Oklahoma Struggles in Second Half vs. South Carolina as Sooners Drop Fifth in a Row

Tuesday’s game felt like a must-win for Oklahoma, but the Sooners fell short.

OU lost 85-76 to South Carolina on the road. The loss marks Oklahoma’s fifth in a row, as the Sooners have also dropped games against Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Florida and Alabama since beginning SEC play.

OU fell to 11-8 overall and 1-5 in SEC play with the loss, while South Carolina improved to 11-8 and 2-4.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Bench contributions limited in loss

The Sooners essentially went seven-deep against the Gamecocks.

Nine players entered Tuesday’s loss, but only seven of them played double-digit minutes. Kuol Atak and Jeff Nwankwo both appeared in the game, but they only played one and three minutes, respectively.

The fatigue that arises from playing a shallow lineup showed in the second half.

After trailing by only three points at halftime, the Sooners allowed the Gamecocks to hold a lead near 10 points for the majority of the final 20 minutes.

The Sooners shot 38.7 percent from the floor in the second half. Even worse, OU made just one of its 13 attempts on 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes.

Oklahoma finished the game with only five bench points, all of which were scored by Kirill Elatontsev.

Pack stays cold

Nijel Pack’s dry spell from deep continued against South Carolina.

Pack finished Tuesday’s contest 0-of-7 on 3-pointers. The guard, who transferred to OU from Miami ahead of the 2025-26 season, finished the game with nine points on a 3-of-13 clip from the field, and he also logged six rebounds and five assists.

Pack’s lackluster performance followed a 2-of-10 day from deep in OU’s loss to Alabama on Saturday. He made just one 3-pointer on two attempts in the previous game, a 96-79 loss to No. 19 Florida.

Prior to Tuesday’s game, Pack averaged 15.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3 assists while shooting 43.2 percent on 3-pointers.

The skid continues

Simply put, this is a game that Oklahoma couldn’t afford to lose.

South Carolina is No. 92 in the NET rankings, the second-lowest mark in the SEC. The Sooners have already lost to the conference’s worst-ranked team in NET (No. 95 Mississippi State).

This isn’t to say that Tuesday’s game was an easy one. The Gamecocks previously defeated a quality LSU squad, and they have certainly improved since their 2-16 conference finish last year.

But the games don’t get any easier after this.

Oklahoma won’t play against South Carolina or Mississippi State again in the regular season, as Missouri, Texas and Texas A&M are the only teams that will battle the Sooners in home-and-home series. That means that the Sooners' final 12 games of regular-season SEC play will come against teams ranked higher than South Carolina in the NET.

The Sooners haven’t won since Jan. 3, when they defeated Ole Miss 86-70 in their conference opener.

Next up for Oklahoma is a road game against Missouri. The Tigers are 13-5 and 3-2, and they have earned impressive conference wins over Florida, Kentucky and Auburn.