Gamecocks men's basketball notched their third loss in four games on Tuesday night at Colonial Life Arena in an 86-83 loss to the Virginia Tech Hokies in overtime. Poor defense along the perimeter mixed with a lack of presence in the paint cost South Carolina their previously undefeated record in ACC/SEC challenge games under head coach Lamont Paris.
In the first half, Virginia Tech managed to out-rebound the Gamecocks 21-9. With 6:14 left in the first half, South Carolina had totaled just three rebounds compared to 13 from the Hokies. Paris' unit finished with just five total offensive rebounds, with zero coming from the first period.
The Gamecocks paid the price for the lack of paint presence, as Virginia Tech outnumbered South Carolina in second-chance points 12-0 in the first half. The Hokies led in points in the paint too, leading 26-14 in the period. That disparity more than doubled by the end of the game, as the Hokies outscored the Gamecocks 54-30 down low through overtime.
"In the first half, they punched us in our mouth," junior guard Elijah Strong said. "I feel like we did a good job responding at that, we've just got to be able to finish a game."
Defensively, South Carolina managed to mostly contain Virginia Tech freshman guard Neoklis Avdalas. In the first half Avdalas had just 5 points in fifteen minutes on only three shots. While the Gamecocks could have capitalized on eliminating Avdalas from the equation, the team allowed junior forward Amani Hansberry to go for 13 points while shooting 86% from the field in the first period.
Avdalas finished with 13 points, shooting sub-50% from the field on the night. Hansberry finished with 22 points, leading the team. Sophomore guard Ben Hammond put up 16 points, with six coming in overtime alone. Redshirt junior guard Jaden Schutt had 12.
Hansberry, Hammond and Schutt all exceeded their season average point totals in Tuesday's game. Whenever the Gamecocks attempted to take a player out of the game, the Hokies consistently found answers elsewhere.
From the start of the second half until the 6:08 mark of the same period, South Carolina never cut the deficit below three. In that time span, each team scored exactly 24 points. By the time the Gamecocks began to put together stops to crawl back in the game, the Hokies shook off early crunch time woes to pull away late in overtime.
"I think really by and large it came down to some defensive decisions," head coach Lamont Paris said. "A guy comes off of a screen, and we foul him for a three at the end. You're not going to block that shot."
Senior guard Mike Sharavjamts committed a shooting foul on a 3-point shot attempt from Schutt with 2:41 remaining in overtime. Going two-for-three from the line, the game was then tied at 76. The Hokies shot nine free throws in overtime compared to the Gamecocks two.
When teams have scored at least 70 points in regulation against the Gamecocks this season, every game has either resulted in a loss or gone to overtime. The team allowed 79 points to both Butler and Northwestern, and 70 in regulation to both Virginia Tech and Southern Mississippi. With a record of 1-3 in such games, South Carolina has developed a consistent inability to close out games.
Whether its an issue with lineups or simple inability, South Carolina lacks an imposing presence in the paint, and it once again showed on Tuesday night. Sharavjamts leads the team in rebounding through eight games, averaging 6.6 per game. He's the only player on the team averaging more than five a night. In Tuesday's loss to Virginia Tech, no Gamecock had more than six total boards, with redshirt senior guard Meechie Johnson and Sharavjamts each grabbing six.
For comparison, the Hokies have three players averaging more than six rebounds a game this season, one of whom didn't suit up against the Gamecocks. Hansberry led the way on Tuesday with 14, complimented by Avdalas with eight.
"At the end of the day, you have to rebound," Paris said. "We have to decide that rebounding is the way that the possession ends."
The Hokies finished the game shooting 50% from the field on 66 total shots. Scoring 28% of their points (24) off layups compared to 17% by the Gamecocks (14) was almost certainly due to a lack of occupation in the paint by South Carolina.