No. 18 South Carolina holds off Texas A&M charge for another SEC road win
One down, three more to go.
While the SEC Tournament seeding race heats up, No. 18 South Carolina had its first game in the final four matchups of the season, visiting Texas A&M on Wednesday in College Station. After holding a 13-point lead in the second half, the Gamecocks were thrust into a nail-biter when the Aggies tied the game at Reed Arena and briefly took the lead with under nine minutes to play.
South Carolina led by seven points with two minutes to go, but the Aggies came back and tied the game at 68 with a layup at the nine-second mark. A pass from Meechie Johnson to Zach Davis for a layup with three seconds to go sealed the 70-68 victory for USC (23-5, 11-4 SEC), which heads home after two road games and two victories.
The Gamecocks have won six SEC road games, marking the second most for the program all-time after the 1996-97 season.
Meechie Johnson, Zach Davis score big
The Gamecocks’ big-name guard had an impressive night against the Aggies, leading all scorers with 22 points. It was his highest scoring game since Auburn on Feb. 14.
Johnson’s averaged 13.5 points per game this season. Although he hadn’t had many double-digit nights in SEC play, the veteran guard has been a key contributor in most other categories. He had Davis’ help, who followed up a career-high performance against Ole Miss with 16 points against the Aggies.
The duo scored a total 38 points for South Carolina’s offense.
Ta’Lon Cooper also reached double figures at College Station, scoring 11 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Collin Murray-Boyles followed up Cooper with eight points and 12 rebounds, despite fouling out in the final two minutes of the game.
Ebrima Dibba makes an appearance
Halfway through the first half, Paris made the decision to put a new face onto the court: Ebrima Dibba.
The redshirt junior had barely played in a South Carolina uniform, seeing just 2:49 of action in the season opener against USC Upstate back in November. Paris said Dibba — who missed last season with an Achilles injury — was practicing in the hopes of cracking the rotation at some point.
Dibba made his SEC debut against the Aggies, playing a total of six minutes and scoring two points.
The late-season addition for USC comes while Myles Stute is out with a left knee sprain, an injury for which Paris hasn’t announced a timetable. Dibba’s playing time might still be limited through the final three regular season games, but it’s another piece to South Carolina’s offense.
SEC standings update
All four of the top seeds played Tuesday evening — Tennessee, Alabama, USC and Auburn. Tennessee defeated Auburn, and Alabama pulled away from Ole Miss to remain tied with the Vols for first in the conference standings.
Tennessee is one win away from securing a top four seed in the SEC Tournament. USC’s victory means the Gamecocks are two wins away from locking in one of those top seeds and a double-bye at the conference tournament in Nashville.
South Carolina’s win was its fifth Quad 1 victory this year, with the Gamecocks No. 48 in the NCAA’s NET rankings going into Wednesday’s game. This Saturday’s matchup against Florida will be another Quad 1 opportunity and USC’s second time facing a Top 25 while being ranked. With the Gators currently sitting at No. 5 in the league standings, the importance of Saturday’s game has increased tenfold.
The SEC regular-season title still hasn’t been claimed by anyone yet, and it’s still possible to end up as a two- or three-way tie.
Next games
- Saturday vs. No. 24 Florida, noon (ESPN)
- March 6 vs. Tennessee, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
- March 9 at Mississippi State, 2:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
- March 13-17 at SEC Tournament
This story was originally published February 28, 2024 at 10:40 PM.
