South Carolina heads into pivotal week trying to recapture mojo
Just over a week ago, Jack Mahoney gave an impassioned speech about South Carolina and how this year’s team was really good. It just needed to get hot after a tough month of baseball.
A week later, after the Gamecocks were one hit against Texas A&M, Mahoney and the Gamecocks head back home for a pivotal week trying to get their mojo back before the NCAA Tournament.
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“This team has spent a lot of time around each other and seen each other every day for the past couple of months. It’s a tight group. We’re not going to stop doing what we do,” Mahoney said. “Coach King and the coaches are going to put in a really good plan to get us back on track. Just got to put our noses back to the grindstone and get back to doing what makes us the best.”
South Carolina enters the NCAA Tournament having lost 13 of its last 18 games. It’s also lost four of its last 13 against SEC competition.
The Gamecocks dealt with injuries and some inconsistent pitching. The offense has also sputtered, albeit against some of the best pitching staffs in the conference.
This is why this week is so pivotal for a scuffling South Carolina team that at one point this season was one of the best teams in the country.
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A solid week of preparation and the Gamecocks could conceivably get back to that level. If not, then it could potentially be a quick exit from the tournament.
“Coach King made it very clear in the dugout that we’re going to have to earn it over this next week. And starting Monday, life isn’t going to be that easy around Founders Park,” Mahoney said. “We’re going to have to earn it, put our faces back in the mud a little bit. Just get back to doing what made us successful earlier in the year and play with a chip on our shoulder.”
The eight days between South Carolina’s Hoover exit and the start of the NCAA Tournament are integral to getting healthy. And trying to get things back to where they were in mid-April.
“We’ve got eight days to get this thing right, get healthy and get this chip back on our shoulder,” Mahoney said. “Because obviously we’re going to need it, and a new season starts on Friday.”
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Because school is out, it means there is no more 20-hour limit on practice time. South Carolina could spend as much time as it wants to in the facility preparing for a very important stretch here.
And Mark Kingston seems to know that.
“We’re going to get to work. I’ll put it that way. We’re going to get to work,” Kingston said. “There are less restrictions on teams now that school is out. So we will take advantage of having more time to be together. We will take advantage of more time to go to work, more time to get in the weight room properly. We will do all those things.”
