Looking to end a two-game losing streak, the South Carolina men’s basketball team defeated Mississippi State, another team that finds itself near the bottom of the SEC standings, 81-68 Saturday night at Colonial Life Arena behind an impressive performance from one its veteran players.
Senior guard Tyrone Johnson’s 28-point effort, a career-best, helped the Gamecocks earn their fifth SEC win of the season. The Gamecocks (14-14, 5-11 SEC) have struggled to put the ball in the basket for much of the season, but South Carolina performed well on offense and made 46.3 percent of its shots against the Bulldogs, a noticeable increase from its 39.9 percent season average.
Led by Johnson’s third 20-plus point performance of the year, three players scored in double-digits for South Carolina.
Gamecock head coach Frank Martin has criticized Johnson for being too passive at times with the ball, but he praised his point guard for his aggressiveness.
“I’m happy as heck for Ty,” Martin said. “To deal with the ball pressure they put on you, the variety of presses, to only have one turnover, take care of the ball and to set a career-high in his second to last home game, that’s what you want from seniors.”
Johnson’s scoring outburst came after two lackluster performances against Texas A&M and Alabama, a stretch in which he scored only eight points.
As a team, South Carolina didn’t press things on offense and took good shots, according to Johnson.
“Today, I think the shots that we took were great shots,” Johnson said. “They were in a rhythm, they were not forced. Some games we force shots up. We are great shooters, but we don’t ever shoot the right shots sometimes. Today, I think everybody shot the right shots.”
Later on in the second half, Mississippi State trailed South Carolina by only five points and had a chance to keep the score close, but Johnson and junior forward Laimonas Chatkevicius carried the Gamecocks down the stretch.
Chatkevicius scored 18 points for the second straight game, grabbing nine rebounds and 22 of Johnson’s points came in the second half.
Sophomore guard Duane Notice also added 13 points — he's had a streaky season, but Notice has now scored in double-digits in four straight games and is averaging 14.75 points per game during this current stretch.
South Carolina, a team that makes only 28.8 percent of its three-point shots on average, was 8 of 24 from beyond the arc (33 percent). The Gamecocks’ 81-point output was its highest in conference play this season.
“I thought our ball movement, our aggression and our player movement was as good as it’s been in a while,” Martin said.
On the other end of the court, Mississippi State was even more impressive on offense, at least in the first half.
Junior guard Craig Sword led Mississippi State with 26 points, shooting 71.4 percent from the field.
“He might be the hardest guard in the league,” Martin said.
The Bulldogs made 59 percent of their shots through the first 20 minutes, but Mississippi State’s inability to score at the free throw line cost head coach Rick Ray’s team down the stretch.
Mississippi State shot only 25 percent at the charity stripe in the first half and turnovers proved costly for the visitors, too.
South Carolina held Mississippi State to only 37.5 percent shooting in the second half, and the Bulldogs committed 12 turnovers, five more than the Gamecocks.
Going up against a team that likes to drive to the basket, South Carolina stayed patient with its zone defense, even when Mississippi State was hitting shots early on and that plan worked out, Johnson said.
“We knew they were great drivers and not great shooters,” Johnson said. “Coach said that sometimes you’re going to give up some shots, and I think that their best player made some tough threes in the corner, but coach said that we can live with that.”
Mississippi State has now lost four straight games and are 1-3 in its last three contests against the Gamecocks.
With Arkansas coming to town for Senior night on Thursday, South Carolina has a chance to finish with a non-losing regular season record for the first time since the 2008-2009 season with two regular season games remaining.
Johnson is the Gamecocks’ lone senior this season, and he knows that time is running out in his clock, all the more reason for him to stay aggressive and enjoy the ride as South Carolina attempts to end the season on a high note with the SEC tournament right around the corner.
“I know that my time is coming to an end,” Johnson said. “My senior night is Thursday, and I’m just trying to take every game like it’s my last.”