South Carolina Basketball: 3 thumbs up, 3 thumbs down from another dominant win at Arkansas

South Carolina Basketball vs. Arkansas Razorbacks
Thumbs Down 1: Stocks Down

South Carolina typically racks up the blocks and steals, but they didn't against Arkansas. In particular, the Gamecocks did not block many shots as Kamilla Cardoso's rejection was the only block of the game.

Arkansas couldn't make anything away from the rim (9-13 on layups, 11-15 from the free throw line, and 12-50 from everywhere else), so the Gamecocks' lack of defensive counting stats didn't hurt them on Thursday night.

South Carolina Basketball vs. Arkansas Razorbacks
Thumbs Down 2: Free Throw Woes

As they often do, the Gamecocks struggled from the free throw line on Thursday. They made just 58.8% of their freebies, a number that is far too low.

In addition to their inefficiency from the line, Carolina also didn't shoot enough free throws. The Gamecocks were the physically better team in the game, and they dominated the paint, but they still only took 17 free throws for the entire game. In this style of game, that number should have been higher.

South Carolina Basketball vs. Arkansas Razorbacks
Thumbs Down 3: Weird Stretches on Defense

The early portions of the 1st quarter and several small stretches in the 3rd saw the Gamecocks perform relatively poorly on defense. Arkansas got a lot of open outside shots and several blow-bys simply because Carolina had a slow closeout or rotation. Carolina won both of those periods by just 4 points as they allowed Arkansas to score 42 of their 61 total points in the 1st and 3rd.