Behind a complete team effort in which they dominated on both the offensive and defensive ends, No. 19 South Carolina beat LSU 88-63 Wednesday night.
The Gamecocks' offensive explosion was not fueled by just one player’s performance, but it was the product of many. South Carolina saw four players score in double digits on the night, as Sindarius Thornwell, PJ Dozier, Chris Silva and Duane Notice all scored over 15 points. Those four players combined to score 66 points — more than the entire LSU team.
South Carolina as a whole shot just under 50 percent from the field connecting on 30 of their 61 shots.
This team effort stretched LSU’s defense, opening up driving lanes for Dozier, Notice and Thornwell, while also preventing the LSU defenders from doubling down on Silva and Kotsar in the post. This lack of help defense provided South Carolina’s big men adequate time to make their post moves and allowed them not to have to worry about guards poking the ball out as they went to make their moves.
Behind this balanced offense, South Carolina was able to score 12 more points than their season average.
As impressive as the Gamecock’s were on offense, they were arguably even more impressive defending the Tigers. They held LSU’s leading scorer Antonio Blakeney to just nine points on 12 shots. On the season, Blakeney was averaging 16 points per game points.
The Tigers were also forced into 22 turnovers, which South Carolina was able to turn into 34 points on the other end of the court. Carolina was able to turn many of their ten steals into easy baskets on the other end.
With the win, South Carolina improves to 18-4 on the season and 7-1 in the SEC.
They return to action Saturday against Georgia, as the Bulldogs come to Colonial Life Arena looking to avenge their six point loss suffered to South Carolina earlier this season.