Looking back at the Gamecocks that came closest to winning the men’s SEC tournament
Former South Carolina point guard Tre Kelley remembered a rebound.
Florida wing Corey Brewer had missed a short jumper. USC had to hold off a pair of future longtime NBA players and secure the ball.
“I think if we get that rebound, we have that ball with about 11 to 12 seconds left,” Kelley said. “And we had to give ourselves a chance to win that game at the end.”
But Florida’s Joakim Noah slipped through and tipped the ball in. The Gamecocks had two shots to either win or tie, a 3-point try from Kelley and a put-back attempt from Renaldo Balkman that Noah blocked.
Final score: Florida 49, South Carolina 47.
The Gators were off and running toward their first national title. The Gamecocks were headed to a second consecutive NIT title.
March 12, 2006. That’s as close as any South Carolina men’s team has ever come to winning an SEC tournament.
If this year’s Gamecocks are to reach the NCAAs, they’ll have to win the conference tournament and secure an automatic bid. Since 1992 when USC joined the SEC, the team has only reached Sunday of the tournament twice.
Kelley was a junior at the helm of that 2005-06 South Carolina squad, a group coached by Dave Odom two years removed from a trip to the dance and one year after from winning the NIT. But things had not gone all that well for USC that year.
“We went into that SEC tournament knowing we were better than our record,” Kelley said. “We had let some games slip away.
“I thought that if we went in with a clean slate mentally that we would be able to do something special, or come close to it.”
His squad lost four games before the conference season, then dropped 10 of their first 15 games in SEC play. In those five wins were a pair against the Gators, a squad that opened the season 17-0.
The plan was to come in playing free and loose with confidence.
The Gamecocks certainly delivered on that promise at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville. They raced past Rick Stansbury’s Mississippi State squard, then upset a Tennessee team that earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament behind 25 points from Kelley and another 16 from Balkman.
Then South Carolina turned around and hit 10 3-pointers to edge one of Tubby Smith’s late Kentucky squads. With that, USC became the lowest seed to that point in the divisional era to advance to the tournament title game.
Kelley remembers a cocky team that morning, perhaps a little too cocky.
“To be honest with you, I think we were too free and too relaxed,” Kelley said. “There was no nerves and maybe there should have been.”
He recalled coach Odom explaining how they should stay on the floor for the runner-up trophy if they lost. Kelley stopped Odom to say they weren’t going to lose, so there was no need to talk about it.
The start was an inauspicious one.
“We shot entirely too many 3s,” Kelley said. “We should have been more conservative in that particular game while still playing our game, because we had we had a lot of confidence going into that Florida game.”
The Gamecocks were down double digits nine minutes in. With 10 minutes left, a 3-pointer from Florida’s Taurean Green made it 38-27.
Then the Gamecocks went on a run.
Tarence Kinsey and Kelley powered the rally, scoring 14 of the next 16 points. USC cut the deficit to 47-43 before Rocky Trice stepped up. The guard first drew a foul against Gators forward Al Horford and then scored a game-tying layup with 43 seconds left.
“Rocky was great for us all year,” Kelley said. “I always thought he was our unsung guy because nobody really talked about him much, but the stat line was always pretty good with points, assists, rebounds. You know he was very athletic for his size.”
The Gators worked the clock down and got the Brewer shot attempt. Then Noah gave the eventual national champions their final lead with 12 seconds left.
Kelley still thinks back on the key moments down the stretch, such as connecting on only one free throw after getting fouled on a 3.
Looking back, Kelley thought a different outcome might have made things different on a grand scale.
Kinsey and Balkman each had a cup of coffee in the NBA, and at least five other players had G-league or international careers. But Kelley wondered if an NCAA trip and perhaps a run — the Gamecocks did almost sweep the best team in the country — could have changed players’ fates on that front.
“I think it would have really changed our lives from the NBA landscape,” Kelley said, “if we win that game and go on to the NCAA tournament.”
And as the current Gamecocks prepare for a run of their own, he had a little advice.
Kelley spoke to the squad before a senior day win against Mississippi State last week. He talked about those key moments, expanding a five-point lead or taking care of the ball late in a tight game. The heart of his message remained the same.
“I told them just to think big,” Kelley said. “I think they listen to the naysayers sometimes and go in and don’t have the same confidence that they should have.
“Go in and really think that they can win it.”
Next USC basketball game
What: South Carolina at SEC Tournament
When: 9:40 p.m. Thursday vs. Arkansas or Vanderbilt
Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
TV: SEC Network
Radio: 107.5 The Game in Columbia area
SEC tournament: Wednesday games
Game 1: Ole Miss vs. Georgia | 7 p.m. | SEC Network
Game 2: Arkansas vs. Vanderbilt | 25 minutes after Game 1 | SEC Network
SEC tournament: Thursday games
Game 3: Tennessee vs. Alabama | 1 p.m. | SEC Network
Game 4: Florida vs. Game 1 winner | 25 minutes after Game 3 | SEC Network
Game 5: Texas A&M vs. Missouri | 7 p.m. | SEC Network
Game 6: South Carolina vs. Game 2 winner | 25 minutes after Game 5 | SEC Network
This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 7:45 AM with the headline "Looking back at the Gamecocks that came closest to winning the men’s SEC tournament."
