The South Carolina basketball team had its final regular season game on Saturday as they welcomed the Georgia Bulldogs to town. The Gamecocks didn’t have anything to play for but pride as they were locked into the 12/13 matchup in the SEC Tournament regardless of the outcome and have no postseason aspirations short of winning the whole Tournament next week.
Someone must have been passing out bricks of butter to the players during pregame warmups at Colonial Life Arena as both teams shot the ball poorly and turned the ball over entirely too much. The offense was ugly, and it wasn’t because the defenses were amazing. Georgia did not score until four minutes into the game, but they scored 12 straight to make the score 12-7.
Terry Roberts was the only offensive player for the Bulldogs to have much success, and Hayden Brown and Meechie Johnson were the only Gamecocks to get going. The Bulldogs remained in the game because of the poor shooting from the home Gamecocks, and Josh Gray’s efforts on the boards allowed the Gamecocks to overcome some of that poor shooting.
The first half had two more stretches of 2+ minutes of scoreless play before ending at 27-25 in favor of the Bulldogs. Mercifully, the offenses played better in the early goings of the second half. Back-and-forth scoring saw neither team gain a lead over 4 points as Terry Roberts and Braelyn Bridgers handled most of the scoring for Georgia and Hayden Brown, Meechie Johnson, and GG Jackson carried the offensive load for Carolina.
In a statistical oddity, the Gamecocks were almost doubling up the Bulldogs in rebounding with 7:00 minutes to go, but the score was tied 43-43. Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, many of those rebounds were offensive boards that resulted in zero points after a second and, sometimes, third miss.
The sloppy offense of the first half reared its ugly head in the second period as neither team scored from the 7:40 mark until a layup from Hayden Brown when the clock read 5:10. During that stretch, the teams combined for two turnovers, five missed shots, and two fouls.
The score was knotted at 48 after the final media timeout with 3:30 left in the game. A Meechie Johnson free throw tied it up again with just under 2 minutes remaining. A couple of possessions later, a rugby scrum broke out in the paint, but Meechie came out of it with the ball and made a floater to send go up by 2 again. Jailyn Ingram came down and tied the game after a nice take to the basket.
With 40 seconds to go, Johnson was fouled and went to the line for two. He calmly sunk them both, and Jacobi Wright forced a Terry Roberts turnover on the other end. A scary turnover on an inbound gave the Bulldogs an opportunity to score, but Roberts missed a tough shot. After missed free throws from Zachary Davis, Davis was called for a controversial goaltend after good defense from GG Jackson forced a miss from Justin Hill.
After review, the goaltending call was rescinded. The Gamecocks were given the ball because of the possession arrow, and Meechie Johnson went 1-2 from the line after a foul. The Gamecocks elected to foul, and Hill made them both. With three seconds to go, Jacobi Wright was fouled hard by Roberts who also got a technical for grabbing Wright by the ankle as he fell. Wright iced the game by going 3/4 from the line, and Meechie Johnson followed that with two more free throws.
In an inefficient offensive contest, GG Jackson, Meechie Johnson, Hayden Brown, and Jacobi Brown all scored at least 9 points, and Josh Gray continued his strong glass work, snatching 13 rebounds. Meechie Johnson added 7 assists and was the Gamecocks’ best player.
The Gamecocks will take on the Ole Miss Rebels in Nashville in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Wednesday at 7:00 on the SECNetwork.