The Gamecocks won their second straight game Saturday night to stay afloat in the NCAA basketball rankings, defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide 78-64.
South Carolina fell from its No. 24 ranking after losing two games over a four-game stretch. One of those games was against the Crimson Tide, who blew out the Gamecocks two weeks ago 73-50.
Michael Carrera led the Gamecocks in scoring for the fourth consecutive game with 20 points, 13 coming in the second half. The likely candidate for SEC Player of the Week made up for an off shooting night at the foul line, hitting 12 of his 14 attempts.
Alabama cut the Gamecocks lead to six with 4:15 remaining in the game, however, Carrera kept his team afloat responding with a three-pointer.
“I’m proud of our guys, we tried to make a run there. Towards the end of the second half Carrera makes a big three,” Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said. “That was a backbreaker for us. He’s been playing great. I really love that kid. He’s a fun kid to watch,” he said.
Junior guard Sindarius Thornwell played one of the worst games of his three-year career in the Jan. 13 matchup at Alabama, scoring just two points on 1-6 shooting. That was not the case on Saturday, as Thornwell redeemed himself with a 14-point outing, on 4-9 shooting, while also grabbing seven rebounds.
Thornwell has struggled with his shot as of late, converting six of his last 32 shot attempts previous to Saturday’s game, but his performance against the Crimson Tide seemed to put an end to the slump.
As a team, South Carolina played well defensively, holding Alabama to 33.3 percent shooting. Riley Norris, who torched the Gamecocks for 27 points and eight three-pointers last game, was held to 11 points.
Foul trouble plagued Alabama’s leading scorer Retin Obasohan early, who picked up his fourth personal foul at the 15:13 mark in the second half. Obasohan heated up down the stretch, however and scored a game-high 23 points on 6-10 shooting. The senior was averaging 15.2 points per game prior to Saturday.
Laimonas Chatkevicius was benched for Chris Silva, but provided an energy boost down the stretch after receiving three minutes of playing time in the first half. The senior forward scored seven points and grabbed four rebounds in the second half, but more importantly gave the Gamecocks a lift with two pivotal back-to-back dunks after Alabama cut the lead to just eight.
“I wasn’t happy with our starts to games and second halves. Defensively Chris is just real good, his toughness, his athleticism. He’s way ahead on defense than what he is on offense,” Frank Martinsaid. “He earned the right to get out there," he said.
Freshman Chris Silva started his first career game, scoring 12 points and blocking three shots.