COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina ranks 13th in the SEC and 292nd nationally in field goal shooting at 41.9 percent, yet the Gamecocks are battling Kentucky and Florida for the conference championship and rank No. 21 in The Associated Press poll.
How is that possible?
Defense, defense, defense.
“That’s our baby,” South Carolina Coach Frank Martin said on the Jim Rome radio show. “That’s what we built our program on when I got here.
“As a student of sports, I just think teams that are solid defensively — that have an identity defensively — consistently win. It doesn’t mean they win a championship every year, but they consistently win and that’s in every sport.”
The Gamecocks (20-5, 10-2) are No. 1 nationally in three-point defense (27.4 percent), fourth in opponent turnovers (17.5 per game), 10th in field goal defense (38.7 percent), 19th in scoring defense (63.1 points) and 23rd in steals (8.2). They lead the SEC in all five categories.
It’s that suffocating defense Arkansas (18-7, 7-5) will try to crack at 5:30 p.m. today in Colonial Life Arena.
“They want to just get into you,” Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. “I think they’re aggressive, physical.
“They take pride in their defense. They do a good job of rotating to the ball when you penetrate. You have to be aware of charge taking. You’ve got to utilize the whole floor against that type of team.”
South Carolina has held 10 opponents to 60 or fewer points, including victories over Michigan (61-46), Syracuse (64-50) and Florida (57-53). Michigan shot 19.2 percent (10 of 52) against the Gamecocks and Syracuse 31.8 percent (14 of 44).
“That’s as good a defensive team as we’ve seen in a long time,” Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim said.
Florida was 0 of 17 on three-point attempts against the Gamecocks, ending a streak of 850 games in which the Gators hit at least one three-pointer.
“They make everything difficult for you, for your best players, for your role players,” Florida Coach Mike White said. “Everything is a challenge, from getting open, to dribbling it from one place to another place, to trying to get to the offensive glass.”
South Carolina primarily plays man-to-man defense.
“In a nutshell, we’re trying to contest every shot, every pass and every dribble on our side of the court,” Martin said. “If you’re not used to playing against it, it’s a problem.”
Clogging passing lanes is a key for the Gamecocks.
“As a coach, I’ve never called a timeout to ask a player to dribble more,” Martin said. “I’ve called a timeout to tell them to pass more. So, conversely, I’d like to make people dribble rather than pass.”
Martin, 50, said he’s believed in defense as a cornerstone since he began his coaching career as an assistant at Miami (Fla.) High School in 1985 for Marcos “Shakey” Rodriguez.
“Shakey Rodriguez continues to be one of the closest people in my life,” Martin told the Charleston Post & Courier. “I’ll call him, and he’ll speak for 50 minutes, and I’ll listen.
“He watches all our games, he has opinions, and if he told me to drop and do 50 right now, I’m dropping and doing 50.”
Martin said after getting his first head coaching job at Miami North High School, his thoughts on defense continued to evolve and were greatly influenced during his time as Bob Huggins’ assistant coach at Kansas State.
“Just kind of taking all that stuff and continuing to build on my thoughts and my ideas and then having unbelievable kids that buy into it,” Martin said. “It’s where you need guys that have been through it before.”
Gamecocks senior guard Sindarius Thornwell made the SEC all-defensive team last season and has 120 career starts for Martin. Senior guard Duane Notice has 68 career starts, including eight last season when he was the SEC’s sixth man of the year. Sophomore guard PJ Dozier has 52 starts.
“We don’t want to gamble. That’s not our thing,” Notice told The State newspaper of Columbia, S.C. “There are principles that we always like to clean up and make sure that we stay on top of, so whatever team we play against, we’re able to kind of enforce our will against them.”
Martin, in his fifth season at South Carolina, said Thornwell, Notice and Dozier have grown in their understanding of his defensive concepts.
“Those guys have learned our defense inside and out,” Martin said. “They believe in it, they trust it, and it makes the young guys that come into the program respect it.
“We’ve definitely got guys that will fight for our team to play a certain way.”
Freshman forward Maik Kotsar told the Post & Courier it’s been an adjustment for him to focus so much on defense.
“Playing in high school, you could go to defense to rest a little bit and start attacking on offense,” Kotsar said. “But here, it’s the other way around.”
LSU Coach Johnny Jones, whose Tigers lost to South Carolina 88-63, said the Gamecocks swarm to the ball like a football team.
“Any time you’re moving the ball, as a group they have their eyes on it, and they’re going to get to it and help, and then they’re going to respond and get back to their man,” Jones said. “They take a great deal of pride in it, and you can see it. They certainly feed off of it.
“It’s impressive the way they play and how their guys hold each other accountable.”
After Martin succeeded Huggins as Kansas State’s coach, he led the Wildcats to a 117-54 record and four NCAA Tournament appearances in five seasons.
Martin is 90-68 at South Carolina and has the Gamecocks poised to make their first NCAA appearance since 2004. South Carolina went 25-9 last season but had to settle for an NIT bid.
“This is one of those teams that Frank has built over the years, and they’ve been tested,” Anderson said. “Last year, they were left out of the [NCAA] Tournament and I’m sure their determination is to make sure they not only get in, but be a tremendous participant in it.”
Martin said he’s proud of how the Gamecocks have embraced his defensive philosophy.
“Playing defense is not something everyone signs up for,” Martin said on the Jim Rome show. “In basketball, that doesn’t bring individual glory. But playing defense as a team brings you team glory, and that’s what our guys are chasing.”
Defense never rests
South Carolina ranks high nationally and leads the SEC in several defensive categories going into tonight’s game against Arkansas:
CATEGORY STAT SEC NCAA
3-point defense 27.4% 1st 1st
FG defense 38.7% 1st 10th
Scoring defense 63.1 ppg 1st 19th
Opp. turnovers 17.5 1st 4th
Steals 8.2 1st 23rd
Arkansas at No. 21 South Carolina
WHEN 5:30 p.m. today WHERE Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, S.C. RECORDS Arkansas 18-7, 7-5 SEC; South Carolina 20-5, 10-2
SERIES Arkansas leads 17-13 RADIO Razorback Sports Network TELEVISION SEC Network
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
SOUTH CAROLINA
POS., NAME, HT, YR PPG RPG G Sindarius Thornwell 6-5, Sr. 20.8 7.5 G PJ Dozier, 6-6, So. 14.9 4.5 G Duane Notice, 6-2, Sr. 10.2 2.4 F Chris Silva, 6-9, So. 9.8 2.5 F Malik Kostar, 6-10, Fr. 6.6 5.4 COACH Frank Martin (90-68 in five seasons at South Carolina, 208-122 overall in 10 seasons)
ARKANSAS
POS., NAME, HT, YR PPG RPG G Dusty Hannahs, 6-3, Sr. 14.7 1.8 G Jaylen Barford, 6-3, Jr. 11.2 3.6 G Anton Beard, 6-0, Jr. 8.8 2.2 F Dustin Thomas, 6-8, Jr. 5.6 4.2 C Moses Kingsley, 6-10, Sr. 11.7 7.5 COACH Mike Anderson (120-71 in six seasons at Arkansas, 320-169 overall in 15 seasons)
TEAM COMPARISON
South Carolina Arkansas 74.3 Points for 80.1 63.1 Points against 74.2 +1.6 Rebound margin +0.6 +4.2 Turnover margin +1.3 41.9 FG pct. 46.1 35.6 3-pt. pct. 37.5 68.7 FT pct. 74.5 CHALK TALK South Carolina is 17-2 this season when senior guard Sindarius Thornwell plays. The Gamecocks went 3-3 in December when Thornwell was suspended for six games for disciplinary reasons. He was reinstated for the start of SEC play. … Arkansas is attempting to beat a nationally-ranked team for the first time since last season when the Razorbacks beat No. 5 Texas A&M 74-71 in Walton Arena. … Arkansas’ last road victory over a ranked team was 71-67 in overtime at No. 17 Kentucky on Feb. 27, 2014. … Arkansas, which won 71-70 on its most recent trip to South Carolina in 2015, is trying to beat the Gamecocks in back-to-back road games for the first time since 1999 and 2001. … The Razorbacks are 5-7 all-time at South Carolina.