South Carolina coach Lamont Paris got a close up look Tuesday night at how a coach can rebound from a disastrous SEC season and build a NCAA Tournament team. Dennis Gates suffered through a winless SEC campaign last season, but with his team’s 101-71 win over USC Tuesday night in Columbia, MO, the 14th ranked Tigers improved to 10-5 in the league and 21-8 overall.
In the offseason, Gates hit the transfer portal with vengeance. He signed seven from the portal, and three of his transfers are starters. Paris, no doubt, will have to do the same this offseason if he’s to rejuvenate his program which is enduring its second losing season in his three years in Columbia. .
Coming of the win over Texas Saturday, there was some hope the Gamecocks could follow up with a strong performance on the road. Instead, they delivered perhaps their worst overall performance of the season.
After taking an early 7-6 lead, the Gamecocks were hit with a 25-8 run by the Tigers. The star of the run was Caleb Grill who scored 12 points during that stretch, including ten in a row at one point. Missouri went on to a 52-37 halftime lead after shooting 61% over the first 20 minutes including 6-11 from three. The Gamecocks were 2-12 from deep in the first half.
The Gamecocks never threatened in the second half as the lead eventually grew to 32 points. Missouri shot the ball even better in the second half at 67% and made five more threes. On the flipside, the Gamecocks were 0-11 from three in the second half while shooting 38.5%.
Some other notable stats that played into the blowout were 15 USC turnovers that led to 20 Mizzou points, 11 Missouri steals and 23 fastbreak points, and a 41-14 Missouri scoring advantage off the bench.
On the positive side for USC, the Gamecocks did have 12 offensive rebounds for 20 second chance points, and they made 21-25 from the line.
Collin Murray-Boyles led all scorers with 27 points on 10-11 shooting from the floor and 7-7 from the line. He also grabbed seven rebounds. He did not play the final 9:48 of the game. Jamarii Thomas was the only other USC player in double figures with 17 points. No other Gamecock scored more than five points.
Grill led six Missouri scorers in double figures with 22 points off the bench. Anthony Robinson added 14 points and eight assists.
The Gamecocks are now 11-17 overall and 1-14 in the SEC and will host Arkansas Saturday afternoon.