No. 17/16 South Carolina Outlast Mississippi State, 93-89, in OT
South Carolina Athletics
Gamecocks set program regular season wins record with 25th victory ; 7th SEC road win matches the 1997 SEC Champion team for the most in program history
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) – B.J. Mack had 25 points and Collin Murray-Boyles scored 19 to lead No. 17 South Carolina to a 93-89 overtime victory against Mississippi State on Saturday.
Mack had seven points in overtime for South Carolina (25-6, 13-5 Southeastern Conference), which improved to 2-0 this season in overtime games. Meechie Johnson had 16 points for the Gamecocks.
Freshman Josh Hubbard had 28 points for the Bulldogs (19-12, 8-10), who dropped their fourth straight game. Cameron Matthews had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Mississippi State. Dashawn Davis added 16 points and Tolu Smith had 14 points and 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.
For the third straight game, Mississippi State has a slow start. South Carolina took a 17-8 lead after a Myles Stute 3-pointer with 12:48 remaining in the first half. The Bulldogs kept chipping away and would tie the game at 27-27 with 5:14 left in the opening half. South Carolina eventually took a 38-37 advantage at halftime.
KEY STAT
- South Carolina shot 80.0 percent (4-for-5) in overtime and made all six of their free throw attempts. Graduate forward B.J. Mack and junior guard Meechie Johnson made four crucial free throws inside the final 10 seconds of OT. Carolina as a team went 20-of-24, good for 83.3 percent.
CMB! #Gamecocks🐔🏀 // #ForeverToThee pic.twitter.com/FbkFokfzWG
— Gamecock Men’s Basketball (@GamecockMBB) March 9, 2024
NOTABLES
- Mack led Carolina with 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting including 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. It is Mack’s first 20-point performance since scoring 21 vs. Missouri on (Jan. 27). It marks his 19th game in double-figures this season (16 or more points in nine SEC games) and his ninth leading the team inpoints.The team improves to 5-0 when he scores 20 or more points this season.
- Freshman forward Collin Murray-Boyles was everywhere today scoring 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting. He led the Garnet & Black with eight rebounds, six assists, and four steals. Per Elias, who’s Division I regular season player data only goes back to the 2005-06 season), he is the first player in the country with that stat line and nine or more made field goals on 90.0 percent shooting.
- He now has 12 games in double-figures this season, 10 leading the team on the glass, three leading in helpers, and 11 leading in takeaways.
- Four Gamecocks scored in double-figures: Mack (25), Murray-Boyles (19), Johnson (16), and Zachary Davis (13). Johnson now has 21 games in double-figures this season and Davis has three double-digit games in his last six outings. The foursome combined for 73 of Carolina’s 93 points.
- Carolina has had 14 single-digit turnover games this season which surpassed the 2007-08 team for the most single-digit giveaways by a Gamecock team since entering the SEC in 1991-92.
- The Gamecocks have six SEC games with 20 or more assists, tying Tennessee and Kentucky for the lead with six games of 20 or more helpers.
- The Gamecocks improve to 20-0 when scoring 70 or more points this season and 16-4 in games decided by 10 points or less.
- The team’s 25 regular season wins are a new program record.
- The 25 wins under head coach Lamont Paris this season are the most by a second-year head coach in program history. George Felton is second behind Paris with 19 wins in his second season (1987-88).
- The 25 victories are T-2nd most in program history for a single season with the 1969-70 and 2015-16 teams.
- Carolina now has 13 SEC wins, which surpasses the 2016-17 team for the second most SEC wins all-time at Carolina. This year marks the eighth time the Gamecocks have won 10 or more SEC games since joining the league in 1991-92.
- The victory is the team’s seventh SEC road win, which ties a program record with the 1996-97 SEC Championship team.
- Carolina is 11-3 away from home this season, the best record in neutral site/true road games in the SEC.
UP NEXT
Carolina (25-6, 13-5 SEC) heads to Nashville for the 2024 SEC Tournament next week. The Gamecocks will either play Friday or Thursday depending on the outcome of Saturday’s contest from around the league. There is currently a four-way tie for second. The top four seeds earn a double bye and an automatic spot in the quarterfinals.
We win… WE DANCE! #Gamecocks🐔🏀 // #ForeverToThee pic.twitter.com/kmRfj82htc
— Gamecock Men’s Basketball (@GamecockMBB) March 9, 2024
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