South Carolina

[Tampa_cat54]

So South Carolina is interesting.

We just played arguably the largest human being in the SEC last night in Russell Tchewa (7'1, 275 pounds), who was a transfer from South Florida.

South Carolina's best big man is also a transfer from South Florida (and Wofford), but is only 6'7 and is pretty slow.

South Carolina does not have much size down low, they are arguably the smallest team in the conference.

We should have a considerable size advantage down low.

The question is, how much will Meechie Johnson drop on us.

 

[Tampa_cat54]

Somewhat nice to finally play a team that isn't really big- Florida, Miss State, Georgia and Texas A&M all had big, talented/dynamic big men with great size.

This will be different for sure- can we take advantage with Z/Bradshaw/Ugo and Mitchell?

 

[bucsrule8872]

I think it’s good that they beat Arky Saturday. I hate playing against a good team coming off a loss and feeling like they need to beat us to turn their season around.

 

[bowfreak]

I don’t care what the matchups are or who’s who, if we can’t beat South Carolina we are not winning anything this year. You have to beat teams you are better than even on the road.

 

[HenryMuto]

Some of Cal's best teams have lost at South Carolina this place has been a house of horrors for us.

2010, 2014, 2018, 2020 all losses at South Carolina.

 

[HenryMuto]

2014 South Carolina Cal getting run and team taking a loss was in this one. When one of the Harrison twins proclaimed "We know what we can do it be a great story"....god I hate that damn bird screeching.

 

[tmuck]

They don't shoot the ball well. 43% fg and 33% from 3. Of course we know how that goes when Kentucky comes to town lol

 

[bowfreak]

Some of Cal's best teams have lost at South Carolina this place has been a house of horrors for us.

2010, 2014, 2018, 2020 all losses at South Carolina.

I agree but we can’t afford to drop this game. UT and Auburn will keep taking care of business. We better do the same.

 

[Tampa_cat54]

I don’t care what the matchups are or who’s who, if we can’t beat South Carolina we are not winning anything this year. You have to beat teams you are better than even on the road.

Ah good to know, that's interesting!

I guess the following teams are not winning the championship this year then, I'll let them know.

Purdue (lost @ Nebraska and @ Northwestern)
UCONN (lost to Seton Hall)
Kansas (Lost to UCF & WVU)
Duke (Lost to Ga Tech & Pitt)
Houston (lost to 2 unranked teams on the road back to back)

Come to think of it- I guess NOBODY is winning the championship this year- turns out every team in America has lost to a team that is worse than them on the road.

Damn, cancel the tournament.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Some of Cal's best teams have lost at South Carolina this place has been a house of horrors for us.

2010, 2014, 2018, 2020 all losses at South Carolina.

I remember watching this game as an undergrad in the student center. A couple of random students were watching with me and couldn't believe Kentucky lost.

 

[Smashcat]

Some of Cal's best teams have lost at South Carolina this place has been a house of horrors for us.

2010, 2014, 2018, 2020 all losses at South Carolina.

Not pretty.

 

[Sejonesy]

I don’t care what the matchups are or who’s who, if we can’t beat South Carolina we are not winning anything this year. You have to beat teams you are better than even on the road.

Yeah, that really isn’t the case. Never really understood that line of thinking. Especially regarding SEC road games. So, you must think UK has no chance to win the SEC or the national championship because UNC-W beat us at home?

 

[Untouchables22]

They don't shoot the ball well. 43% fg and 33% from 3. Of course we know how that goes when Kentucky comes to town lol

Perfect team to zone…..but for some asinine reason that isn’t an option for Cal.

 

[CatEye2010]

ESPN predictor has us to win 65% fwiw

 

[CatEye2010]

Perfect team to zone…..but for some asinine reason that isn’t an option for Cal.

No zone in the NBA

 

[bbncal02]

Columbia is always a rough place to play because they. Get. Rowdy. We saw that infootball a few months ago. They love their teams and even when they suck they come out to support them when Uk rolls in. Like it or not they always get up for this game.

 

[twindaddy2003+1]

South Carolina's best 3 point shooter Myles Stute won't be playing as he dislocated his shoulder and is gonna be out for about 3 weeks so that should help. Like always happens though look for the guy who has barely made any all season to have 4 or 5.

 

[Smashcat]

South Carolina's best 3 point shooter Myles Stute won't be playing as he dislocated his shoulder and is gonna be out for about 3 weeks so that should help. Like always happens though look for the guy who has barely made any all season to have 4 or 5.

Nice to know he’s out.

 

[Kybluedude]

Cal said Mike White told him that So Carolina was the most physical team they had played. Assuming they will try to rough us up

 

[Cold Stout Beer]

 

[Catzman]

They don't shoot the ball well. 43% fg and 33% from 3. Of course we know how that goes when Kentucky comes to town lol

Yeah but you have to add +15% to those because vs UK

 

[Catzman]

South Carolina's best 3 point shooter Myles Stute won't be playing as he dislocated his shoulder and is gonna be out for about 3 weeks so that should help. Like always happens though look for the guy who has barely made any all season to have 4 or 5.

3 weeks? Sounds like he hurt his back more than hurting his shoulder.

 

[Padsfs07]

Somewhat nice to finally play a team that isn't really big- Florida, Miss State, Georgia and Texas A&M all had big, talented/dynamic big men with great size.

This will be different for sure- can we take advantage with Z/Bradshaw/Ugo and Mitchell?

BJ Mack is a big load inside. He’s their best player.

 

[gharding07]

South Carolina's best 3 point shooter Myles Stute won't be playing as he dislocated his shoulder and is gonna be out for about 3 weeks so that should help. Like always happens though look for the guy who has barely made any all season to have 4 or 5.

Wow thats massive

 

[Tampa_cat54]

BJ Mack is a big load inside. He’s their best player.

I agree, but he's SMALL. 6'7ish. Should be able to swallow him up a bit inside- but he is definitely talented.

 

[HenryMuto]

Reminder last year at home South Carolina beat us and Meechie Johnson went for 26 pts and 6/10 from 3 point land.

 

[megablue]

I agree but we can’t afford to drop this game. UT and Auburn will keep taking care of business. We better do the same.

If we keep winning and Tenn does, the game at Sat night on Feb 3 will be HUGE !!!

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

Meechie johnson is very much in the same mold as Wade Taylor from A&M, if you let him get going early he can start hitting bullshit shots all game

 

[travisbickle]

View embedded media

Damn he got untucked on that one, love to see it.

 

[wccat2969]

They don't shoot the ball well. 43% fg and 33% from 3. Of course we know how that goes when Kentucky comes to town lol

Usually, it goes like this.....oh <insert player name> hasn't hit a 3 in 30 years but tonight they are 10 for 10 from the 3 point line.

 

[LosGatos]

No zone in the NBA

From Wikipedia: In the National Basketball Association, zone defenses were prohibited until the 2001–2002 season, and most teams do not use them as a primary defensive strategy. The NBA has a defensive three-second violation rule which was also introduced with the 2001–2002 season, which makes it more difficult for teams to play zone, since such defenses usually position a player in the middle of the key to stop penetration.[3]

 

[HenryMuto]

I am guessing Kentucky will open as a 5 point favorite at South Carolina based off KenPom ratings.
Kentucky is +21
South Carolina is +12
Factor 4 pts for home court.

 

[IbnSaran]

Do they STILL play Sandstorm by Darude to fire up the crowd?

 

[Oldbluefart]

Ah good to know, that's interesting!

I guess the following teams are not winning the championship this year then, I'll let them know.

Purdue (lost @ Nebraska and @ Northwestern)
UCONN (lost to Seton Hall)
Kansas (Lost to WVU)
Duke (Lost to Ga Tech)
Houston (lost to 2 unranked teams on the road back to back)

Come to think of it- I guess NOBODY is winning the championship this year- turns out every team in America has lost to a team that is worse than them on the road.

Damn, cancel the tournament.

I agree with the posters opinion mainly because you are correct in your opinion as well; difference is we, UK has already had our bad loss and good teams don't usually crap the bed for a 2nd time in games like this one.
We should beat them; could we lose, most definite but it would hurt us a lot more then them losing to UK.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

South Carolina's best 3 point shooter Myles Stute won't be playing as he dislocated his shoulder and is gonna be out for about 3 weeks so that should help. Like always happens though look for the guy who has barely made any all season to have 4 or 5.

Look for his replacement to have a big debut...

 

[HenryMuto]

I am really interested in seeing how this team plays on the road at South Carolina. In the past years recently I have hated road games because they are so tough to win but I am actually looking forward to these back to back road games at South Carolina and at Arkansas to see what this team is made of.

These are tough games but games we should win. That doesn't mean we will win but these are the kind of games you still what your team is made of. I am eager to see this team on the road after that tough A&M loss.

 

[CGblue]

Do they STILL play Sandstorm by Darude to fire up the crowd?

Yes they do, he was there in person for our football game down there. Him and that crazy rooster.

 

[Smashcat]

Reminder last year at home South Carolina beat us and Meechie Johnson went for 26 pts and 6/10 from 3 point land.

Yeah, infuriating loss.

 

[Smashcat]

Some of Cal's best teams have lost at South Carolina this place has been a house of horrors for us.

2010, 2014, 2018, 2020 all losses at South Carolina.

Some additional data.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Somewhat nice to finally play a team that isn't really big- Florida, Miss State, Georgia and Texas A&M all had big, talented/dynamic big men with great size.

This will be different for sure- can we take advantage with Z/Bradshaw/Ugo and Mitchell?

I think at least one of our big 3 will have USCjrs number in the paint, and that will be the one who gets minutes in the 2nd half. Could be Ugos blocking ability. It could be BigZ having no one be able to stop him.

My it's blind hope. But I'm thinking this sizing mismatch, and not just our centers, could be a factor in a nice comfortable win. I would have Dilly just shadow/spy their best offensive guard, whoever that is. He can pick up fouls. Whatever. If he gets into foul trouble, the damage will be done and another guard can take over.

Let's take advantage of our size here. We should be able to win the rebounding battle with ease. We don't have to be great defensively (I don't expect us to anyways, this soon).. but get the rebounds and limit 2nd chance points.