April 25, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina head men’s basketball coach Frank Martin held his postseason press conference to wrap-up the 2016-17 season on Tuesday at Colonial Life Arena. Below are some notables on the season.

GAMECOCKS ADVANCE TO FIRST FINAL FOUR

Fueled by a 20-point win in the opening round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament over Marquette, Carolina’s first Tournament win since 1973, Frank Martin’s Gamecocks would go on to defeat three of the East Region’s top four seeds – No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Baylor and No. 4 Florida – to advance to the Final Four for the first time. Led by Sindarius Thornwell’s 23.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in Tournament play, the Gamecocks out-scored their opponents by 13.5 points per game in four wins before falling to Gonzaga 77-73 in Phoenix.

RECORD SETTING 26

With its win over SEC foe Florida in the Elite Eight, South Carolina posted its 26th win of the season, which set a new Gamecock record for wins in a campaign, besting the previous mark of 25, which was set twice, during the 1969-70 and 2015-16 seasons.

GAMECOCKS IN THE RANKINGS

South Carolina was ranked in the AP Poll for nine weeks and in the Coaches Poll for 10 weeks during the 2016-17 regular season, before finishing sixth in the final Coaches Poll following the historic Final Four run. The Gamecocks jumped into the national rankings on Nov. 28 after posting wins over two ranked opponents the previous week in No. 25/24 Michigan and No. 18/16 Syracuse. The Gamecocks checked in at No. 20 in the Associated Press Poll and No. 23 in the Coaches Poll. Carolina rose as high as 16th in the AP Poll (Dec. 12), which was the highest rank for Carolina since the Gamecocks were ranked 14th in the final poll of the 1997-98 campaign. The Gamecocks’ high mark in the Coaches Poll during the regular season was at No. 15 (Dec. 12).

BY THE NUMBERS

3,350 – During their careers in the Garnet and Black, senior guards Sindarius Thornwell (1,941) and Duane Notice (1,409) combined for 3,350 points.
100 – Senior guard Sindarius Thornwell tallied double-figure points in 100 of his 132 career games played, including in all 31 games in 2016-17.
30.3% – South Carolina finished the season ranked ninth nationally in 3-point field goal percent defense, as opponents hit just 30.3 percent from beyond the arc this season. The Gamecocks held 18 opponents below 30 percent from 3-point range on the season.
138 – Senior guard Duane Notice finished his time in the Garnet and Black as South Carolina’s all-time leader in games played at 138.
15+ – South Carolina forced at least 15 turnovers in 17 of 18 SEC games on the season. League opponents averaged 18.4 turnovers per game.
11 – South Carolina concluded the season with 11 wins over top-100 RPI teams.
13.9 – Sophomore guard PJ Dozier more than doubled his points per game total from his rookie campaign, averaging 13.9 points per outing as a sophomore, compared to 6.7 per game as a freshman.
2.1 – Senior guard Justin McKie had a career year in 2016-17, which included the game-winning free throws in the home win over Georgia. The Columbia native had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.1, and committed just 22 turnovers in 626 minutes played this season, an average of just 0.6 per game.

MARKING THE RECORD BOOK

South Carolina’s historic 2016-17 season marked the Gamecock record book in several team and individual categories. Below are a few of those marks:

219 – Duane Notice ranks second all-time with 219 career 3-point field goals
27 – Carolina’s 27 made free throws vs. Duke marked a new NCAA Tournament record for the Gamecocks
71.4% – The Gamecocks hit 71.4% (20-28) in the second half in the win over Duke, a new Carolina record for shooting percentage in a single half in NCAA Tournament play
611 – South Carolina’s 611 made free throws in 2016-17 rank second all-time to the 635 made at the line during the 1970-71 season
215 – Sindarius Thornwell’s 215 made free throws on the year rank in a tie for second all-time in a single season with fellow Gamecock great, John Roche (1971)
632 – South Carolina forced its opponents into 632 turnovers this season, which rank second all-time behind the 678 turnovers by Gamecock opponents during the 2001-02 season.

THANK YOU FANS!!!

South Carolina set attendance records in both total attendance and average attendance in 2016-17. A total of 241,123 fans attended Carolina games on the season, an average of 13,396 fans. Nationally, the Gamecocks ranked 15th in total attendance, which was third in the SEC, and 21st in average attendance, which was fourth in the SEC.