In a game that had many ups and downs, South Carolina looked like it would get run out of the gym early in the first half and yet led by as many as 11 points in the second half before ultimately losing to No. 18 Arkansas 78-74 in heartbreaking fashion on senior night.
South Carolina looked poised to pull off one of the bigger upsets of this year’s SEC season, but the Gamecocks, who led by double-digits with not much time remaining, faltered down the stretch as Arkansas ended the game on an 18-3 run.
The Gamecocks missed four of their last five shots and when down by three points, sophomore guard Sindarius Thornwell was unable to register a three-point attempt and was instead sent to the free throw line with 2.6 seconds remaining. Thornwell made the first at the charity stripe before purposely missing the second, but the Gamecocks couldn’t come up with the rebound to try a last-second putback attempt.
South Carolina, now 14-15, will need to win at Tennessee on Saturday in order to have a non-losing regular-season record for the first time since 2009-2010.
If the Gamecocks had held on for the win, it would have been their second victory this season against a ranked opponent. But any hopes of a victory began to disappear once senior guard Tyrone Johnson had to leave the game with cramps with 2:29 remaining. South Carolina would be outscored 8-1 from that point on.
For the Gamecocks, it hurts to be so close to knocking off one of the SEC’s top teams but not be able to finish off the job.
“It’s been a common theme all season,” South Carolina sophomore guard Duane Notice said. “It’s kind of become habitual, which kind of makes it painful for us, because we know that we can compete with all these teams.”
Once trailing by 20 points in the first half, South Carolina was able to cut the deficit down to 11 points by halftime and the Gamecocks carried the momentum from that into the second half, which head coach Frank Martin’s team dominated, for the most part.
Arkansas, known for its athleticism and intensity, looked sheepish and under pressure early on in the second half as the Gamecocks mounted their rally, but the Razorbacks would eventually regain their confidence and swagger.
Led by sophomore forward Bobby Portis, Arkansas shot 66 percent in the final 2:30 as the Razorbacks escaped with their 13th conference win of the season.
Portis, who was contained for much of the final 20 minutes, finished with a game-high 24 points and junior guard Michael Qualls added 18 for the resilient Razorbacks.
“Laimonas [Chatkevicius] most of missed the part in the scouting report where it said he’s [Portis] probably the player of the league,” Martin said. “He must not have paid attention to that part. He stood there and watched him make all the shots the scouting report said he’s going to take.”
Whether it be with a dunk, a nifty post move or a mid-range jump shot, Portis was able to hurt South Carolina.
Still, South Carolina never quit, which Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson said he expected from a Martin coached team.
Led by its guards, South Carolina shot 51 percent from the field and it was Notice who perhaps had the biggest play of the night as South Carolina began to get back in the game.
With the Gamecocks trailing by five points less than four minutes into the second half, Notice completed a four-point play as he was fouled on a three-pointer, which he made. The quick turn of events sent the home crowd into a fury and served as a pivotal moment in South Carolina’s comeback.
Notice scored 16 points for the Gamecocks and Johnson added 18, a South Carolina high, before his exit.
Junior forward Michael Carrera also scored 14 points.
Even when down big in the second half, Arkansas never panicked and was able to use its athleticism and poise in the closing minutes.
Once Johnson suffered his injury, South Carolina failed to make the proper adjustments on offense without its senior leader on the floor and instead had to depend on freshman guard Marcus Stroman, who had missed five of the Gamecocks’ previous six games with a throat infection.
The game was Johnson’s last at Colonial Life Arena and he said that it hurt to have to sit on the bench in the closing minutes.
“I tried and tried to get up and go back out there with my teammates, but I just couldn’t do it. It’s hard to end your career playing inside CLA like that.”
South Carolina heads to Knoxville on Saturday for the regular-season finale against the Volunteers.