South Carolina stumbles at home, drops another SEC game in loss to LSU
It was about bouncing back on Saturday afternoon: South Carolina men’s basketball didn’t want Wednesday’s 40-point loss at Auburn to trickle into its home game against LSU.
Despite looking like the road loss might not have any fallout, LSU (13-12, 5-7 SEC) pounced on No. 11 South Carolina in the final five minutes of Saturday’s game at Colonial Life Arena. Instead of splitting the week, the Gamecocks (21-5, 9-4 SEC) dropped their second-straight game, 64-63.
USC’s Jacobi Wright went for the game-winning triple at the buzzer, and it bounced off the rim.
Down to the wire
South Carolina trailed for three minutes and 50 seconds in the first half. It held a seven-point lead at halftime. And the Gamecocks led by as many as 16 points in the second half.
By the final three minutes, the Tigers were knocking at the door and eventually spoiled the Saturday afternoon in Colonial Life Arena.
“I just was a little shell-shocked at some of our decisions,” USC coach Lamont Paris said, “but it’s just disappointing to have a game that’s still there to be won and didn’t play great.”
With 1:17 to go, LSU tied the game at 57-all with a 3-pointer by Tyrell Ward. USC’s BJ Mack followed it up with a triple of his own. A back-and-forth battle commenced in the final seconds, with the Tigers trying to tie the game and the Gamecocks trying to hold on to their lead.
Ta’Lon Cooper scored another triple for a one-point lead with 15 seconds to play, but the Gamecocks couldn’t get the foul to stop the clock. Instead, a foul was called on the Gamecocks, and LSU guard Jordan Wright waltzed up to the free throw line and regained the lead with five seconds to go.
“I thought our guys really fought and the offensive execution was a lot better in the second half,” LSU head coach Matt McMahon said. “And we got stops, some timely stops, when we needed them to find a way to win the final buzzer.”
Scoring down low
For yet another game, Collin Murray-Boyles reached double digits. He finished Saturday’s game against LSU with 13 points and collected seven rebounds. BJ Mack followed suit, just like he did on Wednesday, scoring 18 points and nine rebounds.
The Gamecocks had 38 points in the paint against the Tigers, who made it difficult to score down low early on. USC was 21-for-49 from the field, including four triples. South Carolina also significantly improved its bench scoring from Wednesday night, with 20 points, though LSU won that category with 26.
The Tigers also won the rebounding battle, 38-33, including 12 offensive rebounds and 13 second chance points.
“It just takes relentless effort and some discipline because they are gonna go later in the clock,” McMahon said. “We did a better job on the glass. We’d been awful there. And we did a much better job on the defensive glass.”
South Carolina’s two high-scoring forwards have taken over the Gamecocks’ offense since the start of conference play. Particularly with Murray-Boyles, who’s been more than willing to match the physicality LSU brought down low early on.
Rankings drop coming up
Saturday’s loss was the first time this year South Carolina has dropped consecutive games. Expect the 0-2 week to lead to a potentially significant drop from No. 11 for USC in Monday’s new Associated Press Top 25.
USC’s 21-3 start to the season had the Gamecocks as high as a No. 3 seed in NCAA Tournament projections, but those bracketology forecasts are sure to take a hit as well. LSU was a Quad 3 loss for USC — so a bad but not terrible defeat — and the Gamecocks are now 5-2 in that category.
South Carolina had a NET ranking of 50 going into Saturday, and they were left out of the NCAA selection committee’s mock top 16 seeds released Saturday. The Gamecocks have five regular-season games and the SEC Tournament left to try and solidify their postseason resume. Selection Sunday for March Madness is March 17. .
USC, for now, is third in the SEC standings, with Auburn hosting Kentucky on Saturday afternoon. If Auburn loses, it will remain tied with South Carolina in the standings, but a win would give those Tigers sole possession of second in the conference standings.
An update on Meechie Johnson
Gamecocks’ starting guard Meechie Johnson took an elbow to the face while in transition with 5:05 left in the game. He remained down on the court for a few minutes before being escorted off by an athletic trainer and Paris. He didn’t return to the bench the rest of the game.
“That’s the protocol,” Paris said, “to err on the side of caution.”
Paris said he hadn’t heard confirmation on whether Johnson will be entered into concussion protocol. Because there was contact to the head, players required to undergo a screening to evaluate if there are concussion symptoms.
Johnson has only missed one game this season (against Elon on Dec. 22) with what USC said was a right knee injury.
Other notable stats
- Murray-Boyles’ double-digit scoring streak extends to five-straight games, beginning on Feb. 3 at Georgia.
- South Carolina has held 21 opponents to fewer than 70 points in a game this season. It’s tied for fourth in the nation for scoring defense and leads the SEC.
- Johnson has recorded 28 assists in his last six games, turning the ball over just six times. He had four assists and one turnover against the Tigers on Saturday.
Next four games
- Feb. 24 at Ole Miss, 3:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Feb. 28 at Texas A&M, 8:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
- March 2 vs. Florida, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)
- March 6 vs. Tennessee, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
This story was originally published February 17, 2024 at 5:31 PM.
