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FINAL: Ice Cold Second-Half Stretch Dooms Gamecocks In Loss To Georgia

South Carolina's men's basketball team had their chances, but were ultimately unable to convert in a 74-69 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs.
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Coming off of a bounce back win over the Missouri Tigers, Lamont Paris and the South Carolina Gamecocks came into Tuesday night's matchup against the Georgia Bulldogs looking to parlay last weekend's win into a second-consecutive one on their home floor. However, porous shooting from behind the arc and at the free-throw line, and critical late fouls prevented that from happening.

At the start of the game, South Carolina did a great job defensively of closing off driving lanes in isolation situations, forcing the Bulldogs to have to make contested shots, which led to Georgia missing 12 of their first 17 shots from the floor. On the offensive end, the Gamecocks got a ton of open looks, especially from behind the arc, but weren't able to capitalize, leading to a one point deficit with 11:51 left in the first half.

The rest of the half would treat the fans in Colonial Life Arena to a back-and-forth affair, with both teams making their share of tough shots and defensive stops. Meechie Johnson would heat up a little bit for Carolina, scoring ten points in the final 11:51 of the period. That along with clutch free throws by BJ Mack and buckets from Jacobi Wright would give them Gamecocks a one-point advantage at the halftime break.

Meechie Johnson driving down the court against a Georgia Bulldog defender (16th Jan., 2024)

Meechie Johnson driving down the court against a Georgia Bulldog defender (16th Jan., 2024)

At the start of the second half, Paris displayed a ton of confidence in true freshman Collin Murray-Boyles, putting the Palmetto state native against Georgia's 7'0 center Russel Tchewa. The move panned out, with Collin drawing an offensive foul, blocking two shots, and scoring five points in the first three minutes of the half, quickly giving South Carolina the momentum.

However, beginning at the 14:05 mark, things would unravel for Paris' squad. Possessing a nine-point lead at this juncture in the contest, the Gamecocks would go on to miss ten straight shots from the floor over the next nine minutes and eight seconds of the game. Carolina didn't fair much better from the foul-line either, going 5 for 12 in the aforementioned stretch.

In the final 3 minutes and 58 seconds, South Carolina and Georgia would both trade baskets, with the deciding factor being six critical fouls, some very ticky-tacky, called on the Gamecocks, with the Bulldogs hitting enough free throws to hand Carolina their third loss on the season. The Gamecocks will be back on the road this coming Saturday when they take on the Arkansas Razorbacks.

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