Dec. 20, 2014

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina hosts Coker College on Sunday in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The Gamecocks ride a current four-game win streak into the matchup, while the Cobras have lost their last three. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+ with Andy Demetra and Hall of Famer Alex English on the call for the 3:30 p.m. tip time. Sunday’s game promotion is the ugly sweater game, Coach Martin and his staff will all wear ugly sweaters on the sideline.

GAME INFORMATION
Game Date: Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014
Game Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Arena: Colonial Life Arena (18,000)
Broadcast: SEC Network+
Talent: Andy Demetra (pxp), Alex English (analyst)
Radio: Gamecock Radio Network
Talent: Derek Scott (pxp), Casey Manning (analyst)
Sirius: 126; XM: 190
Series: First Meeting

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GAME STORYLINES
– South Carolina is in its 107th season of varsity basketball in 2014-15.
– The Gamecocks are led by third-year head coach Frank Martin. His associate head coach is Matt Figger, his assistant coaches are Perry Clark and Lamont Evans, and his director of operations is Andy Assaley.
– In its first game in nearly two weeks, South Carolina extended its win streak to four games, and snapped a two-game losing streak to instate rival Clemson with a 68-45 victory over the Tigers at Colonial Life Arena on Dec. 19. In front of 11,992 boistrous fans, sophomore guard Duane Notice dropped 19 points, including a career-best five 3s, and senior point guard Ty Johnson dished a career high nine assists, to pace the Gamecocks to victory.
– The Gamecocks’ win over Clemson was their biggest over the Tigers since the 1971 campaign, and the biggest point spread in the series since 1994.
– South Carolina held Clemson to just 29.8 percent from the field, as the Tigers hit just 17-of-57 attempts. It marked the third-straight game that the Gamecocks have held their opponent under 30% from the field.
– In the Dec. 20 NCAA RPI rankings, the Gamecocks rank 77.
– South Carolina extended its then-season-long win streak to three games on Dec. 6 with a 26-point victory over visiting Oklahoma State, defeating the Cowboys 75-49. Sophomore guard Duane Notice posted 20 points to lead three Gamecocks in double figures (Thornwell and Johnson with 13 apiece), hitting the 20-point plateau in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. Notice hit 3-of-6 from the 3-point line, while also collecting four rebounds.
– Junior forward Mindaugas Kacinas led the Gamecocks on the glass with 12 rebounds vs. Oklahoma State, marking his third double-figure rebounding game of the season and just two shy of matching his career high. Kacinas leads the Gamecocks with 7.0 rebounds per contest, which ranks tied for fifth in the SEC. His 3.5 offensive boards per game rank third in the league and 34th nationally.

SCOUTING COKER
Led by head coach Dan Schmotzer in his 28th season at the helm, the Coker Cobras enter Sunday’s game with a 3-5 overall record, including a 2-3 mark in SAC play. The Cobras last played on Dec. 13, suffering a 76-73 loss to Mars Hill. Four different Coker players average double-figures led by Errick Bethel with 18.3 per game. Jordan Scott adds 17.5 per game, Larry Felder provides 12.8 and Donte Samuels adds 12 points per game. Bethel currently ranks third in the SAC in scoring. Coker has 10 newcomers to its squad this season after losing seven letterwinners from last year’s 15-13 squad, including four starters.

COKER SERIES
Sunday’s matchup vs. Coker marks the first-ever between the two schools.

BY THE #’S
7 – South Carolina ranks in the top 55 in the nation in seven different categories in the most recent NCAA stats (Dec. 20), including opponent FG% (5th), blocks per game (34th), opponent scoring average (44th), rebound margin (45th), scoring margin (46th), assists per game (51st) and steals per game (53rd).
14 – Clemson posted 14 points off of eight South Carolina turnovers in the first half of Friday night’s game, but Carolina’s adjustments at the half on Clemson’s zone defense, saw the Gamecocks committ just four turnovers in the second half, with the Tigers scoring zero points off of those giveaways.
19.5 – Over the course of the last four games, South Carolina’s Duane Notice has led the team in scoring three times and is averaging 19.5 points per game during the stretch. Notice dropped a career high five 3s in the win vs. Clemson, leading Carolina with 19 points.
2nd – South Carolina ranks second in the SEC with a +13.2 scoring margin.
3rd – Carolina’s 5.3 blocked shots per game ranks third in the SEC, with junior forward Laimonas Chatkevicius’ 1.7 per game ranking tied for sixth in the league.
24.5 – South Carolina has defeated its last two opponents – Oklahoma State from the Big 12 and Clemson from the ACC – by an average of 24.5 points. Those two team’s hold NCAA RPI’s of 32 and 178, respectively.

UP NEXT
South Carolina will break for the holidays and will next host North Carolina A&T at 7 p.m. ET on Dec. 30 at Colonial Life Arena. The meeting vs. the Aggies will be the first all-time between South Carolina and North Carolina A&T.

“QUOTABLE”
“I’m just really proud of our guys. We played very good offense at the end of the second half. [Clemson] is a good basketball team.They’re really good. They have upperclassmen. We had five bad offensive possessions that they converted into basket, basket, basket, basket. That gave them life and kind of put us on our heels a little bit. We should have attacked their zone differently. We made the adjustment at halftime. By not attacking the zone the right way it kind of got the game slow. Laimonas [Chatkevicius], we challenged him at halftime. He had zero rebounds at the half. The reason we came out in the second half and played as well as we did was because he was the guy who initiated the whole thing.” – South Carolina head coach Frank Martin’s opening statement following his team’s Dec. 19 win vs. Clemson

CLEMSON NOTABLES
– Friday’s meeting is the 165th all-time between the Gamecocks and Tigers. With the win, Carolina extends its lead in the series to 89-76.
– Senior guard Tyrone Johnson matched his season high with six assists in the first half alone. Johnson finished with nine assists, a new career high and the most by any Gamecock player this season.
– Junior forward Laimonas Chatkevicius registered his fourth double-figure scoring game of the season and the 11th of his career with 12 points vs. Clemson.
– Junior forward Michael Carrera returned for the Gamecocks after missing the previous three games (UNC Asheville, Marshall, Oklahoma State) due to a concussion. He finished with six points and six rebounds in just 10 minutes of action.