Traveling and being able to win on the road has been tough for head coach Frank Martin’s South Carolina team this year, and the Gamecocks' woes away from the Colonial Life Arena continued Tuesday night as they fell 59-51 to the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The Gamecocks were going for the season sweep of Alabama, as South Carolina beat the Crimson Tide 68-66 earlier in the season.
With just more than five minutes remaining in the second half, South Carolina trailed by just one point, with the score at 50-49 after a made three-pointer by junior forward Michael Carrera.
However, the Crimson Tide would outscore the Gamecocks 9-2 in the final 2:46 and South Carolina once again lost on the road. Martin’s team is now 1-7 in SEC games played away from the Colonial Life Arena.
South Carolina’s offense couldn’t produce down the stretch and the Gamecocks made only two of its final 11 shots from the field.
Alabama senior guard Levi Randolph led the Crimson Tide with 17 points, but strong second half performances by senior guard Rodney Cooper and redshirt junior Retin Obasohan helped the home team pull away from the Gamecocks.
The duo scored just three points in the first half, but the two players combined for 23 points in the final 20 minutes of play.
Although South Carolina only made 34.5 percent of its shots, the night started off well.
As soon as the first half began senior guard Tyrone Johnson quickly put up two consecutive three-pointers and South Carolina led 6-0.
By halftime, the two teams were evened up at 22-22 in a low scoring affair.
But as the second half went on, the scoring increased, with Alabama outscoring the Gamecocks 37-29 after halftime.
Alabama shot an impressive 47.4 percent in the first half, but was still able to become more efficient on the offensive front in the second half, making 52.2 percent of its shots.
Despite its poor shooting, South Carolina certainly had its chances to come away with a fifth SEC win but just couldn’t put the ball in the basket, which has been a recurring theme this season.
South Carolina took 13 more shots than Alabama and outrebounded the Crimson Tide 36-26, but couldn’t make them pay.
Junior forward Laimonas Chatkevicius led South Carolina with 18 points, making 58.3 percent of his shots from the field and sophomore guard Duane Notice added 16 points. However, outside of those two, no other Gamecock scored more than seven points.
Sophomore guard Sindarius Thornwell, who entered the game averaging a team-best 11.4 points per game, was held to only four points as he made just two of 14 field goal attempts, including an 0-8 mark from three-point range.
As a team, the Gamecocks made only 23.3 percent of their three-pointers (7-30).
One positive for South Carolina was the return of freshman guard Marcus Stroman. Stroman had missed four straight games because of a throat infection which caused him to lose 20 pounds, but the Columbia native was cleared to play.
Next up for South Carolina (13-14, 4-11 SEC) is a home game against Mississippi State (12-15, 5-9 SEC) in Colonial Life Arena on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 6 p.m.