South Carolina fell in the quarterfinal round of the SEC Tournament for a fourth consecutive season, as missed free-throws haunted the Gamecocks in a 64-53 defeat to Alabama.
After finishing the regular season with the second most SEC wins in program history, South Carolina earned a double-bye with a 12-6 record.
"Alabama deserved to win today," said South Carolina head coach Frank Martin. "We were very noncompetitive in the effort plays, guarding the basketball, rebounding. [It's] disappointing because that's some of the things we've been pretty good at all year."
"Last time we played them it took a superhuman effort by Sindarius [Thornwell] to give us the courage to try to win that game," Martin said. "He obviously didn't have that giddy-up."
Thornwell, the recently named SEC Player of the Year, scored 44 points in South Carolina's quadruple-overtime loss to Alabama on Feb. 8. The senior guard still paced the Gamecocks with 16 points in the rematch, but the Crimson Tide limited Thornwell to just four points on the free-throw line.
"It hurts bad," said Thornwell. "The last two years we had the team to compete for the championships to play on Sunday."
A matchup featuring the two top scoring defenses in the SEC proved to be as advertised in the first half, with both teams shooting a combined 35 percent from the floor.
South Carolina's scoring drought approached five minutes to open the game before sophomore guard PJ Dozier split the defense for an uncontested layup. The Gamecocks received minimal production from their starting rotation in the first half, as South Carolina's opening five compiled just four baskets in 15 attempts.
With the Gamecocks' primary scoring threats struggling early on, freshman guard Evan Hinson helped compensate for the missing production with a pair of layups and rebounds in four early minutes off the bench. Hinson began the season with South Carolina's football program before making his debut against Ole Miss on Jan. 14. Entering tournament play he had logged just 13 minutes over five contests.
The scoring margin never eclipsed five points in the first half as both teams struggled to generate open looks. The Gamecocks played a relatively clean first half, recording just five fouls and five turnovers, but entered the break trailing 23-22.
Eight missed free-throws plagued South Carolina in the second half. Alabama outmatched the Gamecocks on the glass, grabbing twelve offensive rebounds to South Carolina's 7.
The Gamecocks appeared to be finding a rhythm midway through the second half, but Alabama's Riley Norris knocked down consecutive 3-point attempts, giving the Crimson Tide a 52-47 advantage with 4:36 remaining. Norris has earned a reputation of doing damage against the Gamecocks. He made eight 3-pointers against South Carolina to hand the Gamecocks their first defeat after a 15-0 start in 2016.
With under three minutes remaining the Gamecocks trailed 54-53 after sophomore forward Chris Silva converted a pair of free-throw attempts, but Alabama would secure the victory with 10 unanswered points from the line.
South Carolina entered the contest projected as a No. 7 seed for the NCAA Tournament in Joe Lunardi's most recent bracket for ESPN, but it remains to be seen how the committee will weigh a one-and-done conference tournament showing.
The Gamecocks' fate will be decided on March 12, with streaming for Selection Sunday kicking off at 5:30 p.m. on CBS and NCAA.com.