Tuesday night was yet another stepping stone for a young Frank Martin team. While the comeback win was impressive, how they won was even more so. Both halves consisted of serious foul trouble for both teams, as there were 59 team fouls between the two.
The Gamecocks came out of the gates hot, jumping out to a seven-point lead within the first two minutes. However, the physicality that both teams played with led to a lot of fouls being called. In fact, the Gamecocks finished the first half with 16 team fouls and had six players with two or more fouls. This forced Frank Martin to play 12 different players in the first half, including players such as Khadim Gueye and Ibrahim Famouke Doumbia, who hadn't seen a lot of "meaningful minutes" as Martin puts it. Not an ideal situation for a team trying to knock off Kentucky.
However, it ended up being a smart decision because every player Martin played Tuesday night did just enough to help the team. Luckily for them, the Wildcats were in a similar position with 15 team fouls of their own in the first half. Despite all the fouls, the Gamecocks left a lot of points on the board, shooting 11 of 19 from the charity stripe.
Coming into the second half, both teams brought the same high-level intensity. As the Gamecocks continued to fight their way out of the 14-point deficit, foul trouble began to shift to the Wildcats. More Wildcats began to get into foul trouble, so it became hard for them to play loosely.
In addition to the foul trouble, the Wildcats started to miss their free throws and the Gamecocks started making theirs. Kentucky finished the second half with 17 team fouls compared to the Gamecocks' 11. The Gamecocks benefited from those fouls by making 14 of their 19 second half free throws, all being crucial to the Gamecocks closing the game out.
For a Gamecocks team that has struggled all year from the free throw line, a game like this should boost the confidence of all the players on the team.
"Like Maik, I'll tell you verbatim what I said to him: 'I'm not the one shooting 24 percent from the line — its you. I don't need to come in at night and shoot free throws. You need to,'" Martin said jokingly about Kotsar's shooting from the line. "And he's done it and guess what — he goes to the line and makes it."
The Gamecocks will try to continue to improve their accuracy from the line, but will also need to try and commit fewer fouls as they take on another Top 25 opponent in Tennessee on Saturday.