with the fact that these same Wildcats swept the Gamecocks in Lexington last year in what was a shocking series outcome early on in the 2012 season.
Last week proved to be rock-bottom for Gamecock baseball thus far this season. After squeaking by the Citadel last Tuesday 6-5, Carolina was swept by Florida in Gainesville. After the subpar week the ‘Cocks move to 27-10 overall and 8-7 in the SEC.
Two close losses, followed by an embarrassing blowout on Saturday proved that South Carolina has a long way to go before they return to the top. The main problem wasn’t that the players weren’t hitting, but rather that they couldn’t seem to get the big hits. Carolina had multiple opportunities that ended up wasted leaving the Gamecocks just shy of a successful weekend. Continue Reading…
The following game story is brought to you by the fine folks at Group Therapy Bar, located at 2107 Greene Street in Five Points.Thursday night proved to be an unfortunate one for the No. 8 Gamecocks as they fell to the Gators in a tight 3-2 battle. Continue Reading…
The following game story is brought to you by the fine folks at Group Therapy Bar, located at 2107 Greene Street in Five Points.Tuesday night featured some hot bats for the Gamecocks as they hosted Charleston Southern. However, the bats cooled down slightly on Wednesday and the score reflected it. South Carolina was able to defeat Charleston Southern 9 to 5 on Tuesday with intense firepower including a pair of home runs. Wednesday, the Gamecocks went on the road to face Furman and after a hard fought battle simply could not finish the job, losing 6 to 5. Continue Reading…
This week, Clemson freshman, Ryan Hall, is making his first appearance writing for Garnet Report. After many years of devoted fanhood to NCAA Men’s Basketball, Ryan has provided his own personal insider analysis into the Final Four of the tournament. Although this guy may be a Tiger, he is one of the few that knows a thing or two about sports. Be on the lookout for more of Ryan’s work to come.
The Syracuse Orange entered the NCAA Tournament with a lot of momentum after making a Big East Championship Final run. That continued into the second weekend as Syracuse downed number one seed Indiana 61-50 in the sweet 16, then three-seed Marquette 55-39 in the Elite Eight to reach the Final Four for the first time since winning the national title in 2003. After several disappointing tournament runs since 2003, Syracuse finally made it to the final four, carried by intense defensive effort.
Boeheim’s trademark 2-3 defensive zone held Indiana, a team ranked third in the nation in points per game to 50 points, and held Marquette to 30 points below their season average of 69. Although Syracuse certainly didn’t light the scoreboard up over the weekend, they did score enough to make it to the next weekend of play. Syracuse were led offensively by Michael Carter-Williams’ 24-point game against -Indiana and his 12-point, eight-rebound effort against Marquette.
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The Shockers turned out to be the shock of the tournament in 2013. After beating number one seed Gonzaga last weekend, Wichita State kept on rolling by beating another tournament darling La Salle, 72-58 in the Sweet 16, then number two seed Ohio State 70-66 in the Elite Eight. Want to know the last time a MVC team made the final four? That would be Larry Bird’s Indiana State team in 1979. There were questions about whether or not Wichita State should have even made the tournament, but now any and all doubters have been silenced. Wichita State controlled nearly the entire game against La Salle, and were led by Jerrell Wright and Tyrone Garland’s 16 points each.
After winning the battle of tournament darlings in the Sweet 16, very few people expected Wichita State to knock off Big Ten Tournament champ Ohio State, who were riding an 11 game winning streak. A balanced scoring effort for Wichita State, with six players scoring more than eight points–and none over 14–helped lead the Shockers over Ohio State. Although Wichita State could not slow down Deshaun Thomas, who scored 23 points, they did hold Aaron Craft to nine points on 2-12 shooting.
Michigan was fortunate to escape against Kansas in the Sweet 16, but won with a convincing performance over Florida in the Elite Eight to advance to it’s first Final Four since 1993 when with the “Fab Five.” Michigan beat Kansas 87-85 in overtime in the Sweet 16, though the Wolverines were down by as many as 14 points with seven minutes left, and by five with 21 seconds left. Michigan fought back tremendously to get the game back into striking distance, catching a break when Elijah Johnson missed a free throw with 4.2 seconds left. If it had gone in, Kansas would have clinched the game. Instead, he missed the free throw and Trey Burke hit an insanely deep three-point shot to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, there were five lead changes, but the Wolverines prevailed. Mitch McGary, who was highly recruited out of high school and only averaged roughly seven points and six rebounds per game on the season, had a monster game against Kansas, scoring 25 points and recording 14 rebounds. Trey Burke also had a monster game with 23 points and 10 assists. In the Elite Eight game against Florida, Michigan jumped ahead with a 13-0 run and cruised from there, ending the game at 79-59. Nik Stauskas led the way for Michigan with 22 points. Michigan will now take on Syracuse in the Final Four.
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Louisville was awarded the number one overall seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, and they certainly showed their worth by dismantling Oregon 77-69 in the Sweet 16, then number two seed Duke 85-63 in the Elite Eight to advance to their second straight Final Four. The Cardinals were led by Russ Smith, who scored 31 points against Oregon and 23 against Duke. Smith now has 104 points in four NCAA Tournament games, with an average of 26 points per game.
Louisville was in charge the whole way against Oregon, leading 66-48 with nine minutes left. Oregon cut the lead to 70-64 at one point, but Louisville took over from there to advance to the Elite Eight.
After a tight first half between Duke and Louisville, it looked like it was going to be the close slugfest we all wanted to see, but Louisville outscored Duke 50-31 in the second half to blow the game wide open. Dieng, who did not play in the first matchup between Duke and Louisville earlier this season, came up strong with 14 points and 11 rebounds. After losing to Kentucky last year in the Final Four, Louisville should be the favorite to win it all, as they ride a 14-game winning streak into Atlanta. They will take on Wichita State in the Final Four.
Photo Credit: BleacherReport SI.com WCPO.com
The following game story is brought to you by the fine folks at Group Therapy Bar, located at 2107 Greene Street in Five Points.The one thing that can be taken away from this weekend is that there is undoubtedly room for improvement. South Carolina’s play was extremely sloppy for a team ranked number five in the nation. From the abominable pitching in the first game to the lack of offense throughout the series, Carolina just could not get things to go their way. After the weekend sweep by Arkansas, South Carolina falls to two and five in SEC play. Continue Reading…
The following game story is brought to you by the fine folks at Group Therapy Bar, located at 2107 Greene Street in Five Points.Saturday afternoon featured a batting showcase in Columbia as the South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the Rider Broncs to take the second game in the weekend series, 9 to 5. Carolina’s offensive firepower seems to be back after Friday’s two run showing as the Cocks’ accrued thirteen hits including two solo home runs, one from Joey Pankake and one from Connor Bright. Continue Reading…
Today marked the start of a new year for the University of South Carolina football team. The Gamecocks took the field early this afternoon under cloudy skies and lingering storms. Sporting simply the Gamecock helmet, jersey, and shorts the players brought a true air of excitement to the corner of Bluff and National Guard roads. Here’s a few of the observations that we saw on the first day of spring practice. Continue Reading…
After a weekend full of appreciation for Ray Tanner’s tenure as head coach of the Gamecock baseball program, Chad Holbrook received some praise of his own. Yesterday at the Gamecock baseball press conference, coach Holbrook was honored by both the University of South Carolina Alumni Association and the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles.
With a license plate sporting Coach Holbrook’s number two along with the 2010 and 2011 national championship accolades, the Alumni Association and the DMV showed their appreciation for all of Holbrook’s hard work as assistant coach over the past five years. This license plate is not one of a kind however; duplicates are on sale to the public for $70. According to DMV Executive Director Kevin Shwedo, they’re “selling off the charts.”
The representative from the Alumni Association, Jack Claypool, made a point to praise Coach Holbrook and Athletic Director Ray Tanner for their outstanding work with the baseball team. Claypool reiterated that for each license plate sale, 40 of the 70 dollars would be donated toward student scholarships at USC.
Shwedo continued to praise Holbrook while also outlining for the fans just how simple it is to acquire the plate, with an online “one click” purchasing system. Upon receiving the gift, Coach Holbrook showed sheer gratitude.
Later in the press conference he reviewed last week’s series and provided a sneak peak of the game plan for this weekend.
It’s not always easy to justify starting a sophomore in the Friday night slot, but for South Carolina pitching coach Jerry Meyers, the case for Jordan Montgomery is pretty simple. As a freshman in 2012, Montgomery posted impressive stats, recording a 6-1 record with a 3.62 ERA in 13 starts. “He has pitched on the big stage and performed and handled it well,” says Meyers of the sophomore. Last season, Montgomery played well beyond his years in two critical outings. The first came in his start against Clemson in the Regionals, posting six strikeouts while only allowing two runs on five hits in 6.2 innings en route to a Gamecocks victory. Montgomery delivered again in the College World Series, going for eight innings without a run scored. Not only did the then freshman pitch a shutout on the nation’s biggest stage, he did so while striking out six and surrendering just three hits. Continue Reading…
