The South Carolina men’s basketball team lost 64-63 in heartbreaking fashion to the LSU Tigers on Saturday. This marks the first time the Gamecocks have lost consecutive games this season.
The Gamecocks did not have an ideal start, as it struggled to get shots to fall. The team made just four of its first 18 shots and was trailing early.
“Props to them. They were a real physical team,” freshman forward Collin Murray-Boyles said. “All the guards really pressed up, and then the bigs did a really good job holding their ground in that pinch. So (it) just really made us real stagnant on offense.”
South Carolina started rolling as it went on a 21-4 run to turn its 5-point deficit into a 12-point lead. Murray-Boyles played a key part in the run, scoring 8 points in the first half.
The Gamecocks went into the second half with a 32-25 lead and held LSU to making just 10 of 30 shots in the first 20 minutes.
South Carolina carried its hot form into the second half, putting up a 16-point lead early. But LSU went on a 14-3 run shortly after to stay in the game.
The Tigers shot more efficiently in the second half than it did in the first, making 15 of 28 shots in the last 20 minutes. The team was also able to make four of seven attempts from behind the 3-point line.
The lead kept going back and forth between the Tigers and the Gamecocks.
LSU's graduate student guard Jordan Wright scored 14 points overall, including the final 7 points for the Tigers. Wright made two free throws with five seconds remaining to put the Tigers up by 1 point.
Junior guard Jacobi Wright had an opportunity at the buzzer to win back the game for the Gamecocks, but he could not get the 3-pointer to fall.
“There will be some learning for sure, but I think it's more about doing also. I think we need to do better,” head coach Lamont Paris said. “I think we need to do a better job in terms of execution.”
South Carolina led the game for 34 of the 40 minutes, but LSU heated up at just the right time to pull ahead in the end.
“It’s just disappointing that you have a game that's still there to be won," Paris said. "(We) did a good job, I thought, defensively in the first half.”
Graduate student forward B.J. Mack was the leading scorer for the Gamecocks, putting up 18 points on eight for 13 shooting. Murray-Boyles was the only other Gamecock who scored in the double-digits, with 13 points. The two players had a combined 16 rebounds.
Junior guard Meechie Johnson got hit in the head and went back to the locker room per concussion protocol with five minutes left in the game. He did not return, but the Gamecocks will hope to see him back for upcoming games, Paris said.
South Carolina falls to 21-5 on the season and will look to bounce back next Saturday when it travels to Oxford, Mississippi, to take on the Ole Miss Rebels. The game will start at 3:30 p.m. and be broadcast on the SEC Network.