Gamecocks Now In Tough Spot With Game At "The Hump" On The Horizon
When the chance to contend for just your second regular season title in program history slips through your fingertips, the '24-hour rule' that coaches talk about won't apply as easily as it would in other situations. After tonight's loss to the No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers, freshman forward Collin Murray-Boyles, essentially the only true freshman who's maintained a consistent role with the team this season, was asked how easy it would be for the team to reset their minds after an undesired result. His answer was brutally honest.
"Of course it's not gonna be easy, cause that was [Tennessee's] championship game, and that [game] was gonna put us in a really good spot if we would've won it, but it's never gonna be easy when you're in a position like this, so we just gotta bounce back. We've got two days off, and then we go right back to work for Mississippi State, and then we've got the SEC Tournament. So we're just focused on the next part."
The Gamecocks head coach, Lamont Paris, who's become known for his calm and patient demeanor on the sidelines, admitted that he made an effort in the locker room to find the humor in his team's season-long craziness.
"I joke around with them [after the game]. I said, 'The SEC just wasn't quite ready for us to do all that and end up being first place in the league.'"
However, Lamont would later lay it all out regarding how difficult it will be for his team to overcome all of the emotions tonight brought on.
"It'll be a hard night for them. I imagine we'll have to come in, and we'll have to do some damage control tomorrow at practice just emotionally [speaking]. Trust me, people know; these guys know; there aren't any secrets as to who picked them where and all this, that, and the other. They've worn that badge all season and continued to perform on a consistent basis, and so they expected to win today, so this is gonna be a hard loss for them."
As tough as it will be for the team to mentally lock-in once again, it'll be imperative that they do so as best and as quickly as they can, as their final game of the season will be at the Humphrey Coliseum, against a Mississippi State Bulldogs team who'll be looking for revenge after losing in their first meeting against the Gamecocks.
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