March Madness: South Carolina stymies Baylor to advance to Elite Eight
In March Madness’ Sweet 16, the South Carolina Gamecocks topped the Baylor Bears at Madison Square Garden.
The South Carolina Gamecocks aren’t going to settle for their first Sweet 16 appearance in school history.
Related Story: Which Friday Sweet 16 games are the best?
Instead, the Gamecocks are suddenly one game away from the Final Four after cruising past the Baylor Bears, 70 to 50, at Madison Square Garden on Friday evening. Frank Martin’s team was led by Sindarius Thornwell (24 points), P.J. Dozier (12 points), Chris Silva (12 points and seven rebounds) and Duane Notice (11 points). However, as usual, it was the Gamecocks’ defense that led them to victory.
South Carolina held Baylor to 22 points in the opening half, limited them to 30 percent shooting for the game and held them to three threes. Add in 16 turnovers, and the Bears never really stood a chance against the Gamecocks.
More from March Madness
- March Madness 2023: Sights and sounds from NCAA championship game
- Caitlin Clark breaks silence on Angel Reese trash talk controversy
- Jim Nantz replacement: Who will take over as voice of Final Four in 2024
- Twitter reacts as legendary broadcaster Jim Nantz calls last Final Four game
- Everything to know about Jim Nantz retirement from March Madness
While they cut the lead down to 13 in the middle of the second half, the Gamecocks banged two straight threes (one by Thornwell and one by Notice) and that was the only pressure the Bears could provide for the rest of the evening.
The Gamecocks flustered Baylor’s ball handlers for 40 minutes and they made life miserable for the Bears’ star Johnathan Motley. The team’s leading scorer and best player scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds but he was 8-of-17 from the field and gave the ball away three times.
And as has been the case this entire season, there was very little help for the junior forward. Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. posed some problems for the Gamecocks in the first half due to his size but he finished with just nine points and was completely invisible in the second half. Lecomte scored just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting. And senior Ish Wainwright took just one shot and scored zero points.
But can you really blame the Bears? This is a defense that shut down Marquette’s offense in the second half of their first-round game. This is a defense that took Duke out of their rhythm in the second round. This is a defense that gave up just over 65 points per game (32nd in the nation) during the regular season. They are elite and their scheme is certainly not easy to crack when you have inconsistent guards that struggle to secure the ball.
Next: Ranking the remaining 16 teams in the NCAA Tournament
Now the Gamecocks will move on to the Sweet 16 with the hope that they can shut down the Wisconsin Badgers or the Florida Gators. They will need another big offensive performance from their top talent Thornwell and most importantly, if they can continue to get lifts from Silva, Notice and Dozier, the Gamecocks could actually be headed to Glendale.