[break] Welcome to the Bulldawg Illustrated Hoops Report. It’s like trying to explain to a slack-jawed yokel that Carolina is in Chapel Hill, Columbia is in Mizzou and USC is in LA. But most of the time they just don’t get it. However, our Dawgs are getting it. They realize even if you turn it over way too much, you can still outscore someone by playing solid defense. They also learned if you hit 23-25 free throws, you’re going to win most games. And that’s what the Dawgs did last Tuesday when they swept the season series with Vandy for the first time in 14 years. That moved the Dawgs to 5-2 in the SEC and 14-5 overall. I must admit, I have no idea how this team gets it done some nights. But as long as they keep winning, I’m not going to ask any questions. Up next are the Lamecocks from the Southern Carolina. They started off the year red-hot going 9-3. They even beat a top 10 Iowa State team on the road. However, they’re 1-6 in SEC play. While I personally think they’re a decent team with a good, but crazy, coach, this would probably be a bad loss in the eyes of the selection committee. So we have to find a way to win another road game. Before we figure out that recipe, let’s looks at what transpired last Tuesday.
[break] [break] Vandy came to Athens looking to get their season back on track. They had also started off the season strong and then fell apart in SEC play. The first half of the game was played tight. The biggest lead of the half by either team was four points. While the Dawgs didn’t play well, their three point shooting kept them in the game early and gave them the halftime lead at 31-27. Both teams came out hot in the second half and Vandy took at 36-35 lead three minutes in. Luckily though, that would be their last lead of the night. We got a three point play the old fashion way by JJ Frazier on the next possession and then we poured it on. We took a 14 point lead with 7 minutes to go and things looked good. However, we are one of the worst teams in the league at committing turnovers in case you don’t read our hoops reports. And we can surely turn it over often and at unfortunate times. After taking said 14 point lead, we missed a chance on a steal on a bad pass by Vandy because our big guys have really bad hands. That’s another aspect we harp on at BI. Vandy recovered the errant pass and drained a three. We then made an idiotic play on the inbounds. Vandy stole the ball and the same guy hit another trey. Six points in six seconds. On that pace we’d be tied in 14 seconds. After trading misses, we then fumbled a defensive rebound that they stole and dunked. Our 14 point lead was down to six with 5 minutes to play.
[break] [break] Luckily, there was the FT line. Charles Mann missed a FT with 10 minutes to go and 1 minute to go. The other 23 attempts the Dawgs took that night went in. For a team the shoots around 67%, that ain’t bad. While we were outstanding at the line, shot 53% from three, and outrebounded them 37-27, we still committed 16 turnovers. And almost everyone of them in the second half seemed to lead to critical baskets. If we could rely on FT shooting like that every night, then the turnovers wouldn’t be as big of an issue. On a side note, one bright point is we shoot about 88% as a team in the final minute. But this team still gives the ball away with reckless abandon at the most inopportune of times. Until that is corrected, we will not be considered a serious threat to do any post season damage. However, we do keep beating sub-par teams and have another one on deck.
[break] [break] The South Carolina Lamecocks have been an enigma this year. They were 9-3 out of conference and had one of the most impressive early wins in the ISU upset we referenced earlier. However, they’ve found the going rough in the SEC. They very easily could’ve won four of their six losses. So their record is not indicative of how well they’ve actually played. But that puts them at 111 in their RPI and any loss to a team outside the top 100 looks bad to the committee. To show you how tight they’ve really played most of their losses, they’re ranked 59 in the BPI. So don’t be fooled by their record. They have two guys in Duane Notice and Sidariaus Thornwell that can flat out score. So we have to keep the defensive clamps on both of them. Let’s try to control the glass as well. The FT line and turnovers are our two main issues. We’ve been able to win when we’re bad at only one of them. There’s just no way to know which one that will be before the game. If we corrected both issues and played with consistency, we’d be a darn good basketball team. But to quote Bret Favre, “If Ifs were fifths we’d all be drunk!”
[break] [break] Here we are on the last day of January. The Dawgs are 5-2, in a four way tie for second in the SEC, and going for our sixth conference win in a row. We legitimately gave away one game and collapsed in the last five minutes of the other. Hopefully, that means we’ll win one or two we shouldn’t. Maybe this is one of them. We’ve beaten the Southern Carolina team on two occasions in the last 12 years where we had no business winning. Rashad Wright stole one from them in 2002, I believe. Then KCP took them down in OT two years ago in a game where they missed several FTs and layups in the final 1:30 of regulation. But we definitely need things to even up and we need to win this game. Again, these guys are better than their record but it would still be the proverbial “bad loss”. So if you can locate where this team’s arena is located, them gonsee the Dawgs. If not, go watch the Dawgs. Either way, Go Dawgs!