South Carolina jumped into a tie for first place in the SEC with a 63-53 road victory over the Missouri Tigers. The win pushes the Gamecocks to 17-4 on the season with a 7-1 mark in conference play.
Slow start on both sides
South Carolina’s hot shooting against Auburn on Tuesday didn’t reach Columbia, Missouri by tip-off on Saturday night. The Gamecocks were ice cold out of the gate, missing their first five shots from the field before Sindarius Thornwell connected on a three-pointer.
“Offensively we’re not starting games real good,” said Frank Martin on the slow start. “I’ve got to figure out a way to fix that right now.”
Thornwell was the only Gamecock starter to score in the first half, tallying seven points. Chris Silva and PJ Dozier both picked up two early fouls and sat for the majority of the half. Both would pick up fouls in the first four minutes of the second half and quickly found the bench again.
The Gamecocks were plagued by the turnover bug in the first half, giving the ball away 14 times.
Missouri was not able to capitalize on the Gamecocks’ mistakes however, making just seven field goals in the first half and turning the ball over 10 times. The Gamecocks managed a 26-22 halftime lead.
Gamecocks’ defense asserts itself again
South Carolina’s defensive play carried the team once again in the win. The Gamecocks held Missouri to just 22 first-half points and to a season low 53 total points.
The Gamecocks entered the night holding opponents to an NCAA worst 26.4 percent shooting percentage from three-point range and only strengthened that statistic against the Tigers.
Missouri failed to connect on its first nine attempts from behind the arc with its lone make coming with just 11:48 to play in the game. The Tigers would finish the night shooting 5.9 percent from behind the arch after only converting on one of their 17 attempts.
“We spend a lot of time on our defense and there’s a reason for it,” Martin said.
The defense made up for a poor offensive showing and allowed the Gamecocks a double-digit win.
The Gamecocks were also able to force 15 Missouri turnovers en route to the win.
Felder steps up as Thornwell’s sidekick
Sindarius Thornwell once again was huge in the Gamecocks win. The senior posted a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds but picked up much-needed help off the bench from Rakym Felder.
Felder notched 13 points in just 19 minutes off the bench, in a game were no Gamecock starters outside of Thornwell reached double figures in points.
“He’s big time,” said Thornwell on the Felder’s impact, “he just brings another scoring ability and toughness and controlling the ball and runnnig the team, so when PJ goes out there's not really a drop off.”
Next Up
The Gamecocks take to the road for the second straight contest to face the LSU Tigers on Wednesday looking to hold their spot atop the SEC standings.