In his NCAA Tournament debut with the program, Frank Martin led South Carolina to its first tournament win in 44 years -- its first since the Frank McGuire era.
After 244 games without a trip to the Big Dance, the Gamecocks appeared a little starstruck out of the gate.
"We were a little gun-shy coming out of the regular season," Martin said. "Once our name went up on the board and I saw our guys' demeanor in practice -- their looseness, their confidence, the aggressiveness -- I knew we were going to play well."
Marquette opened up with an 8-0 run as the Gamecocks missed their first six shots from the field. Senior guard Sindarius Thornwell ended the Gamecocks' early skid with a 3-pointer to put his team on the board.
The Golden Eagles finished the regular season as the nation's most efficient team from behind the arc, and connected on eight 3-pointers in the first half. Marquette's up-tempo offense featured a blitz of cross-court passes, generating plenty of open looks as the Gamecocks struggled to adjust on defense.
Despite a reputation for playing an offense-first brand of basketball, the Golden Eagles forced South Carolina out of the paint early in the game. The Gamecocks took nine of their first 12 shots from behind the arc.
"Our guys were nervous," said Martin. "You don't know how hard they've worked to get to this moment."
Despite Marquette's early momentum on both ends of the court, back-to-back dunks by sophomores Chris Silva and PJ Dozier cut the Gamecocks' deficit to 28-26 with 6:23 remaining in the first half. As the crowd started to murmur, Thornwell stood standing at half-court, encouraging the crowd for a bigger response with both hands.
He got one.
Marquette took a 40-39 advantage to the locker room, but the Gamecocks parlayed their momentum from before the break and went on a 13-0 run early in the second half.
Dozier and Thornwell would combine for 32 points in the second half to supercharge South Carolina's offense.
Dozier penetrated Marquette's tiring defense, using his combination of speed and strength to muscle his way to the rim.
"It helped the momentum when PJ got those couple fast break dunks and the atmosphere went crazy," Thornwell said.
"We had more fans at our open practice yesterday -- I'm not talking about total fans, I'm talking about Gamecock fans -- than we had at the first game I ever coached at Colonial Life Arena," Martin said.
"I knew that if we could build it -- and that was a big "if" -- that if we could build it and play the kind of basketball that I like my team to play -- our fans would absolutely love it," Martin said.
The Gamecocks quelled Marquette's early offensive explosion, holding the Golden Eagles to 10 points in the last 11 minutes.
South Carolina outscored Marquette by 21 points in the second half for a final score of 93-73.
The Gamecocks will advance to play Duke on Sunday at 8:45 p.m. The Blue Devils defeated Troy 87-65 in their first tournament game.