South Carolina State
Location: Orangeburg, SC
Enrollment: 2,374
Mascot: Bulldogs
School Colors: Red and Blue (Garnet and Navy)
Conference: MEAC (Mid-eastern Athletic Conference)
Head Coach: Erik Martin (0-3 1st season as head coach)
Long time assistant to Bob Huggins (since 2006)
Played for Huggins at Cincinnati 1992-1993
2022 Schedule/Results
11/08/22 at South Carolina L 77-80
11/12/22 at Tennessee St. L 61-80
11/14/22 at Duquesne L 71-96
Game Info: SC State @ Kentucky, Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY 7pm EST
TV/Radio: SEC Network, Kentucky Sports Network Radio
TV Personalities: Tom Hart (play-by-play), Pat Bradley (analysis)
Radio Personalities: Tom Leach (play-by-play), Jack Givens (analysis)
Probable Starters
42 C Dallas James 7-0 200 So 0.7pts, 3.0reb, no 3pt threat
55 F Davion Everett 6-6 205 So 12.3pts, 6.3reb, 1.1stl, 50% from 3
01 G Cameron Jones 6-6 190 Jr 6.0pts, 2.3reb
24 G Shaman Alston 6-4 185 4.0pts, 1.7reb, 1.1ast
03 G Lesown Hallums 6-2 180 So 12.7pts, 2.3reb, 1.1ast, 40% from 3
Key Reserves
11 G Rakeim Gary 5-10 165 So 6.7pts, 2.3reb, 2.3ast, 30% from 3
10 G Rahsaan Edwards 5-11 200 Jr 6.3pts, 3.7reb, 2.3ast, 33% from 3
14 F Isaiah Turner 6-10 240 Jr 5.5pts, 6.0reb, 33% from 3
12 G DJ Bates 6-1 170 Fr 5.3pts, 28.6% from 3
05 G Raquan Brown 6-3 200 Jr 5.0pts, 3.0reb, 3-3 from 3 on the year
02 G Jordan Simpson 6-5 185 Fr 4.3pts, 1.3reb, 1.6ast, 14% on 3s
34 F Justin Wilson 6-8 215 Jr 2.7pts, 2.7reb
KenPom Analysis
Best numbers
Steal %- 5.9% #38 nationally (they don’t give up steals)
Turnover %- 16.5% #97 nationally (they don’t turn it over much)
Off Reb %- 31.5% #118 nationally
Worst numbers
Overall Def efficiency: #351 nationally
Overall Off efficiency: #341 nationally
FT%- 54.8% #337 nationally
Def rebounding: allowing 38.5% #330 nationally
Turnover %- 15.1% they don’t force turnovers #305
Team Statistics
Points Per Game 69.7
Points allowed 85.3
Scoring Margin -15.6
Field Goal Pct .395
FG% allowed .466
3PT FG Pct .328
3FG% allowed .391
FT Pct .548
FT Made Per Game 11.3
FT Made by Opp. 17.0
Rebounds Per Game 37.3
Rebounds allowed 44.0
Rebounds Margin -6.7
Assists Per Game 11.7
Assists allowed 16.3
Turnovers Per Game 12.0
Turnovers forced 11.0
Turnovers Margin -1.0
Assist/Turnover Ratio 1.0
Steals Per Game 6.0
Steals allowed 4.3
Blocks Per Game 3.3
Blocks allowed 5.3
Analysis: Former Cincinnati Bearcat and long-time Bob Huggins assistant Erik Martin brings his South Carolina State Bulldogs to Rupp Arena for a 7pm EST tip this evening. This is the first head coaching gig for Martin who has spent the last 15 years working for his former coach Bob Huggins at West Virginia. The season has not gone well for Martin for multiple reasons. First of all, he inherited a team that wasn’t very good last season (finishing 15-16) and which also lost its top players to graduation or transfer. Secondly, SC State is one of those teams that is forced to play most of its games on the road in the non-conference. South Carolina State will not play a home game until December 13 against UNC Ashville.
It should be noted, however, this SC State team put a scare into our fellow SEC member South Carolina back in the first game of the season. The game was tied with 4.5 seconds to play and South Carolina had to tip in a miss and hit a late free throw to seal the 80-77 victory for the Gamecocks. South Carolina is breaking in a new coach as well, so that was Lamont Paris’ first win in SC. Despite this somewhat promising start, SC State has since lost at Tenn St 80-61 and at Duquesne 96-71.
From a personnel standpoint, it would appear Martin is just throwing everything against the wall in this early season to see what sticks. He has played 12 different players at least 8 minutes per game in these first three games. The starters listed above are not necessarily the guys we will see for the majority of minutes. The top 5 in minutes per game are Edwards, Gary, Hallums, Everett, and Jones.
Top scorer on the team is Lesown Hallums a 6-2 180lb Sophomore guard averaging 12.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and shooting 40% from 3. The 2nd leading scorer and top rebounder on the team is Davion Everett, a 6-6 205lb Sophomore forward averaging 12.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and shooting 50% from 3 on limited attempts (2-4). The co-leaders in assists on the team both have been coming off the bench- PG Rakeim Gary is a 5-10 165lbs Sophomore averaging 6.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.3 assist, and shoots 30% from 3. The other point guard is Rahsaan Edwards, a 5-11 200lb Junior averaging 6.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and shooting 33% from 3. Those 2 guys are really your starters, though they’ve been coming off the bench. The 5th most productive player has been wing guard Cameron Jones, a 6-6 190lb Junior averaging 6.0pts and 2.3reb. I think C Dallas James has been starting to get that opening tip. I can’t think of a much better reason because he only plays 8 minutes and has only made 1 shot and has 9 total rebounds in 3 games. The other starter is Shamon Alston, a 6-4 185lb Junior guard. He’s from Columbia, SC and played very well in the opener against South Carolina (10pts, 3reb, 2ast) but hasn’t done much since. Against Duquesne he only played 3 minutes.
I watched quite a bit of SC State against Duquesne and they were pretty much overwhelmed from the start. Duquesne was coming off that loss to UK and were very motivated from the opening tip. Duquesne built an early lead and never looked back. The lead at half was 50-29. To their credit, SC State continued playing hard from what I saw. They played Duquesne pretty evenly in the 2nd half but there was no structure to the game from about 10 minutes until the end.
I’m more interested to see how Kentucky responds to that Michigan State loss in this game more than anything else. I’m wanting to see some consistent play from our guys. I’m glad we have this game to get Oscar some additional playing time with the team coming off that injury, and also to be able to move on after that ugly loss without the next game being at Spokane and Gonzaga. This game will be a wide-open kind of game and our guys should all thrive. KenPom predicts Kentucky 90 SC State 54. Vegas has it UK-40 My prediction: Kentucky 100 SC State 60
Location: Orangeburg, SC
Enrollment: 2,374
Mascot: Bulldogs
School Colors: Red and Blue (Garnet and Navy)
Conference: MEAC (Mid-eastern Athletic Conference)
Head Coach: Erik Martin (0-3 1st season as head coach)
Long time assistant to Bob Huggins (since 2006)
Played for Huggins at Cincinnati 1992-1993
2022 Schedule/Results
11/08/22 at South Carolina L 77-80
11/12/22 at Tennessee St. L 61-80
11/14/22 at Duquesne L 71-96
Game Info: SC State @ Kentucky, Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY 7pm EST
TV/Radio: SEC Network, Kentucky Sports Network Radio
TV Personalities: Tom Hart (play-by-play), Pat Bradley (analysis)
Radio Personalities: Tom Leach (play-by-play), Jack Givens (analysis)
Probable Starters
42 C Dallas James 7-0 200 So 0.7pts, 3.0reb, no 3pt threat
55 F Davion Everett 6-6 205 So 12.3pts, 6.3reb, 1.1stl, 50% from 3
01 G Cameron Jones 6-6 190 Jr 6.0pts, 2.3reb
24 G Shaman Alston 6-4 185 4.0pts, 1.7reb, 1.1ast
03 G Lesown Hallums 6-2 180 So 12.7pts, 2.3reb, 1.1ast, 40% from 3
Key Reserves
11 G Rakeim Gary 5-10 165 So 6.7pts, 2.3reb, 2.3ast, 30% from 3
10 G Rahsaan Edwards 5-11 200 Jr 6.3pts, 3.7reb, 2.3ast, 33% from 3
14 F Isaiah Turner 6-10 240 Jr 5.5pts, 6.0reb, 33% from 3
12 G DJ Bates 6-1 170 Fr 5.3pts, 28.6% from 3
05 G Raquan Brown 6-3 200 Jr 5.0pts, 3.0reb, 3-3 from 3 on the year
02 G Jordan Simpson 6-5 185 Fr 4.3pts, 1.3reb, 1.6ast, 14% on 3s
34 F Justin Wilson 6-8 215 Jr 2.7pts, 2.7reb
KenPom Analysis
Best numbers
Steal %- 5.9% #38 nationally (they don’t give up steals)
Turnover %- 16.5% #97 nationally (they don’t turn it over much)
Off Reb %- 31.5% #118 nationally
Worst numbers
Overall Def efficiency: #351 nationally
Overall Off efficiency: #341 nationally
FT%- 54.8% #337 nationally
Def rebounding: allowing 38.5% #330 nationally
Turnover %- 15.1% they don’t force turnovers #305
Team Statistics
Points Per Game 69.7
Points allowed 85.3
Scoring Margin -15.6
Field Goal Pct .395
FG% allowed .466
3PT FG Pct .328
3FG% allowed .391
FT Pct .548
FT Made Per Game 11.3
FT Made by Opp. 17.0
Rebounds Per Game 37.3
Rebounds allowed 44.0
Rebounds Margin -6.7
Assists Per Game 11.7
Assists allowed 16.3
Turnovers Per Game 12.0
Turnovers forced 11.0
Turnovers Margin -1.0
Assist/Turnover Ratio 1.0
Steals Per Game 6.0
Steals allowed 4.3
Blocks Per Game 3.3
Blocks allowed 5.3
Analysis: Former Cincinnati Bearcat and long-time Bob Huggins assistant Erik Martin brings his South Carolina State Bulldogs to Rupp Arena for a 7pm EST tip this evening. This is the first head coaching gig for Martin who has spent the last 15 years working for his former coach Bob Huggins at West Virginia. The season has not gone well for Martin for multiple reasons. First of all, he inherited a team that wasn’t very good last season (finishing 15-16) and which also lost its top players to graduation or transfer. Secondly, SC State is one of those teams that is forced to play most of its games on the road in the non-conference. South Carolina State will not play a home game until December 13 against UNC Ashville.
It should be noted, however, this SC State team put a scare into our fellow SEC member South Carolina back in the first game of the season. The game was tied with 4.5 seconds to play and South Carolina had to tip in a miss and hit a late free throw to seal the 80-77 victory for the Gamecocks. South Carolina is breaking in a new coach as well, so that was Lamont Paris’ first win in SC. Despite this somewhat promising start, SC State has since lost at Tenn St 80-61 and at Duquesne 96-71.
From a personnel standpoint, it would appear Martin is just throwing everything against the wall in this early season to see what sticks. He has played 12 different players at least 8 minutes per game in these first three games. The starters listed above are not necessarily the guys we will see for the majority of minutes. The top 5 in minutes per game are Edwards, Gary, Hallums, Everett, and Jones.
Top scorer on the team is Lesown Hallums a 6-2 180lb Sophomore guard averaging 12.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and shooting 40% from 3. The 2nd leading scorer and top rebounder on the team is Davion Everett, a 6-6 205lb Sophomore forward averaging 12.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and shooting 50% from 3 on limited attempts (2-4). The co-leaders in assists on the team both have been coming off the bench- PG Rakeim Gary is a 5-10 165lbs Sophomore averaging 6.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.3 assist, and shoots 30% from 3. The other point guard is Rahsaan Edwards, a 5-11 200lb Junior averaging 6.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and shooting 33% from 3. Those 2 guys are really your starters, though they’ve been coming off the bench. The 5th most productive player has been wing guard Cameron Jones, a 6-6 190lb Junior averaging 6.0pts and 2.3reb. I think C Dallas James has been starting to get that opening tip. I can’t think of a much better reason because he only plays 8 minutes and has only made 1 shot and has 9 total rebounds in 3 games. The other starter is Shamon Alston, a 6-4 185lb Junior guard. He’s from Columbia, SC and played very well in the opener against South Carolina (10pts, 3reb, 2ast) but hasn’t done much since. Against Duquesne he only played 3 minutes.
I watched quite a bit of SC State against Duquesne and they were pretty much overwhelmed from the start. Duquesne was coming off that loss to UK and were very motivated from the opening tip. Duquesne built an early lead and never looked back. The lead at half was 50-29. To their credit, SC State continued playing hard from what I saw. They played Duquesne pretty evenly in the 2nd half but there was no structure to the game from about 10 minutes until the end.
I’m more interested to see how Kentucky responds to that Michigan State loss in this game more than anything else. I’m wanting to see some consistent play from our guys. I’m glad we have this game to get Oscar some additional playing time with the team coming off that injury, and also to be able to move on after that ugly loss without the next game being at Spokane and Gonzaga. This game will be a wide-open kind of game and our guys should all thrive. KenPom predicts Kentucky 90 SC State 54. Vegas has it UK-40 My prediction: Kentucky 100 SC State 60
