Sindarius Thornwell Named SEC Player of the Week

With all this talk about the Gamecocks team and teamwork and team play, Sindarius Thornwell was named the SEC Player of the Week for last week.  Over the 2 games this past week, Thornwell averaged 12 points per game, 6.5 rebounds per game, and also 2 assists per game.  Thornwell pretty much helped seal the win against #9 Iowa State Saturday as he was all over the court and had 6 of his points in the final two minutes.

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This is exactly the type of play and leadership the Gamecocks need and want from Thornwell.  His shooting has been well below average this year, and the Gamecocks have somewhat had to rely on others to step up and lead the team.  He came to South Carolina as the top high school player in the state, and last season he was SEC Freshman of the Week three times.  Coming into this season expectations were high that he would not only be the leader on the court, but lead the team in scoring.  He probably would leading except his shooting is 37.6% on the season including 21% from 3 point range with more attempts than most of the team.

This could be the beginning of turning the corner for him, which is very similar to what has happened with the team.  After starting the season off 2-3 with some very disappointing losses, the Gamecocks have been on fire winning 7 straight games.  If Thornwell can get his offensive game going, then it could be the final piece of the puzzle for the team this season, which couldn’t come at a better time.  The Gamecocks kick off the SEC conference schedule Wednesday night in Columbia against Florida.  If Thornwell continues with the hot hand and the team continues to play amazing defense, they could put a lot of SEC teams on notice that they will be one of the tougher teams to play the rest of this season.