South Carolina Gamecocks News: Two Basketball Wins, Baseball Begins, Nyck Harbor, and a Track Record
By Kevin Miller
Here’s the South Carolina Gamecocks News from the weekend, starting with the women’s basketball team destroying LSU.
Dawn Staley had a big Sunday. Her Philadelphia Eagles played in the Super Bowl, and her basketball team blew out LSU in the first top-3 matchup in the SEC since the 1990s. Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso were dominant in the paint, and Brea Beal, Raven Johnson, and Zia Cooke played very well in the win. Aliyah Boston’s record of 27 straight games with a double-double from last season remains intact as LSU’s Angel Reese saw her 23-game streak snapped in convincing fashion by the Gamecocks in the 88-64 drubbing. The Gamecocks’ win streak is now up to 31 games as they remain undefeated.
The South Carolina basketball team ended their eight-game losing streak.
On a road trip to Oxford, Mississippi, Lamont Paris’ squad built off of some better efforts in their last two contests (home against Arkansas and @ Missouri) and beat the Rebels. Star freshman GG Jackson barely played in the game in what seemed to be disciplinary action. Hayden Brown and Jacobi Wright led the way offensively, and Meechie Johnson played well at the end to seal the game for the Gamecocks. Josh Gray continued his strong defensive play and rebounding as the Gamecocks won 64-61.
South Carolina baseball enters its final week of preseason practice.
Next Friday, South Carolina baseball’s season will officially begin with a weekend series at Founder’s Park against the River Hawks of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. UMass-Lowell is expected to compete for the America East Conference title this season, but the Gamecocks are looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2023. Ranked as the preseason’s 23rd-best squad by d1baseball.com, the YardCocks have the talent to make some noise in 2023.
South Carolina track and field long-distance runner Anass Essayi posted the second-fastest collegiate mile time ever, and football’s Nyck Harbor competed against the world’s best sprinters.
The weekend saw track and field’s best athletes compete in multiple locations. At a meet at Boston University, South Carolina’s Anass Essayi posted the second-fastest collegiate mile in the history of organized track and field by running 5280 feet in 3:50:46 (3 minutes, 50 seconds, and 46 hundredths of a second). A couple of hours away in New York City, the Millrose Games welcomed incoming freshman Gamecock football player Nyck Harbor and some of the world’s fastest sprinters. Harbor finished seventh in the 60-meter dash behind names like Christian Coleman who owns the world record in the event.
Speaking of Nyck Harbor…
Harbor is expected to step onto South Carolina’s campus as the fastest player on the team. Receiver Ahmarean Brown was viewed as the fastest player on the current team, but the speedster lost a race over the weekend. Freshman All-American safety Nick Emmanwori beat Brown by a half step in what appeared to be a 40-yard dash. Redshirt senior receiver Xavier Legette also belongs in the discussion of the fastest Gamecocks. Maybe after Harbor gets on campus, we can get a race between Harbor, Brown, Emmanwori, and Legette to settle things once and for all.