The losing streak for USC against Clemson is over. In men’s basketball that is. Gamecock fans had endured a combined 9 straight losses to the Tigers in football (6) and hoops (3), but Sunday at Littlejohn Coliseum, the Gamecocks brought a ray of sunshine to Columbia with a 67-54 win over the Tigers. The game was hampered by fouls and turnovers, but the Gamecocks brought their defense holding Clemson to 28% shooting from the floor. The Tigers didn’t make a field goal over the final 6:38. AJ Lawson led the Gamecocks with 20 points, Aamir Simms was high man for Clemson with 21.

Key notes from the USC victory over Clemson

• It was a physical game both ways and both teams played tough defense making for few clean looks at the basket.
• There were only 6 fastbreak points in the game, all by USC.
• The Gamecocks also won in the paint 24-10 and on the boards 41-32.
• USC led 28-26 at the half but used a 9-3 run at the start of the second half to open up a working margin. Six points was as close as Clemson would get the rest of the way.
• The teams combined for 43 turnovers, and 29 of the 41 fouls were whistled in the second half.
• Justin Minaya for USC and Aamir Simms of Clemson fouled out.
• Clemson attempted 32 three pointers, making 9. USC, which was shooting under 28% from three coming in, made 8 of 18, half of them by Lawson, the 4 being a season high in three-pointers for him.
• Clemson did not make a field goal over the final 6:38 missing its final 7 shots. They made 8 free throws during that stretch. Prior to that, they made 5 of 6 shots from the floor.
• USC improves to 7-4, 2-0 on an opponent’s home floor, and will play at Virginia next Sunday.
• Clemson has lost 4 in a row to fall to 5-5, 4-2 at home and a 4 game home winning streak ends. The Tigers will continue this 5 game home stand Friday night against Jacksonville
• Final Box

Postgame press conferences