As the South Carolina Gamecocks look to secure their spot in the big dance, power forward Chris Silva left his mark with this monster dunk against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
For the past few seasons in the SEC, John Calipari and his Kentucky Wildcats have completely dominated the conference. However, this season has been a little bit different.
Sure, the Wildcats are likely to win the regular season conference championship yet again, but it won’t be in dominating fashion as we’re accustomed to seeing. They’re only one game up on the Florida Gators while holding a three-game lead over the Arkansas Razorbacks and South Carolina Gamecocks.
Tonight in Columbia, the Gamecocks survived against the Mississippi State Bulldogs with a final score of 63-57. Sindarius Thornwell led the way with 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists.
However, the highlight of the night came from Chris Silva.
That's a grown-man dunk! #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/SIQ6r9fjlf
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 1, 2017
Silva finished with a double-double, totaling 15 points and 11 rebounds.
As of this week, ESPN’s bracketologist Joe Lunardi has the Gamecocks as a seven seed in the South Region facing Northwestern. While the SEC appears to be relatively weak on paper, it’s still a power five conference that should get at least four teams in the big dance.
The Gamecocks have three wins against ranked opponents this season. Having said that, only one of those teams are currently ranked, No. 12 Florida.
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Nonetheless, as long as the Gamecocks handle their business moving forward, this should be a team that ends up being happy come Selection Sunday. If they indeed make the field, no one will be expecting much from this bunch, but with the disciplinarian Frank Martin as their head coach, this is a team to not be taken lightly at all.
This isn’t to say they’ll make a final four run, but one thing you can always count on from a Martin coached team is toughness for the entire 40 minutes.