South Carolina Basketball Battles but Drops Another Game to the Hogs

Colonial Life Arena often is full of loud and rowdy Gamecock fans who make life difficult for opponents. Remarkably, though, the South Carolina basketball team has performed much better on the road this season, but the Gamecocks reversed that trend with a good showing against the Razorbacks on Saturday.

The first half was one full of missed opportunities for South Carolina as the Gamecocks repeatedly put themselves in good position but missed an obscene number of shots at the rim and allowed an Arkansas run seemingly every time they put together a string of made baskets. If just a few of those good looks fell, the game would have felt much more competitive than the nine-point halftime deficit indicated. Josh Gray and GG Jackson combined for 8-13 for 19 points and 11 rebounds in the first half, but solid play was limited to just those two players. Hayden Brown and Meechie Johnson were very aggressive but couldn’t get many shots to fall, as they combined for 2-12 from the field. Gray also contributed four big dunks in the first half.

For the Razorbacks, whether through initial gameplan or in-game adjustment, Head Coach Eric Musselman put together a clear plan: get Gamecock big man Josh Gray away from the basket and then attack, attack, attack. Gray was a defensive stalwart down low on Tuesday night against Mississippi State, and he continued his high-level, shot-altering defensive play on Saturday. However, when Gray was off the court or away from the basket defending a switch, Arkansas seemingly scored at will at the rim. Ricky Council IV, one of the SEC’s most impressive shot makers, was held to only six points at the half, but Jalen Graham went 6-7 for 12 points to pick up the slack.

After halftime, other players woke up for the Gamecock offense. Meechie Johnson got hot as he nailed 5 second-half threes and finished the game with 20 points. Hayden Brown made four shots in a row at one point, and GG Jackson added a few buckets of his own while playing excellent defense against Arkansas’ leading scorer Council. As the second half wore on, both teams repeatedly turned the ball over and exchanged open threes and dunks as the offenses and defenses took turns falling apart for minutes-long stretches at a time.

With about nine minutes to go, the Gamecocks cut the lead to 4, with Arkansas leading 58-54. Neither team scored for over four minutes until Meechie Johnson cut the lead to one with his fifth three-point jumper of the second half. The scoring drought for Arkansas continued until Anthony Black made two free throws with 2:54 remaining. The makes ended a 10-0 run for the Gamecocks and allowed the Razorbacks to reclaim the lead at 60-59. The red-hot Meechie Johnson drew multiple defenders on the next possession and dumped the roundball off to Gray for his fifth rim rattler of the game.

The final two minutes saw several more lead changes, including another monster slam from the 7’0″ Josh Gray. Arkansas led by one with a one-and-one opportunity from the charity stripe, but Davonte Davis missed the front end. The Gamecocks’s Hayden Brown missed a contested layup, and Anthony Black was fouled after grabbing the rebound. Black made the first free throw to go up two, but GG Jackson snatched the board when he missed the second. With 2.2 seconds remaining, after a timeout, the Gamecocks inbounded (for some reason) the ball to Josh Gray who heaved up a prayer at the buzzer that barely even touched the top of the backboard.

The Gamecocks outrebounded the Hogs by two and shot better from the arc, but the Razorbacks’ 6 percentage-points advantage in shooting percentage was the difference as Lamont Paris’ group loses their seventh straight SEC contest.

The Gamecocks will travel to Missouri to face the Tigers on Tuesday night.