Archie’s injury and its consequences
Obviously, the news could have been much, much worse on Dominique Archie. Any time you hear “knee injury,” the fears are bad.
So it was good to hear that South Carolina’s senior forward – who was leading the team in scoring and rebounding through four games – only has a right knee sprain.
At the same time, USC was unable to put a timetable on his return, calling him out “indefinitely.” So a lot will depend on his rehab. Last year Brandis Raley-Ross also had a knee sprain and returned after six games. But that doesn’t necessarily equate to Archie, who’s a bigger guy. He might be back in time for SEC play (or sooner). It could be longer.
So where does that leave South Carolina? Suffice to say, the complexion of the season may have changed.
Will the loss to Miami, and any subsequent losses without Archie, be weighted less in the eyes of the NCAA selection committee in March? (Assuming the Gamecocks are on the bubble.)
We’ll have to see. The team could make the point moot by winning, but as you saw after Archie’s departure on Sunday, that will be hard.
Devan Downey is the unquestioned star, the Michael Jordan of this team. But Archie was the Scottie Pippen, who people around the program have long felt was just as important.
Without him on Sunday, the Gamecocks looked totally overmatched against a team expected to finish near the bottom of the ACC. Of course a lot of that may have been due to the shock of losing Archie. It’s hard to regroup so quickly, especially since they’re so used to having him there: Archie had started every game of his career.
Now the Gamecocks have to adjust. A lot of what coach Darrin Horn has done the previous month in terms of lineup combinations just went out the window, since so many of them were contingent on playing Archie, their most versatile player and biggest matchup problem for opponents.
Starting-wise, Raley-Ross will probably move into the lineup. That may have had to happen anyway, as more opponents zoned up the Gamecocks. They need a zone-busting shooter to force opponents back into the man, and away from doubling up Downey.
Lakeem Jackson’s skills fit better to the small forward. He’ll play most of his minutes at that spot now. Fellow freshman Ramon Galloway, who popped in four 3s against Miami, should also see more time.
The question is whether Horn will be able to afford to give Downey as much rest, since Galloway and Raley-Ross – the backup point guards – will be called to play more on the wings. That’s yet another example of how valuable Archie was to the team, how much his presence allowed other things to happen.
Evka Baniulis, who has been slowed by a hamstring injury, should also see more time now. One option for the Gamecocks, in an effort to get more shooters in the lineup, is to play a combination of Baniulis, Raley-Ross and Galloway, along with Downey. The question is how much you lose defensively – whereas Archie made the All-SEC defensive team last year.
Again, that’s how valuable Archie is.
And never mind his importance to the low-post game. His absence may not have been why Miami had a 57-31 advantage on the boards Sunday – USC’s missed 3-pointers and Miami’s packing the lane did – but Archie at the small forward was a huge help to the rebounding effort.
The schedule is about to get tougher, and some games just moved from near-guarantee wins to potential upsets.
The next opponent, Jacksonville, is picked to finish high in its league and will have played Florida State and California, so it’ll be tested by the time it arrives at the Colonial Life Arena.
Western Kentucky, Horn’s old team, visits next Wednesday. The Hilltoppers are always good.
Then there’s the Dec. 6 game at Clemson, which becomes a huge task for South Carolina without Archie.
The following two games – home against Richmond and at Wofford – will be no cakewalks either.
The Gamecocks can only hope they have Archie back by the time they visit Boston College on Dec. 30, host Baylor three days later and open the SEC season at Auburn on Jan. 9.
If this were the NBA, the Gamecocks might package some draft picks or younger players to get an experienced replacement. But for now they have to ride it out, hope Archie’s rehab goes well, and hope for the best.
8 Comments to “Archie’s injury and its consequences”
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State newspaper sports writer Seth Emerson blogs on University of South Carolina basketball and baseball.
Seth, did they do an MRI?
Ask the apppropriate person what grade the spring is, I, II or III?
Yes they did an MRI. Not sure what grade the sprain was, I’ll try to find out.
It’ll be intersting to see what happens. We looked aweful without archie out there. Yea Downey had 20 pts but the transition defense looked bad.
I’m glad to hear that Archie’s injury was not season-ending, but as you said, some things now look very uncertain. I’m hoping the team will be able to regroup — it seemed to me that we were still hanging with Miami pretty well until we found out Archie wasn’t coming back for the game. I hope the team can put this behind them and continue to put forth a solid effort while Archie gets better.
[...] 1. Clemson hasn’t played in a loud, angry, SEC-type stadium all year long.2. Eric Norwood doesn’t want CJ Spiller to have a big game at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday.3. According to this notes column, Norwood says he’s also “pretty fired up to try to take my anger out on everybody.” Everybody in orange, I presume.4. Receiver Moe Brown says he benefited from a preseason “self-conference with Moe.”5. Carolina’s defense has thrived thanks to true freshman Stephon Gilmore and DeVonte Holloman… who were both once committed to Clemson.6. This writer believes the Carolina-Clemson game should be moved to the front of the teams’ schedules.7. This writer disagrees and likes the post-Thanksgiving timing of the rivalry.8. In basketball news, Dominique Archie’s knee injury is a sprain, but that’s much better than was feared yesterday.9. With Archie out indefinitely, “the complexion of the season may have changed.” [...]
i wanna see how the gamecocks look friday vs. jacksonville….losing archie like that was a shock to the flow of the team, i wanna see how they look after they have had time to prepare to play w/o him……
Did Miami really get 57 rebounds against USC? That is a staggering number if true
yeah, the rebounding difference was huge. we became a jump shot team for much of the game, didn’t crash the boards much, they packed it in, they racked up the defensive rebounds. some offensive too, but….
losing archie dramatically changed that game all around. hope they can have some guys step up! go cocks!