South Carolina stuns No. 10 Kentucky as buzzer beater bounces Big Blue
The public address announcer at Colonial Life Arena, sensing what could happen, cautioned fans late in Wednesday’s game to stay off the court after it ended.
But when the home team wins on a banked-in 30-footer at the buzzer, all previous warnings can be thrown by the wayside.
Jermaine Couisnard capped the best night of his college career with a transition 3-pointer as time expired to give South Carolina a dramatic 81-78 victory over No. 10 Kentucky.
The moment’s sudden change — the Gamecocks going from nearly seeing a second-half rally fall apart to upsetting a second top 10 team in less than a month — caused at least a few adrenaline-filled students to make their way past security in an effort to join the sea of celebratory white jerseys in one corner of the court.
USC (9-7, 1-2 SEC) has won for the first time since before Christmas. It has a redshirt freshman to thank.
“I’m happy for Jermaine,” said Carolina coach Frank Martin.
Couisnard made the most of his first career start by scoring a career-high 26 points. The East Chicago native responded to his coach’s call for more aggression out of the point guard spot and spent the majority of his night in attack mode.
Last shot very much included.
Carolina, which erased a 14-point second half deficit and led by six with 1:04 left, was back tied with the Wildcats (12-4, 3-1) at the 4.1-second mark when Immanuel Quickley hit a step-back jumper over A.J. Lawson. USC’s Alanzo Frink then in-bounded to Couisnard, who needed four dribbles to get from one 3-point line to the top of another.
“I really didn’t know it was going in,” Couisnard said. “I felt like I shot an airball, to be honest. But when I saw it hit the top of the backboard, I knew it was going in.”
Pandemonium ensued, confirming South Carolina’s wild rally had been completed.
The Gamecocks started this game missing their first 10 field goal attempts, but ended it by going 9 of 13. Kentucky nearly made USC pay for crucial free throw misses — see Couisnard and Lawson going 1 for 4 over the final 26 seconds — but destiny proved to be on Carolina’s side.
“The ball bounced our way for a change,” Martin said a game after falling by one at Tennessee.
USC scored 56 second-half points — one less than its total in Knoxville and matching what it had in the head-scratching Stetson loss Dec. 30 — as four Gamecocks finished in double figures, including Couisnard, Keyshawn Bryant (11 of his 15 in the second half), Justin Minaya (all 11 in the second half) and T.J. Moss (eight of his 10 in the second half).
Lawson, Maik Kotsar and Jair Bolden (a healthy scratch) combined for five points.
Yet the Gamecocks won. Kentucky coach John Calipari said they deserved it. His Wildcats led 46-32 with 15:32 left and 54-41 with 11:39 remaining. What followed was a series of Carolina runs — a 20-8 spurt the most impactful — until a Minaya 3 with 3:41 left finally put USC ahead. The Gamecocks never trailed after that.
“It would have been a shame if we had somehow thrown one in and won the game,” Calipari said, tipping a hat to his opposition. “I would have been happy. But it would have been a shame.”
NEXT
What: South Carolina at Texas A&M
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: Reed Arena in College Station, Texas
TV: SEC Network
Radio: 107.5 The Game
South Carolina Kentucky basketball box score
KENTUCKY (12-4): Quickley 6-9 6-7 20, Hagans 2-10 9-11 13, Maxey 5-8 1-2 13, Montgomery 1-4 4-5 6, Richards 5-6 5-8 15, Sestina 3-6 0-1 7, Brooks 0-5 0-0 0, Whitney 1-4 0-2 2, Juzang 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 24-56 25-36 78.
SOUTH CAROLINA (9-7): Couisnard 9-22 4-7 26, Minaya 4-9 1-2 11, Lawson 1-9 3-6 5, Bryant 6-11 3-5 15, Moss 4-9 1-1 10, Frink 1-4 4-5 6, McCreary 3-4 0-1 6, Kotsar 0-1 0-0 0, Hannibal 0-2 0-0 0, Leveque 1-2 0-3 2. Totals 29-73 16-30 81.
Halftime—Kentucky 33-25. 3-Point Goals—Kentucky 5-15 (Maxey 2-2, Quickley 2-4, Sestina 1-3, Juzang 0-1, Whitney 0-1, Brooks 0-2, Hagans 0-2), South Carolina 7-19 (Couisnard 4-5, Minaya 2-5, Moss 1-2, Bryant 0-2, Lawson 0-5). Fouled Out—Hagans, Montgomery, Minaya, Kotsar. Rebounds—Kentucky 40 (Richards, Brooks 7), South Carolina 38 (Minaya 7). Assists—Kentucky 10 (Hagans 7), South Carolina 13 (Couisnard 4). Total Fouls—Kentucky 27, South Carolina 28.
This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 8:52 PM.
