The South Carolina men’s basketball team's season came to an end late Monday night in a 83-66 loss to Georgia Tech.
The Gamecocks started the game flat. They lacked their usual energy on the defensive end, allowing open threes that Georgia Tech was able to knock down and lacked their normal movement and penetration on the offensive end.
“We’ve played on unbelievable emotion and passion and toughness all year, and unfortunately today we just didn’t have that oomph needed to beat a good basketball team," Frank Martin said.
Georgia Tech was red hot all night, shooting 50 percent from both the field and from three-point range, knocking down 11 of its 22 three-point attempts. Adam Smith led the Yellow Jackets with 21 points on a night that saw all five starters in double figures. On the opposite end, it was a rough night for the Gamecocks, shooting 41 percent from the field, and shots that seemed to be going down all season just couldn’t find their way to the bottom of the net.
Coming out of the half down 14 points and needing a run, the Gamecocks were dealt what would seem to be the nail in their coffin. The Yellow Jackets got the first points of the half on a huge dunk by Nick Jacobs. The Gamecocks went down to try and respond, but after a missed layup by Michael Carrera, Georgia Tech was able to score again on a put-back slam that brought the Tech bench and fans to their feet. Needing a basket to quell the rising tide of momentum that was building against them, South Carolina was unable to respond as junior guard Duane Notice’s shot was blocked and turned into a transition three on the other end that brought about a South Carolina timeout and seemed to extinguish any hope still left for Gamecock fans within the building.
This blowout was not the way that most saw this season ending, as many thought South Carolina to be a lock for the NCAA tournament after a third place finish in the SEC that included a win over regular season SEC champion Texas A&M. But even with this tough loss in the NIT, South Carolina’s season was still great. On this year’s success, Coach Martin said, “We accomplished a lot of firsts this year, things that haven’t happened around here in a long, long time… I’m real proud of our guys.”
This game also marked the last time that the three seniors would step on to the court wearing a South Carolina uniform. With one minute and 37 seconds left in the game, Michael Carrera was subbed out of the game. Upon seeing this, every Carolina fan in the Arena rose to their feet for an extended period, honoring a player that gave his all for them for the past four years. Chants of “Michael Carrera” and “Thank you seniors!” rained down on to the court as the two teams shook hands after the game, and Carrera stood front and center, with his fellow seniors and teammates behind him, as fans sang the alma mater and bid farewell to him and the rest of the seniors that have represented the garnet and black proudly for four years.