South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks Nearly Pull Upset over Top-Ranked Team

With a whirlwind of news surrounding the Crimson Tide program, Alabama rode I-20 into Columbia to take on the South Carolina basketball team. The crowd was not very big but was extremely loud early. Brandon Miller and Nate Oats, at the center of the aforementioned whirlwind, regularly received loud boos from the Carolina faithful.

The first few minutes would have been dominated by the home team except for two early “pick-6” turnovers (one directly resulted in a layup, while the other netted two made free throws). In those minutes, GG Jackson hit a nice jumper and had his best pick-and-roll ball handling possession of the season as he came off of a Josh Gray screen, drew the defense in, and hit Gray for a big dunk in traffic. Miller seemed shaken offensively by the jeering in the game’s early goings as he missed his first two shots, committed a foul, and had an ugly turnover.

The Tide scored five straight before Jackson answered with five of his own to bring the score back to a one-possession game. From there, the Gamecocks took the lead 15-13 when they tacked on another four points to make it a 9-0 run. Walk-on Eli Sparkman provided a spark, man, when he hit a corner three that lit a fuse under the powder keg that was Colonial Life Arena. Riding the wave of momentum and crowd noise, the run continued to 16-2 before Nate Oats called a timeout.

Brandon Miller got comfortable toward the end of the half and led the Crimson Tide back into the game. An Alabama fan-centered fight broke out and stopped play, but when it resumed, Miller and Jackson were in a heavyweight bout of their own. Trading baskets and high-flying dunks, the crowd in Columbia was treated to a show put on by the two potential first-round picks. The two teams traded buckets up until GG Jackson got a big stop on Miller, forcing a shot clock violation with five seconds remaining. Meechie Johnson took the inbound and dribbled to half-court where he hit the desperation heave with two men on him to extend the Gamecock lead to 35-31.

After exiting the locker room with their first home halftime lead of the SEC season (yes, you read that correctly), the back-and-forth continued. Miller led the way for Alabama as he had a personal 10-0 run early in the half to retake the lead. Jackson and Josh Gray answered by doing just enough to keep the game within one possession at the under-16 media timeout.

The teams traded a virtually-even amount of buckets and stops over the next six minutes. This included the Gamecocks’ first made free throws of the night, courtesy of Jacobi Wright; The Tide had already knocked down 9 shots from the charity stripe at the same point of the game. Charles Bediako continued playing very well for the Crimson Tide, snagging rebounds and altering shots as he was the only supporting cast member helping the team’s star, Miller.

As the half wore on to the mid-point, the GG Jackson and the South Carolina offense struggled to keep scoring against a stifling Alabama defense. A three-minute scoring drought gave the lead back to the visitors from Tuscaloosa. Nate Oats’ squad maintained that small lead for the next five minutes of action until a hot Meechie Johnson knocked in a three-pointer to tie things up again. Johnson played very well after his mid-court heave at the halftime buzzer, logging all but three of his points from that moment on.

An 8-0 run brought the Gamecocks ahead, but Brandon Miller scored his 31st, 32nd, and 33rd points to end the run. With 90 seconds remaining, South Carolina led 64-63. Noah Clowney made a second-chance layup for the Tide, and Jacobi Wright immediately answered with two free throws after drawing a foul on a drive. Hayden Brown fouled out on a questionable call at the basket with 30 seconds left. Jaden Bradley made one of two free throws to tie the game.

Jacobi Wright hit an aggressive pull-up jumper with 14 seconds to go that gave the Gamecocks a 68-66 lead, but Brandon Miller slithered into the lane and banked a layup off the glass to send the game to overtime and match his career-high in scoring.

In overtime, fatigue led to sloppy play as neither team scored in the first minute. Josh Gray of all players hit two clutch free throws to give the ‘Cocks a 70-68 lead. After three Alabama buckets, the Tide led by four points, but Jacobi Wright hit two lane jumpers to bring the score to even. Brandon Miller’s drive with 30 seconds left gave the Crimson Tide the lead again, and, after Meechie Johnson answered with a layup, Miller won off the bounce again, setting a new career-high of 41 points. The fourteenth lead change would be the last as a last-second prayer from Meechie Johnson did not fall despite drawing iron.

An excellent game from start to finish did not go the Gamecocks’ way. South Carolina was outrebounded 27-40 and made ten fewer free throws than Alabama but still took the Tide to the literal final seconds.

Box Score

The South Carolina basketball team will head to Knoxville to play the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday.