It’s not often these days that a team goes into John Paul Jones Arena and emerges with a victory. There have been plenty of chances for it, too, as Virginia has had a few home games in recent years. The Cavs have been pretty good, too, even beating some good teams by some ugly scores through the power of their defense.
On Sunday, however, that defense wasn’t quite the same as South Carolina came to town. The Gamecocks shot over 55 percent from the field and rode a hot shooting day from Jair Bolden (22 points on 8-13 shooting, including 4-6 from long range) along with three other double-digit scorers to a 70-59 win over the Cavaliers, and in the process joined Duke as the only road team to win in Charlottesville over the past two years.
Once South Carolina got going offensively, they were in good shape considering Virginia’s growing pains offensively. The Cavaliers simply aren’t wired to score as much as a year ago, and when their starting perimeter trio goes a combined 6-16 from the field with 11 turnovers (the team had 19 turnovers in all), they’re going to be in a world of hurt unless they play even better defense than usual.
With this win, as long as they get by Stetson a week from Monday, South Carolina will now become an interesting candidate for the NCAA Tournament depending on what they do in SEC play. The Gamecocks won’t be in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, so they’re basically done with non-conference play. They lost to Boston University at home but have this win as well as a win at arch rival Clemson, and they are 3-0 in true road games this season. The other losses are not bad ones, coming against Wichita State, Northern Iowa and Houston.
A year ago, the Gamecocks went 5-7 in non-conference play and later lost at Oklahoma State in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, but at one point were 9-4 in a strong SEC with wins over Mississippi State, Auburn and Ole Miss. They finished 11-7 but lost to Auburn in their first SEC Tournament game, which put an end to any NCAA Tournament pipe dreams. This time around, they are having a far better non-conference showing, so a similar SEC run would seem likely to get them dancing once again. They will have plenty of opportunities for a quality win in SEC play.
On Sunday, they landed just such a win outside of there, and in an arena where road teams almost never do that lately.
Side Dishes
In quarterfinal action at the Diamond Head Classic, Houston took care of Portland 81-56 and Georgia Tech came alive in the second half to beat Boise State 74-60 in the afternoon session. In the evening, Ball State made an early run in the second half, but Washington pulled away behind big men Isaiah Stewart (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Jaden McDaniels (game-high 22 points) as well as point guard Quade Green (21 points, six assists) for an 85-64 win, then Hawaii rallied in the second half for a 67-63 win over UTEP in an entertaining game to close out the day. Hawaii overcame a terrible night at the free throw line, where they were 12-25, to win.
One more team fell from the ranks of the undefeated on Sunday. In the St. Pete Shootout, UAB got 23 points from Jalen Benjamin and pulled away from Duquesne 77-68, dropping the Dukes to 10-1. That leaves only Auburn, Liberty and San Diego State as undefeated teams in Division I.
Other results of note: Saint Francis U edged William & Mary 78-72 in the D.C. Holiday Hoops Fest; Rutgers got off to a fast start and made it stand up in a 63-44 win over Lafayette behind 18 points and 14 rebounds from Myles Johnson; Northern Iowa moved to 11-1 with an 88-80 win over Marshall, becoming the 15th Missouri Valley team since 1996-97 to win 11 non-conference games; New Mexico State is playing better of late, and they went to Starkville and beat Mississippi State 58-52; Davidson is also playing better and won their third straight, this one a 59-56 squeaker at Loyola-Chicago; Yale went to Clemson and came away with a 54-45 win to run their winning streak to seven and go to 10-3 on the season; Seton Hall started slowly and trailed Prairie View A&M at the half, then took over in the second half for a 75-55 win; TCU rallied later in the second half, but Tyrique Jones (18 points, 14 rebounds) and Xavier made their halftime lead stand up and held on for a 67-59 win in Fort Worth; and Radford handed Richmond just their second loss of the season, knocking off the Spiders 73-58 in the D.C. Holiday Hoops Fest behind 14 points and 11 assists from Carlik Jones.
New Mexico is off to a 12-2 start this season after handling Houston Baptist 107-88 on Sunday, including a 2-0 start to Mountain West play. It looks like the Lobos may be relevant once again. But on Sunday, things took a turn in the wrong direction, as not long before the game the school suspended starters Carlton Bragg and J.J. Caldwell indefinitely, saying in a statement that, “The athletic department has received information that requires further review.” Bragg is averaging a double-double on the season, while Caldwell leads the Mountain West in assists.
Tonight’s Menu
The last night of action before Christmas has just ten Division I games on tap, four of them in the Diamond Head Classic.
- In Hawaii, the action begins with Portland taking on Boise State in the consolation bracket (4:30 p.m.), then the first semifinal between Houston and Georgia Tech (7 p.m.). In the evening, the second semifinal gets it going as Washington takes on Hawaii (11 p.m.) before Ball State and UTEP battle in the other consolation bracket game (1:30 a.m.)
- One conference game is on tap, and that’s in the MAAC, where Canisius heads to Siena (6 p.m.)
- Long Beach State heads north to visit Seattle (6 p.m.)
- Grambling visits Dayton, Georgia Southern heads to Georgia in an in-state battle, and Georgia State travels to SMU (7 p.m.)
- The one game out west that isn’t part of the Diamond Head Classic should be a good one as Fresno State hosts San Francisco (10 p.m.)
