Horn presses on
The easy question, after watching Vanderbilt burn South Carolina’s press over and over on Saturday, is whether USC is going to try a change of pace. Literally, a change of pace.
I suspected the answer was no. Coach Darrin Horn confirmed that Tuesday.
“I don’t think so,” Horn said. “It’s what we need to do to have a chance to win.”
Simply put, the press stays.
But why, when other teams – like Boston College and for one half LSU – have gotten so many easy layups by blitzing the ball downcourt? The easy answer is that the pressure is ingrained in the Gamecock program. It’s what Horn does, and scaling it back would go against almost everything he believes.
You would also wonder what the alternative would be? Given this team’s current personnel, do you really think it can win a half-court game, especially against a team like Vanderbilt?
Horn was also armed with statistics. He pointed out that they had 10 more shots than Vanderbilt and forced the Commodores into 20 turnovers, whom Horn called the best ball-handling team in the league.
“It’s not the pace that’s the issue,” Horn said. “It’s when we force the quick shot, we’ve got guys standing right next to people and they’re not doing anything to actually get the rebound. It’s all of those little things.”
Through three SEC games, the Gamecocks rank seventh in the league in scoring (75.3 points per game), and sixth in defense (72.7). But the telling statistic is that USC ranks 11th in field goal defense – it is one of only two league teams allowing opponents to shoot over 50 percent. And perhaps even more telling is that while USC leads the league in 3-point defense (opponents are shooting 27 percent), its opponents have only tried 33 from beyond the arc, also the least in the league. (Tennessee, another pressing team, has seen its opponents try almost twice as much through three games.)
So yeah, the Gamecocks are giving up too many layups.
But it all still comes back down to effort, not personnel or strategy, according to Horn.
“I’m waiting for the film where we’re watching and maybe it’s a loss, but we did all those things that I just mentioned, and golly they were just better than us tonight,” he said. “And I haven’t seen that.”
And what of helping Devan Downey, who is leading the league in scoring?
“We don’t have to have guys play over their head,” Horn said. “We’ve got one guy that’s playing unbelievable right now. But the key is everybody has to do what they can do.”
6 Comments to “Horn presses on”
Leave a Reply
State newspaper sports writer Seth Emerson blogs on University of South Carolina basketball and baseball.
The press is not working. How about a zone? Evka is getting a little better defensively but he just is not built to press and run. Joseph has not a clue; Galloway has hit a freshman wall and spinella missed an easy layup against Vandy. I like Spinella and he just needs playing time and confidence. He bangs under the boards as I would expect a Jersey guy to do. He is not intimidated; just needs more PT.
Geraldo says someone else hasn’t a clue! Unbelieveable!
[...] Sam Muldrow knows that he needs to grab more boards and play better defense.8. Darrin Horn has no plans to stop pressing.9. USC fans haven’t sold out next Tuesday’s game with Kentucky yet.10. Tennessee [...]
Coach Horn’s press isn’t as much an issue as is his players comprehension of their defensive assignments and duties… The team does a great job in creating steals from their athletic prowess but in doing so they expend a lot of energy. If they were to follow Horn’s design, rotate properly and trap accordingly they would use less energy and it would prove to be more effective. Horn has a lot of young guys playing substantial minutes not to mention a few upper classman who were forced into new roles. To expect a young inexperienced ball club to play with total sophistication is a bit of a stretch. Coach is correct in not abandoning his system and sticking with it while working through the kinks. Due to their shoratge in man power, they can’t win without some extended defensive pressure. The most important issue facing SC men’s basketball is their lack of low post scoring. If Muldrow (or anyone) can’t get at least 1 or 2 interior touches per possesion and establish some sort of low post scoring presence SC will not win consistently.
i agree with dr hoops. well said. a good coach knows that he should never get away from his system. we lost two of our top performers this season, and that is going to hurt us all season long. so coach horn will need to use this season to teach his young players, and develop their experience. next year this will be a dangerous team.
After so much mediocrity, I’ve just about lost all interest in SC basketball. The program is at the danger stage where people don’t care anymore. Don’t know why football is still so popular. Even I still like it and follow it.