Feb. 17, 2015

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

ATHENS, GA. – It would need all 40 minutes, but South Carolina would exorcise its road woes with a win at Georgia Tuesday night. After running out to a big halftime lead, the Gamecocks steeled themselves and held off a rally to secure a 64-58 win. It is the team’s first true road win since Dec. 1, and moves them to 13-12 overall and 4-9 in the SEC. Georgia drops to 16-9, 7-6.

The Gamecocks played with abandon in the first half, using a multi-faceted offense to keep the Bulldogs off-balance. With the score tied at four apiece four minutes in, Carolina broke the game open with a 15-0 run over a six-minute stretch. Duane Notice and Tyrone Johnson combined for 13 of those points on their own, scoring eight and five, respectively.

The lead would grow as large as 21, and a late offensive spurt from the Bulldogs would be countered easily by Carolina. Georgia would hit make four of its final seven attempts from the field, but the visitors went 9-of-12 over the final 11:41 to take the comeback attempt in stride.

After scoring just 43 points for the game against No. 1 Kentucky just three days earlier, the Gamecocks would go into halftime with a 41-23 lead. They would shoot 58 percent from the field while holding the home side to just 33 percent.

Notice would lead the team with 12 points, and Johnson added 11 in the first half. The last time Johnson scored 11 points or more in a game came exactly one month ago at Auburn. The senior guard hit on three of his four 3-point attempts, and the Gamecocks as a team would finish the half 7-of-13 from deep.

It would be Georgia that came out firing in the second half, forcing a Carolina timeout after opening the half on a 10-2 run. The three-point shooting that padded the first-half lead would fall away in the second half, as the Gamecocks went 0-of-6 through the first 13 minutes. A scoring drought from the 9:55 mark until 3:38 to play allowed Georgia to come all the way back and tie the game for the first time since the first minute of the game, capping a 10-0 run.

A major factor behind the comeback was the absence of Sindarius Thornwell. The combo guard picked up his fourth of the game with 12:49 to go, and in his absence the team was outscored 12-2 before he returned with four minutes to play. For the game, the team was +13 in points while he was on the court.

Though the Bulldogs would draw even with 4:31 to play, it would never take the lead. Thornwell would re-enter the game, and the Gamecocks went on a 7-2 run after the tie to go up by five with two minutes to play, 58-53.

Carolina started the second half 0-of-8 from 3 but hit two when it mattered most, both coming in the final three minutes. The first was by Johnson, who was the benefactor of a Mindaugas Kacinas offensive rebound and hit a 3 to make it a 56-51 game. Then, with the home side threatening to tie it up again, Duane Notice hit a dagger to put the team up 61-55 with just over a minute left. Free throws from Kacinas and Johnson in the final 30 seconds helped seal the win, as did Georgia’s 1-of-4 performance at the charity stripe in the same span.

GAME CHANGER

Mindaugas Kacinas pulled down an offensive rebound with three minutes to play, and Sindarius Thornwell kicked the ball out to an open Tyrone Johnson, who hit a 3-pointer to give the Gamecocks a five-point lead, 56-51. Georgia would get no closer than three points for the rest of the game

KEY STAT The Gamecocks turned the ball over a season-low seven times for the game. It beats out the previous low of eight, recorded against Georgia at home earlier this month. The team is 3-1 this season when turning the ball over fewer than 10 times, with the only loss coming on Saturday at No. 1 Kentucky.

NOTABLES

• Six of Carolina’s 13 wins have come against current RPI Top 100 schools (Clemson, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Alabama, Georgia twice).
• Georgia only two second-chance points in first half, but finished with 16. It pulled down 12 offensive rebounds in the second half alone, one more than the total rebounds Carolina had in the half.
• Mindaugas Kacinas finished just one rebound shy of a double-double, posting a line of 13 points and nine rebounds in just 21 minutes of playing time. It is his fifth double-digit scoring effort of the season, and first since Jan. 13.
• Tyrone Johnson made a career-high four 3-point field goals in the game and played a season-high 39 minutes. His 17 points were the most in a game since he had 20 against Florida on Jan. 7.
• Marcus Stroman missed his third straight game with an illness.
• Prior to the game, head coach Frank Martin announced that sophomore forward Demetrius Henry and freshman guard/forward Shamiek Sheppard have been suspended for the remainder of the regular season due to conduct detrimental to the team.

QUOTABLE South Carolina Head Coach Frank Martin

Opening Statement
“I’m so proud of them. The Kentucky game was an aberration… We came out and we guarded, we fought, we clawed, we rebounded in the first half and then we stopped rebounding the ball. And then late when Mindaugas [Kacinas] was just great. I almost yanked him off the court when he shot that three, but he was great and his aggressiveness on the glass, Ty Johnson’s three comes off his rebound, just really happy for our guys.”

UP NEXT

The team returns home this Saturday for a noon game against Texas A&M. The two teams split the season series last year, with each team winning on its home court. When the Aggies came to Colonial Life Arena last, Duane Notice and Sindarius Thornwell each scored 19 points and the Gamecocks used a 20-point halftime lead to finish with an 80-52 rout. Saturday’s game will be broadcasted on the SEC Network.

TWEETS OF THE GAME