ST. LOUIS – Before the basketball fell off the front rim, Maik Kotsar was already sliding into position for an offensive rebound. The hustle was reflective of the South Carolina forward’s performance to that point of Wednesday evening.
If the Gamecocks were going down in this SEC tournament, they weren’t going to be timid about it. Kotsar seemed poised to lead this kind of aggression.
So the 6-foot-10, 260-pounder, with 3:36 left in the first half against Ole Miss, sacrificed his body among a sea of jerseys, both blue and white. He never got the rebound – because Chris Silva had the same idea.