South Carolina falls on the road to Oklahoma after turnover-filled performance
South Carolina, facing off against Oklahoma for the first time since 1992, lost its fifth game in a row.
Underdogs on the road, South Carolina’s (10-8, 0-5 SEC) losing streak continued with an 82-62 loss to the Sooners on Saturday. The Gamecocks are now one of two winless teams left in SEC play, the other being Arkansas who is currently 0-4.
How it happened
Before the first media timeout, South Carolina was hit with déjà vu. The Gamecocks committed three turnovers in the first four minutes as Oklahoma got out to an early lead.
After settling in, South Carolina began to hit its shots. Despite five turnovers in the first nine minutes, the Gamecocks hit three deep balls in that span. Oklahoma had an early eight-point lead, but South Carolina’s shooting made it a one-possession game after the second media timeout, 18-16.
Both teams’ offenses slowed down towards the middle of the first half. By the third media timeout, the Gamecocks totaled seven turnovers, while Oklahoma had six. Part of that was due to the defensive prowess of Collin Murray-Boyles. The sophomore had five steals in the first 12 minutes of the game.
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For a stretch towards the end of the first half, neither team could hit shots. But Kobe Elvis got going for the Sooners, hitting a couple of threes in quick succession. With the Gamecocks offense in disarray, Austin Herro got into the game for three minutes.
Turnovers were again the storyline offensively for South Carolina. By the time the dust settled at the end of the first half, the Gamecocks had 12 turnovers. While Oklahoma committed 11, the Sooners made half of their three-point attempts in the first 20 minutes. Morris Ugusuk managed to hit a three from near half-court as the buzzer sounded. When the ball hit the bottom of the net, the Sooners led 34-30 at the break.
In the second half, the Gamecocks jumped out to a 42-38 lead. Three-point possessions from Zachary Davis, Ugusuk, and Jacobi Wright put South Carolina in front early. Mohamed Wague was called for two fouls in quick succession, which made OU head coach Porter Moser irate. The Sooners missed their first four shots coming out of the break.
From there, the game went back and forth for possessions at a time with both offenses struggling. Oklahoma held a slight lead, 49-47, heading into the second media timeout of the second half. They wouldn’t give up that lead for the rest of the game. The Sooners were able to hit threes, while the Gamecocks offense remained disjointed.
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Oklahoma went up eight points about halfway through the second half. With a small Sooners cushion as the clock wound down steadily, both teams managed to get to the foul line often. But South Carolina wasn’t efficient from the stripe, shooting just 11-20.
Jalon Moore, on the other hand, was quite efficient from the line. Though he made just six shots from the field, he was 10-11 from the line. South Carolina finished with 17 fouls to Oklahoma’s 16.
Oklahoma steadily increased their lead towards the end of the game, buoyed by shots inside. With four minutes to go, the lead was 18 points, 72-54. Collin Murray-Boyles fouled out late, but not before recording another double-double.
When the final buzzer sounded, the margin was 20 points. After the Gamecocks tied the game at 47 with 12 minutes to go, Oklahoma went on a 35-15 run to close things out and get its first SEC win.
Two observations
The offense is affected negatively in a major way by Thomas’s absence—Jamarii Thomas’s sprained knee has hindered South Carolina’s offense, to put it lightly. After committing 25 turnovers against Vanderbilt, the Gamecocks had 12 in the first half against Oklahoma. South Carolina had issues with spacing and couldn’t find an offensive flow most of the game. Without Thomas, the lack of a true point guard led to lost possessions.
A quality defense is still keeping the Gamecocks in games—South Carolina’s defense has quietly been very good recently. Even while the Gamecocks’ offense was committing turnovers, the defense was forcing them on the other end. Though the offense had just three points off turnovers, the defense did force 12 of them. It wasn’t enough to secure a victory, but with the defensive performance, the Gamecocks did have a chance to win on Saturday. That was, at least until a furious scoring rally from the Sooners in the late stages of the second half.
Key stat
55 percent—South Carolina got to the line plenty, with 20 free-throw attempts. But the Gamecocks couldn’t reliably convert, making just 11 of those attempts. Zachary Davis was 1-of-4 from the line, and Murray-Boyles was 5-of-8. It’s been a season-long struggle, as the Gamecocks were 15th in the SEC in free throw percentage coming into the game.
Turning point
Halfway through the second half, Oklahoma went on a 7-0 run. First, Jeremiah Fears hit a layup to break the 47-47 tie. After the media timeout, Duke Miles connected on a jumper. Luke Northweather then hit a three after a South Carolina turnover. By the time Wright answered, the Gamecocks found themselves down by five in a tough road environment. They wouldn’t retake the lead the rest of the way.
Up next
South Carolina will be back at home to face Florida on Wednesday. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. on SEC Network.
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