Gamecocks Host Georgia On Senior Day Saturday

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina (15-15, 10-7 SEC) will host Georgia (11-19, 2-15) on Saturday afternoon on Senior Day at Colonial Life Arena.  Tip time versus the Bulldogs is set for 1 p.m. ET with Dave Neal (play-by-play) and Daymeon Fishback (analyst) on the call for the SEC Network broadcast.

Saturday’s Senior Day celebration will begin at 12:40 p.m. on the court at Colonial Life Arena.  Arrive and head to your seats early!

SENIOR DAY CELEBRATION
> South Carolina will hold its annual Senior Day celebration on Saturday prior to the regular-season finale.  First, the Gamecocks will honor University of South Carolina President Dr. Harris Pastides and his wife Mrs. Patricia Moore-Pastides, as the President will be retiring later this summer.  The Senior Day celebration begins with student assistant coach John Ragin, and senior student-athletes, Tre Campbell, Hassani Gravett and Chris Silva.  THANK YOU!!

STARTING FIVE
> South Carolina concludes the regular season at home on Saturday vs. Georgia.  It’s the second meeting between the two former SEC East foes this season, as Carolina posted an 86-80 road win in Athens on Feb. 2.
> SEC Player of the Year candidate Chris Silva registered his 10th double-double of the season at Texas A&M on Tuesday with game highs of 22 points and 17 rebounds.  Silva now has eight games this season with more than 10 rebounds, and the 17 on Tuesday marked a new career high.  Over his last five games, Silva is averaging 16.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game.
> South Carolina dished an SEC season best 20 assists on Tuesday at Texas A&M, led by the duo of Tre Campbell – who dished a career high nine – and Hassani Gravett (8), who combined for 17 of those dimes.  The duo is averaging 3.5 and 2.7 assists per game in league play, respectively.
> The Gamecocks are overwhelmingly leading the SEC in 3-point field goal percent at 41.2.  Silva, who has hit 13-of-26 (50%), Campbell (43.7%), Gravett (44.6%) and Haase (44.7) are all above 40 percent in league games.  
> South Carolina has been riddled by injuries this season, having had five players miss significant time.  Sophomore starter Justin Minaya has missed 25 games due to a knee injury, rookie guard T.J. Moss – who started the previous three games before suffering an ankle and foot injury – has missed 23 games due to injury, junior forward Maik Kotsar missed two crucial non-conference games – Virginia and Clemson – due to a concussion, and reserves Jason Cudd (15 games) and Alanzo Frink (7 games) have also missed games on the injuried list.  

POWELL NAMED SEC LEGEND
> Former South Carolina standout Carlos Powell has been named Carolina’s 2019 SEC Legend.  It was announced by the conference office on Friday, Feb. 15.  Powell earned four letters in the Garnet and Black and ranks eighth all-time in scoring with 1,541 career points.  He was part of Carolina’s 2004 NCAA Tournament team, and helped the Gamecocks capture the 2005 Postseason NIT championship.  His senior season he averaged 53.0 percent from the field, scoring 540 points and averaging 16.4 points per game.  He led the Gamecocks in scoring as a sophomore, junior and senior, while also leading the team in rebounds per game his final two campaigns.  Following his career at Carolina, Powell has had a successful professional career on the hardwood.  

THROUGH 30 GAMES…
> The Gamecocks are 15-15 overall this season, with a 10-6 mark at home, a 4-8 record on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site matchups.
> Rookie guard A.J. Lawson (48-133), senior guard Hassani Gravett (62-149) and graduate student guard Tre Campbell (45-121) have combined to hit 155 of Carolina’s 227 3-pointers this season, connecting on 38.4 percent of their attempts.
> Five different Gamecocks have registered at least 30 assists on the season, led by Lawson’s 83 (3.0 per game).
> Senior guard Hassani Gravett has 19 games this season with multiple made 3-point baskets, including hitting four at A&M on Tuesday.
> The Gamecocks are 8-2 when having 15 or more assists.
> Carolina is 12-7 when making six or more 3-point baskets.
> Senior forward Chris Silva has a team high 61 blocks, which already surpasses his career high for a season (51 in 37 games in 2016-17).
> The Gamecocks are 11-3 when outrebounding their opponent, including a 7-0 mark when outrebounding opponents in SEC play.
> Carolina is 10-3 this season when leading at the half.

FRANK MARTIN
> South Carolina head coach Frank Martin is in his seventh season leading the Gamecocks and 12th season overall as a head coach in 2018-19.  Martin, the 2017 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year (CollegeInsider.com), led South Carolina to its first Final Four and a school record 26 wins in 2016-17.  In his 11 complete seasons as a head coach, Martin has led his teams to at least 21 wins seven times.  Martin is a native of Miami, Fla., and a graduate of FIU.
> Prior to his time on the sidelines in the college ranks, Martin spent 15 years in high school coaching in Miami, Fla., including the last seven as a head coach. He was part of five state championships as an assistant at Miami Senior High School (1985-93), before earning two titles as the program’s head coach (1995-98). Highlighting Martin’s stint as the head coach of the program were consecutive 30-win seasons and consecutive Florida 6A State Championships in 1996 and 1997, with his 1997 squad earning a 36-1 overall record and ranking No. 4 in the USA Today Top 25 Poll. He also served as the head coach at North Miami Senior High School (1993-95) and one season at Booker T. Washington High School (1999-2000).
> Among active Division I head coaches, South Carolina’s Frank Martin holds the seventh-highest (tied with Michigan’s John Beilein) NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.667) behind only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Kentucky’s John Calipari, Kansas’ Bill Self, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Villanova’s Jay Wright.
> Martin led team’s are 105-102 (.507) all-time in league play.

QUICK HITS
> South Carolina is in its 111th season of varsity basketball in 2018-19.
> Gamecock head coach Frank Martin is joined on the sidelines by assistant coaches Perry Clark (6th season), Bruce Shingler (3rd season) and Chuck Martin (2nd season).  Andy Assaley is in his seventh season as the director of operations.
> South Carolina is one of 13 DI schools nationally that have two or more former DI coaches serving as an assistant coach.  Perry Clark served as the head coach at Tulane, Miami (Fla.) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, while Chuck Martin was the head coach at Marist for five campaigns.
> South Carolina advanced to its first Final Four in 2016-17, which included posting its first NCAA Tounament win since the 1973 campaign when it talied a 93-73 win over Marquette in the First Round.
> The Gamecocks are 24-14 (.631) in neutral-site contests under the direction of head coach Frank Martin, including a 3-3 mark last season.
> Carolina was 15-18 (.454) over the course of the last three seasons in away contests (2015-16, 16-17, 17-18).
> Martin is 31-43 (.418) against ranked opponents as a head coach. His teams have four wins over opponents ranked in the top five, and two wins over opponents who are ranked No. 1.
> Senior forward Chris Silva was named to the Preseason All-SEC First Team by both the media and coaches; and also named to the Karl Malone Award Watch List, the Naismith Trophy Watch List and the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List.  He was also named a Senior CLASS Award Candidate.

SCOUTING THE GAMECOCKS
> Carolina is 15-15 overall this season, including a 10-6 mark in home games, and a 6-2 record in SEC home games.
> Carolina has double-digit SEC wins for just the sixth time, but the third time in the last four seasons, after Tuesday’s win at Texas A&M which moved the Gamecocks to 10-7 in SEC action in 2019.
> The Gamecocks aim for their 11th SEC win of the season on Saturday vs. Georgia, which would match the 1998 and 2016 teams for the third-most SEC wins in a season in program history.
> Rookie forward Keyshawn Bryant has put together a solid freshman season resume thus far.  The Winter Haven, Fla., native has 12 double-figure scoring games, including 15 points at Mizzou last Saturday.  He’s also been solid on the glass (3.8 rebounds per game), and is averaging 1.4 assists and 0.7 steals per outing.
> Senior forward Chris Silva has led or shared the team lead in scoring 11 times, in rebounding 14, blocks 22 and he has a team high 21 double-figure scoring games this season.  Over his last five games, he is averaging 16.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game.
> According to KenPom.com’s Efficiency and Tempo data (March 4), South Carolina has played at the fastest offensive pace in the SEC this season, with an average possession length of 15.6 seconds (18th in the nation).  That is faster than the noted up-tempo offenses of Arkansas and Auburn. It is the fastest pace that a Frank Martin-coached team has ever played at South Carolina.
> In the most recent NCAA rankings, Carolina’s DI strength of schedule is 23, and the Gamecocks have a combined eight Quadrant 1 and 2 wins this season.
> Rookie guard A.J. Lawson is fourth among freshmen in the SEC in scoring (overall games) at 13.9 points per game this season.
> Silva’s 2.03 blocked shots per game (overall games), rank fourth in the SEC and 37th nationally.  In SEC play, he is blocking 2.17 shots per game.
> Entering SEC play, Carolina ranked 300th nationally (NCAA stats games through Jan. 2) in 3-point field goal percent, averaging just 30.8 percent from beyond the arc.  In the most recent NCAA stats (games through March 7), Carolina is 77th nationally at 36.6 percent.
> South Carolina returns seven letterwinners from last season’s 17-16 squad, including senior guard Hassani Gravett and senior forward Chris Silva.
> Carolina welcomes nine newcomers to its roster this season, including transfers and six freshmen student-athletes.  Jair Bolden (transfer/George Washington/guard), redshirt-junior Raymond “Quad” Borup (r-junior/forward), graduate transfer Tre Campbell (transfer/Georgetown/guard), Keyshawn Bryant (freshman/guard), Jermaine Couisnard (freshman/guard), Alanzo Frink (freshman/forward), A.J. Lawson (freshman/guard), T.J. Moss (freshman/guard) and Nathan Nelson (freshman/forward).

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
> Georgia is 11-19 on the year, with a 2-15 mark in SEC contests under first-year head coach Tom Crean.
> The Bulldogs two league wins have come over Vanderbilt and Florida.
> Sophomore forward Nicolas Claxton paces the team in points (13.0), rebounds (8.6) and blocks (2.4) per game.  He also has a team high 1.13 steals per outing.
> One of Georgia’s strengths is its rebounding, as the Bulldogs pull down 38.1 per game, and hold a +3.4 rebound margin over opponents (sixth in the SEC).
> Six different Georgia players have at least 40 assists this season.
> UGA’s win over Florida last Saturday snapped a nine-game losing streak.

COMING UP NEXT
> South Carolina readies for next week’s 2019 SEC Tournament in Nashville.  A full bracket will be released on Saturday evening following the day’s games.