Looking to avenge a blowout road loss to Alabama on Wednesday, the South Carolina Gamecocks showed up big when they faced the Missouri Tigers Saturday.
The Gamecocks began the week as one of two undefeated teams remaining and ranked No. 19 nationally. The loss to Alabama will likely drop South Carolina in the rankings; however, Saturday’s victory over Missouri should still keep the team afloat.
“Proud of our guys, we got back in character today,” head coach Frank Martin said. “We weren’t great, but I thought we played more to who we are." Martin said.
South Carolina never trailed in the game, with its lead ballooning to 13 points at one point. Missouri did come close in the second half, cutting the Gamecock lead to four, but in the end, could not get over the hump.
This is, in part, courtesy of shooting guard Sindarius Thornwell who finished the game with a team-high 22 points on a season-best 7-13 shooting from the field. This followed arguably Thornwell’s worst overall game of the season against Alabama when he scored two points on 1-6 shooting from the field.
“After the Alabama game, we came back refocused and came in ready to work the last two days of practice. It was big for us ... It would have been like an eight-game losing streak in the last couple years, whereas now we could bounce back,” Thornwell said.
The junior shooting guard also added five rebounds, four assists and three steals to his scoring outburst.
As a team, South Carolina struggled to stop Missouri’s offense. The Tigers entered Saturday’s game with one of the lowest shooting percentages in the SEC but managed to shoot 49.1 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from three against one of the nation’s top defenses in South Carolina.
This was just the sixth time the Gamecocks allowed 70 or more points in a game this season.
Forward Chris Silva broke out of his four-game shooting slump Saturday, scoring nine points on a perfect 4-4 shooting in 11 minutes. The freshman from Gabon was shooting 20 percent during his slump, 41.6 percent at the free throw line.
Per usual, Silva did have trouble staying on the court, picking up his fourth foul midway through the second half. Senior forward Michael Carrera also found himself in foul trouble, picking up his fourth personal foul down the stretch.
Junior guard Wes Clark led the way for the Tigers, scoring a game-high 26 points after dislocating his elbow in Colonial Life Arena last season.
"That elbow still bothers him, he's not 100 percent. But he came out and played like a guy that's like 'you know what, we're not playing like this again,'" Martin said. "Give him credit."
South Carolina will hit the road this week, beginning with Ole Miss on Tuesday and finishing with Tennessee on Saturday.