(Photo by The State/C. Aluka Berry)
Things to know about South Carolina super-guard Devan Downey:
Scored 36 of his team’s 56 points in 58-56 loss at Florida on Saturday.
- Made basket with 5.1 seconds left to give USC at 56-55 lead before Chandler Parsons drained a three at the buzzer to give Florida the victory.
- Made a turnaround jumper with three seconds left to give South Carolina a 78-77 win over Kentucky at Rupp Arena last year, just the Gamecocks second win in 23 trips to Lexington.
- Scored 19 points in the second half of that game.
- Scored 21 points and made five assists in Carolina’s 77-59 win over UK in Columbia last year, completing the Gamecocks’ sweep of the Cats.
- Is averaging 31.6 points per game in five conference games.
- Has scored 30-or-more points in three of South Carolina’s last five games.
- Leads league in scoring overall with 21.9 points per game. Only league player to be averaging over 20 points per game.
- Though listed at 5-9, he’s closer to 5-7.
- Leads the league in steals at 3.16 per game.
- Is averaging 3.6 steals per league game.
- Is second to Florida’s Erving Walker in 3-point percentage in league games, hitting 44.2 percent (19-of-43).
- The Gainesville Sun’s Kevin Brockway wrote: “With apologies to Kentucky freshman John Wall, Downey is still probably the fastest guard in the league with the ball in his hands.”
- Downey scored 33 points for South Carolina at Florida in 2009.
- LSU coach Trent Johnson after Downey scored 29 points in win over the Tigers, “You’re not gonna out-quick Downey.”
- Played freshman season at Cincinnati, but then transferred to his home state of South Carolina.
Not only is Downey putting up points but he makes nearly 50% of all shots, including the 3′s. The key is let him do all the scoring I think. He can’t score 80, and we will if we put the ball in the basket.