How South Carolina basketball keeps proving people wrong
Alright, let’s try this again.
South Carolina men’s basketball (19-3, 7-2 SEC) is still proving people wrong. In back-to-back weeks, the Gamecocks have upset a top 10 program then followed it up with another SEC win four days later.
USC is now on its third five-game win streak of the season, and first in SEC play since 2016-17. The world is attaching itself to the idealistic, even magical, aura South Carolina has created for itself. From the outside looking in, it looks almost surreal.
Yet, the Gamecocks respond the same way every week: give credit to their teammates and tell the world if there’s still doubt, watch out.
“We’re top 20 in my opinion, but we don’t really care of it,” Collin Murray-Boyles said. “We play with a chap on our shoulders the whole time. So wherever they put us, we’re going to play no different.”
South Carolina has entered three of its last four games as underdogs, including against Georgia on Saturday afternoon. The Gamecocks have beaten the odds, and are now 17-5 against the spread the season.
Should USC be ranked come Monday morning? It’s almost impossible to find a reason not to have them below No. 25. They’re a half game away from first place in the conference and took down No. 5 Tennessee in Knoxville in one week.
“We’ve talked about the NCAA Tournament, and we’re halfway through the league,” head coach Lamont Paris said. “It’s a goal of ours. I’m gonna not pretend that it’s not something out there that we want to do.”
At 19 wins in February, it’s already the fourth biggest win improvement in USC program history. The Gamecocks have already won eight more games than last season. The record is an 11-game difference. There’s still nine games left this season.
The social media swarm that’s blasting USC’s big-time victories is becoming a welcome addition to the year, but it’s not changing the Gamecocks’ mindset. They’re focused on playing like they have the last two weeks.
Like they’re still being counted out.
To make things even more impressive, every USC player has contributed in their individual way when it mattered. Myles Stute sank the game-winning free throws against the Vols on Tuesday, this time it was Murray-Boyles and Josh Gray’s turn.
The forward duo scored a combined 31 points and 14 rebounds against the Bulldogs. It was a season-high points for both.
Meechie Johnson got out of a small skid, scoring 11 points in the affair down in Athens. Pieces fell into place, like they’ve seemingly done all year. USC trusts each other, whether it’s relying on whomever takes that final shot or picking up 25 assists on 29 field goals.
“I think it’s a byproduct of them trusting and believing in what we say,” Paris said of those 25 assists against Georgia. “It’s a byproduct of them being unselfish guys by nature. A byproduct of them, all really being guys that want to win.”
South Carolina could’ve lost a lot of its previous momentum this week, but instead swept its road trip. When the poll drops Monday, maybe that little number will finally appear. If not, the Gamecocks won’t care too much. They haven’t cared all season, so why let it fluster them now?
“I’ve always been saying you know, the AP poll comes out next week on Monday,” Gray said. “But the past two weeks we weren’t on there. Now it’s to the point where I don’t really care. we’re playing the best basketball halfway through the conference.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2024 at 7:30 AM with the headline "How South Carolina basketball keeps proving people wrong."
