Men's Basketball . January 12, 2018

Men's Hoops Travels To Face Georgia Saturday Afternoon

Jan. 12, 2018

South Carolina at Georgia

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina travels to Georgia on Saturday to face the Bulldogs at Stegeman Coliseum. The meeting is the first of two between the two squads this SEC regular season. The Gamecocks have won two-straight in the series against Georgia.

STARTING FIVE

> South Carolina looks for its first road win of SEC action on Saturday at Georgia. The Gamecocks also look for their second-straight win in Athens after posting a 67-61 victory at Stegeman last season in the league opener behind a 19-point, 11-rebound, 6-steal effort from then-senior Sindarius Thornwell.
> The Gamecocks come off a loss at Alabama, where Chris Silva was plagued by foul trouble, and the Crimson Tide hit an opponent season high 58.8% (30-51) from the field. Graduate student guard Wes Myers led Carolina with 15 points in the game.
> In five away games this season, Silva’s average of 15.4 points per game are a team best. His 9.2 rebounds per away game are also a team high.
> Gamecock opponents are averaging just 65.6 points per game this season, which ranks 40th nationally and third in the SEC.
> In last season’s contest at Georgia, Silva hit 6-of-7 attempts from the floor, tallied 13 points and three blocks in 26 minutes of action.

HEADLINES

> South Carolina is in its 110th season of varsity basketball in 2017-18.
> South Carolina advanced to its first Final Four in 2016-17, which included posting its first NCAA Tournament win since the 1973 campaign when it tallied a 93-73 win over Marquette in the First Round.
> The Gamecocks finished the 2016-17 campaign with a 26-11 overall record. The 26 wins were a program record.
> Among active Division I head coaches, South Carolina’s Frank Martin holds the sixth-highest NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.667) behind only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Kentucky’s John Calipari, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Kansas’ Bill Self.
> Over the course of the last three seasons (2015-16-present), the Gamecocks are 24-19 (.558) combined in games played away from home (away/neutral).
> South Carolina compiled 51 wins over the course of the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.
> Entering the 2017-18 campaign, Frank Martin has led his team to at least 20 wins in seven of 10 seasons.
> South Carolina played six of its first seven games away from home to begin the 2017-18 campaign, posting a 4-2 record during the stretch.
> Martin is joined on the bench by assistant coaches Perry Clark (fifth season), Chuck Martin (first season) and Bruce Shingler (second season), and director of basketball operations Andy Assaley in his sixth season.
> Clark brings 19 years of head coaching experience to the bench, as he served the combined years as head coach at Tulane, Miami (Fla.) and Texas A&M Corpus Christi, while Chuck Martin served as head coach at Marist for five campaigns.
> Martin is 89-87 (.502) all-time in league play. In his 10 seasons leading a squad through a full slate of league games, his team has posted double-digit conference wins six times.
> South Carolina has improved its conference record in each of Frank Martin’s five seasons leading the squad through the SEC slate. In his first SEC campaign (2013), Martin led his squad to four wins, followed by five win sin 2014, six in 2015, 11 in 2016 and 12 last season.
> South Carolina is in its 26th basketball season as a member of the Southeastern Conference. The Gamecocks are 168-262 (.390) all-time in SEC games.

SCOUTING THE GAMECOCKS

> South Carolina looks to snap a three-game road losing streak when it travels to Athens on Saturday. The Gamecocks take a 10-6 overall record and a 1-3 mark in SEC games into the matchup.
> Most recently Carolina suffered a 76-62 loss at Alabama Tuesday night. Graduate student guard Wes Myers scored a team high 15, and sophomore forward Maik Kotsar added 10, but Alabama had four in double-figures and hit 58.8% from the field in the win.
> Junior forward Chris Silva‘s 14.3 points per game in overall contests paces Carolina, as does his 7.9 rebounds per outing. Those numbers jump to 18.8 and 7.5, respectively, in league games.
> Silva ranks eighth nationally with 134 free throw attempts on the season, an average of 8.375 attempts per game. In strictly SEC games, he is averaging 10.75 attempts per game.
> Silva’s 102 made free throws this season in overall contests ranks 14th nationally.
> Junior guard Hassani Gravett returned to the court against Alabama, marking his first SEC contest of the season. He missed the Ole Miss, Missouri and Vanderbilt games due to a right ankle sprain. In his conference debut at Alabama, he tallied seven points on a 3-of-4 mark from the floor.
> Freshman forward Jason Cudd has seen more playing time over the course of the last five games, averaging 12.0 minutes per contest. He played 15 minutes in the home win over Vanderbilt, scoring three points and collecting a block, and he followed with 16 minutes of court action at Alabama, pulling down two rebounds.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS

> Georgia enters Saturday’s matchup with an 11-4 overall record and a 2-2 mark in league games.
> UGA is led by head coach Mark Fox in his ninth season in Athens.
> The Bulldogs are 8-0 in home games this season, averaging 76.0 points per game in those contests.
> Most recently UGA suffered a 68-56 loss at Missouri on Wednesday night.
> In its most recent home game, Georgia posted a 65-46 victory over Alabama behind a 26-point, 11-rebound performance by senior forward Yante Maten.
> Maten paces the squad with 19.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He was recently named to the Wooden Award Top-25 List.
> William Jackson II is also in double figures at 10.1 points per game and his 3.8 assists per game are also a team best.
> Georgia ranks second in the SEC holding opponents to just 65.5 points per game. In strictly league games, UGA is ranked first in the league, holding opponents to just 60.0 points per game.
> The Bulldogs put together a 9-2 record in non-conference action, with notable wins over Saint Mary’s, Marquette, Georgia Tech and Temple.

SERIES HISTORY

> Georgia holds a 58-52 upperhand in the all-time series vs. South Carolina, which dates back to a 36-27 Carolina home win on Feb. 4, 1922.
> UGA leads the series 33-17 in games played in Athens.
> Carolina has won two straight, but prior to that, UGA had won four straight and eight of the previous 10.

UP NEXT

> South Carolina returns to Colonial Life Arena for two SEC matchups next week against ranked opponents. The Gamecocks host No. 21/20 Kentucky on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. (ESPN), before No. 24/23 Tennessee travels to Columbia on Saturday for a 6 p.m. matchup on ESPN2.