Eight numbers to define South Carolina’s basketball season through nine games
Despite an improved effort, South Carolina lost its fifth games in nine tries last Saturday at No. 5 Michigan. It’s a 4-5 start for Frank Martin’s Gamecocks, the worst since beginning 3-6 in 2013-14.
Up next? A Dec. 19 home date with No. 6 Virginia.
How’d it all get this way? A by-the-numbers look-back on USC’s first month of the season:
Minus-27
When has South Carolina been most vulnerable this season? It’s coming out of the halftime break.
The Gamecocks have been outscored by 27 points in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. They’re plus-47 in the other parts of the game. This trend hit hard last week at Wyoming when the Cowboys, en route to a nine-point win, outscored Carolina by 16 in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
The Gamecocks have outscored just three opponents in the opening 10 minutes of the second half — in wins over USC Upstate, Norfolk State and George Washington.
Contrarily, USC has been trailing after the opening 10 minutes of the first half just twice this season — in losses to Providence and Wofford.
Plus-46
With Justin Minaya on the floor, the Gamecocks are outscoring their opponents by 46 points this season.
The sophomore swingman, out because of a knee injury, hasn’t played since the George Washington game. USC is 1-3 without him, giving up an average of 80.5 points.
Minaya is expected to return next month.
22.4
South Carolina is attempting 22.4 3-pointers a game. That’s the most of any Martin-coached team — USC or Kansas State. The Gamecocks are fifth in the SEC in attempts, but 13th in 3-point field goal percentage (31.7).
Coincidence or not, Carolina took a season-low 11 3s at Michigan and turned in, arguably, its best offensive performance of the year. Facing the KenPom-ranked No. 1 defense, the Gamecocks, at 52, became the first team to shoot better than 45 percent against the Wolverines this season. USC’s 78 points are the most against Michigan in 2018-19.
39-2
Before losing to Stony Brook on Nov. 10, the Gamecocks had won 37 straight games when shooting 45 percent or better from the field. It was a streak that dated to March 2015.
USC is 39-2 over the last three-plus seasons when hitting that benchmark. It’s 2-2 this season after the loss to Michigan.
What’s different about this year? See below.
62
Adjusted defensive efficiency, found on Ken Pomeroy’s site, is an estimate of the defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) a team would have against the average Division I offense. South Carolina ranks 62nd nationally in this category this season. That’s the worst by a Martin team since it finished No. 115 in 2013-14, Martin’s second season.
From 2014-18, the Gamecocks never finished worse than 36th in adjusted defensive efficiency. The 2016-17 Final Four team peaked at No. 3 in this stat.
38.5
Opponents are shooting 38.5 percent from 3-point range against the Gamecocks this season. That ranks USC No. 320 out of 351 teams in Division I.
A Martin-coached Carolina team has never finished a season allowing opponents to shoot better than 36 percent from 3. The 2016-17 team was ninth in the nation, allowing opponents to hit on just 30.3 percent of their 3s.
20
Adjusted tempo, also found on KenPom, is an estimate of the tempo (possessions per 40 minutes) a team would have against an opponent that wants to play at the average pace of a D-I team. South Carolina comes in at No. 20 nationally in adjusted tempo this season, making this the quickest-paced Martin team — Gamecocks or Wildcats.
The Gamecocks are averaging 15.1 seconds per possession. Among SEC teams, only Arkansas is playing quicker. All 11 previous Martin-coached teams averaged over 16 seconds a possession.
5.5
Chris Silva, with 18 points and 12 rebounds, looked more like a preseason All-SEC first-teamer in the Michigan loss. But that kind of production has been rare this year.
Why? He’s not living at the line nearly as much.
Silva as a junior averaged 8.6 free throw attempts a game. That’s down to 5.5 this year. He hasn’t taken 10 or more FTs since going 9 of 12 against USC Upstate in the opener. He had double-digit FT attempts in 42 percent of Carolina’s games in 2017-18.
Perhaps it’s the quicker pace or new guards, but Silva hasn’t had as much of an offensive presence.
This story was originally published December 12, 2018 at 11:20 AM with the headline "Eight numbers to define South Carolina’s basketball season through nine games."
