South Carolina MBB battles but can’t upset No. 18 Georgia. What we learned

With a season-first Quad 1 win against LSU for South Carolina men’s basketball came ready for its matchup against No. 18 Georgia.

Colonial Life Arena saw its best men’s hoops crowd of the year as USC and head coach Lamont Paris had an opportunity to keep momentum rolling and perhaps make a statement early in conference play with a second-straight quality win.

It wouldn’t come easy, however, as it would require toppling the No. 18 team in the nation, the Georgia Bulldogs.

As the game drew to a close, the Gamecocks fell short in front of a much emptier arena than the one that existed at tipoff.

“I thought it was pretty good overall. Offensively, we just had a couple guys didn’t perform the way that we needed to,” Paris said. “And then there’s this equation that’s this thing’s bad this day, this thing’s got to be good this day. … This is frustrating, when you put yourself in position to win, to not win.”

Ultimately, USC (10-6, 1-2 SEC) fell to the Bulldogs (14-2, 2-1 SEC), 75-70, and fell back below .500 in SEC play.

USC’s most complete start to a game this season slowed to a halt as the clock wound down, and the initial lead wasn’t enough to stave off a loss this time.

Dirty work

The Bulldogs entered Saturday’s game as the nation’s top-scoring team built on forcing turnovers, getting out in transition and dominating the glass. The Gamecocks typically find themselves on the losing side in those phases of the game. This time, USC wouldn’t be taken advantage of.

USC consistently hustled for loose balls in the first half, preventing at least two turnovers and coughing up only five, allowing just nine UGA points off turnovers. The Gamecocks also kept up in the battle for rebounds (18-17), paint scoring (18-18), steals (3-3) and blocks.

The Gamecocks also found success attacking the free throw line in the first half. USC made 10-of-13 attempts from the line and drew 10 Georgia fouls. USC went away from this approach late, finishing with 15 points on 21 free-throw attempts.

“We knew they were a deep, good defensive team coming in, but I felt like we were aggressive,” USC senior guard Kobe Knox said. “We could have attacked the rim more, because, you know, we’re a free throw shooting team. Just missed some easy ones at the line.”

UGA’s final point total was well below its 97.9 season average.

Garden variety

In the past, Paris has tabbed 33.3% as the threshold of efficient 3-point shooting. After the Gamecocks shot 76.9% from three in the first half against LSU and 25.0% in the second half, Paris said he’d prefer a “garden variety” good shooting night from his squad.

Paris couldn’t quite get his wish as USC finished 29.2% beyond the arc. Down three points in the closing five minutes of the game, the Gamecocks went 1-for-9 from the floor the rest of the way and couldn’t pull back.

After the game, Paris cited missing the stretch of shots late as the biggest reason USC lost the game.

“We got none of those to happen. All those plays I just said, all happened in the last whatever the amount of time was. I don’t want to make something up, but I remember they happened in succession,” he said. “That led to a stretch where we weren’t scoring for a while. … That, right off the top of my head stands out as to what potentially caused a differential towards the end of the game.”

Mike Sharavjamnts was USC’s most efficient 3-point shooter, finishing 2-for-3. Meechie Johnson was the team’s coldest shooter of the night with an 1-for-8 3-point performance.

Shark bait

Sharavjamnts, known affectionately as “Mongolian Mike” to fans and “Shark” to family and teammates, led the way for the Gamecocks with 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting.

The senior guard has been one of USC’s best driving scorers this season, which lent himself perfectly to the Gamecocks interior-heavy offensive scheme Saturday. He fell one point short of his previous career high of 19 points, which he recorded as a member of Utah last season against Queens.

“I was trying to get more fouls and play off two feet,” Sharavjamnts said.

USC is the fourth school in four years for Sharavjamnts, who made prior stops at Dayton, San Francisco and Utah.

South Carolina men’s basketball schedule: Next four games

• Wednesday: at Arkansas, 9 p.m. (SEC Network)
• Jan. 17: at Auburn, 6 p.m. (SEC Network)
• Jan. 20: vs. Oklahoma, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
• Jan. 24: at Texas A&M, 3:30 p.m. (SEC Network)

This story was originally published January 10, 2026 at 4:31 PM.