Game Balls: South Carolina at Georgia
Respect isn't given; it's earned, and the South Carolina continue to show they deserve it. The Gamecocks survived an early three-point barrage from Georgia, who started hot, but Carolina never panicked. They took the punches, adjusted at halftime, and never stopped playing Gamecock basketball. Here are the players who stood out to the point where they deserved a game ball:
1) Collin Murray-Boyles
Murray-Boyles had the second-highest scoring performance of his young career on Saturday, finishing the game with 16 points, which was a team high, he also got his teammates involved with 4 assists, also the second-highest total of his career in that respective category. It makes you wonder just how good he could be if he didn't miss the first couple of weeks of the season due to Mononucleosis.
2) Josh Gray
The redshirt senior continues to fill his role and doing productive things on the court that's helping his team. Josh finished today's game with 15 points on 7 of 9 shooting (77.7 percent from the floor) and eight rebounds while also being a force on the defensive end. It doesn't always show up in the box score, but in the past several games, Gray has affected the game on both sides of the ball.
3) Team Second Half Defense
While we could give the last game ball to Ta'Lon Cooper or Meechie Johnson and it would make sense, the defense South Carolina trotted out in the second half was elite. The Gamecocks held Georgia to just 22 points in the final 20 minutes of play, and were nearly impenetrable after Lamont Paris switched to a 1-3-1 zone, forcing the Bulldogs to endure two cold stretches lasting more than four minutes and as long 6 minutes.
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