South Carolina Basketball: 3 thumbs up, 3 thumbs down from bad loss to Georgia

South Carolina Basketball vs. Georgia Bulldogs
Thumbs Down 1: BJ Mack's Defense

BJ Mack is a very important player for the Gamecocks. He can be a good scorer when he's knocking down jumpshots or he's feeling it with his left-moving post spin. However, his defense is usually pretty bad, and against Georgia, it was just that.

He got bullied by big man Russell Tchebwe early in the game, and then he got run around when Mike White elected to go small down the stretch. UGA targeted him in the pick-and-roll and in general ball screen defense, and they got a lot of good looks out of that philosophy, scoring 30 points in the paint. He also only added 5 rebounds despite being the Gamecocks' biggest player on the floor almost the whole game (8 combined minutes for Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, Stephen Clark, and Josh Gray).

Mack also is pretty aggressive coming out to the perimeter on defense, something that a player with his limited athleticism probably shouldn't do. This was perhaps best-illustrated by a possession in which he was called for a silly foul at a horrible moment late in the game for trying to guard a point guard at the end of the shot clock while over 30 feet away from the basket.

South Carolina Basketball vs. Georgia Bulldogs
Thumbs Down 2: Free Throws and 3-Point Shooting

Josh Gray (0-5) and Collin Murray-Boyles (4-10) shot a combined 4-15 from the free throw line. The rest of the team shot 13-17. The combined effort was good for (bad for?) 53%.

On defense, the Gamecocks fouled far too often, allowing Georgia to get to the line for 32 free throw attempts. Yes, the officiating was bad, but Carolina earned a lot of those fouls, as well.

From outside, South Carolina basketball shot 26 times but made just 6. Had it not been for Meechie Johnson's 4-7 effort shooting the ball from the perimeter, the Gamecocks would have been an abysmal 2-19. Jacobi Wright still hasn't found his outside shot, and BJ Mack's struggles on the pick-and-pop jumper continued.

South Carolina Basketball vs. Georgia Bulldogs
Thumbs Down 3: Defensive Rebounding

With Josh Gray, Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, and Stephen Clark playing just 8 combined minutes, Lamont Paris deployed lineups for most of the game that were without three of their four best overall rebounders. The stats backed that up as the Gamecocks lost the rebounding battle by 9.

Each team had 19 boards in the 1st half when 6 of those 8 minutes were played. Collin Murray-Boyles and the two starting guards (Meechie Johnson and Ta'Lon Cooper) all had 4 defensive rebounds each, but the Gamecocks allowed Georgia to pull down 18 missed shots on the offensive end.