No. 1 Gamecocks cruise past Norfolk State in March Madness

Associated PressMar 17, 2023, 7:16 PM EDT
Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports
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COLUMBIA, S.C. – This wasn’t the NCAA Tournament debut South Carolina coach Dawn Staley hoped to see from her top-seeded Gamecocks.

The final scored showed a 72-40 blowout over No. 16 seed Norfolk State (26-7) on Friday. Staley saw poor shooting early and a disjointed attack that could cost her team down the road.

“If it wasn’t for the way we play defense, (Norfolk State) would’ve probably given us a lot of trouble given how we shot the ball,” Staley said.

Zia Cooke scored 11 points as South Carolina moved five wins away from a perfect season. Aliyah Boston had seven points, nine rebounds and two blocks for the Gamecocks (33-0), who won their 39th straight game dating back to last year’s NCAA title run.

They also moved to 11-0 in first-round games under Staley. Not that much of that mattered to the two-time national championship coach.

She was so frustrated with her attack, she called an early timeout in the second quarter with her team ahead 24-12 – something she rarely does.

Staley told her players to lock in because things don’t get easier. “We tried to force things that weren’t there, tried to make spectacular plays instead of just simplifying,” she said. “It happened more than once and it was time to let our players know we don’t want to give (opponents) opportunities.”

This was a colossal mismatch from the tip like so many other games South Carolina’s been a part of this season.

“Wow,” Norfolk coach Larry Vickers said when he first sat down to talk to media.

Norfolk State’s tallest player is freshman forward Skye Robinson at 6-foot-2. South Carolina has seven players that tall or taller. The Spartans’ tallest player on the bench? Vickers, the team’s 6-9 head coach, who walked onto the Spartans’ men’s team and eventually became a team captain.

“They’re as good as you expect them to be,” he said. “And they just keep running them out, running them out.”

South Carolina did its best to end any drama early as Boston and Cooke scored five points apiece in the opening quarter for a 20-7 lead.

The Gamecock starters picked things up in the third quarter scoring the first six points to lead 40-18 and the Spartans could not hope to catch up. The lead swelled to 30 points after three quarters with few in the mostly full and garnet-colored stands complaining.

Vickers joked on Thursday he wasn’t sure how much of a home game this was until walking around the arena and seeing Staley’s ceiling-to-door length banner in the building’s main entrance.

Kierra Wheeler led Norfolk State with 13 points. The Spartans came in shooting almost 40% on the season, but were held to 16 of 61 (26%) by the Gamecocks.

Wheeler, the 6-1 sophomore who spent time guarding the 6-5 Boston, acknowledged how that can quickly wear you down. “Me, being the one guarding Aliyah, yes I did,” Wheeler said. “It was definitely a challenge.”

South Carolina’s second-round opponent, South Florida, won the American Athletic Conference’s regular season and features a pair of top scorers in Elena Tsineke and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu. Fankam Mendjiadeu has 24 double doubles this season, more than the Gamecocks’ Boston, who has 20.

BIG PICTURE

Norfolk State: The Spartans were beaten in the title game of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference a year ago, fueling this season’s run to a league tournament title and first NCAA Tournament berth since 2002. Vickers’ team has a base of five sophomores he hopes can gain experience so their next trip to the tournament won’t take so long.

South Carolina: The Gamecocks weren’t tested and used several younger, rising players like Sania Feagin, Chloe Kitts and Talaysia Cooper who wouldn’t see much action in a tighter game. Staley believes this can prep those less experienced team members to be ready if called on in a big spot.

ROOKIE MISTAKES

Two South Carolina sophomore bench players in Bree Hall and Sania Feagin came to the NCAA media postgame with a lot to learn. Foremost, sitting in front of the correct name identifier. The two were asked to quickly switch places when Hall sat in Feagin’s spot. Feagin finished with nine points, making four of her five shots. Hall finished with six points and four rebounds.

Defending champ Baylor opens with 85-49 win over Norfolk St

Associated PressMar 17, 2022, 10:04 PM EDT
Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports
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FORT WORTH, Texas — Matthew Mayer just knew it was a perfect pass he turned into a half-ending breakaway dunk for defending national champion Baylor. He wasn’t really sure what happened before he got the ball.

“I thought it was like a rebound or something, and then all of sudden the ball was just right in front of me,” Mayer said. “I was like, `Wow, that was great.”‘

Mayer scored a career-high 22 points, including that punctuating half-ending dunk with a salute, as the top-seeded Bears opened the NCAA Tournament with an 85-49 victory over Norfolk State on Thursday.

Jeremy Sochan did grab a rebound to start the play, and got credited with an assist on Mayer’s dunk.

“I didn’t really pass it to him, but I’ll take it. I’ll take it,” the pink-haired Sochan said with a chuckle.

After Joe Bryant tumbled to the floor when missing a layup, Sochan took a couple of dribbles while still in the lane. Norfolk State’s Tyrese Jenkins then reached from behind and swatted the ball out of his hands – into the air past midcourt, where it bounced once to a breaking Mayer, who got past Terrance Jones for the dunk.

“First, I should have dumped it off to my big man, who was wide open. I fell, so I couldn’t really see what happened,” said Bryant, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference player of the year who had 15 points.

Freshman standout Sochan had 15 points and seven rebounds for the Bears (27-6), who had to travel less than 100 miles from their Waco campus for the East Region opener and first NCAA tourney game at Dickies Arena. They will play the North Carolina-Marquette winner in the second round Saturday.

Mayer, who finished 8-of-12 shooting with four 3s, directed a salute with his left hand toward the Spartans’ pep band after the dunk with the Bears up 43-27 at halftime.

“A big play, a big play, to end the first half,” Norfolk State coach Robert Jones said.

Jenkins hit a 3-pointer to start the scoring in the second half, but Norfolk State never got closer.

The 16th-seeded Spartans (24-7) were playing 10 years and a day after pulling off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history. They were a No. 15 seed and 21 1/2-point underdog when they beat Missouri 86-84.

Norfolk State was one of the biggest underdogs in first-round games this year, at 20 1/2 points, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, and never came close this time.

“At some stretches, I think we let the moment get away from us a little bit,” Jones said.

Flo Thamba scored 14 points and Adam Flagler had 11 points for the Bears. James Akinjo, the graduate transfer from Arizona who also previously played at Georgetown, had 10 points and 10 assists in his first-ever NCAA tourney game.

Baylor, which shot 57% from the field and made 11 3-pointers, led throughout. Flagler hit a 3 and made a nifty floater in the lane to make it 5-0.

“It was fun to watch. Not many things to complain about this game for sure,” said coach Scott Drew, a week after Baylor lost in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals. “I think that was a conscious effort of everybody to come out and be a lot more aggressive in both halves. And we did that, and set the tone early.”

BIG PICTURE

Norfolk State: Senior guard Jalen Hawkins, the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.4 points a game, didn’t play the first half because of a violation of team rules. “Integrity first,” Jones said when asked about what led to Hawkins being penalized. The guard didn’t enter the game until 16:45 remained and the Spartans were down 56-35 by time he took his first shot two minutes later – an airball on a long 3-pointer. He then came out of the game, and never returned.

Baylor: Mayer has been inconsistent at times this season as a full-time starter after no starts his first three seasons. But the 6-foot-9 senior is a high-energy player on both ends of the floor who can score in bunches. He could have a huge impact in the tourney with the Bears missing their big man known as “Everyday Jon.” Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua suffered a season-ending left knee injury Feb. 12.

FLO’S FAMILY

Thamba’s French-speaking parents saw him play a college game in person for the first time. Earlier this month, he saw his sister for the first time in 10 years when she came from England for his senior day.

“After the game, after the buzzer came off and it went off and then just walking on the side, seeing them smiling and cheering, it meant a lot to me. It was special,” said Thamba, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, grew up in South Africa and also lived in England and France before coming to the United States.

UP NEXT

Baylor: The Bears have advanced past the first round in five consecutive NCAA appearances since opening-round losses to 14th-seeded Georgia State in 2015 and 12th-seeded Yale the following year.