Couisnard's 33 points propel South Carolina past LSU 77-75

COLUMBIA (AP) – Jermaine Couisnard scored a career-high 33 points on 12-for-18 shooting and South Carolina rallied to beat LSU 77-75 on Saturday for its third straight win.
 
Keyshawn Bryant made two foul shots with 1:51 left to give South Carolina a 74-73 lead. Erik Stevenson’s layup 13 seconds later – off an LSU turnover – padded the lead before Eric Gaines sank two foul shots to get LSU back within a point with 34 seconds to go.
 
Devin Carter missed two free throws at 19 seconds, but Darius Days missed a 3-pointer with 3 seconds remaining after an LSU timeout. Bryant grabbed the rebound, was fouled, and made 1 of 2 from the line for South Carolina with 1.5 seconds left. LSU never got off a shot as time expired.
 
Trailing 58-47 with 13:16 remaining, South Carolina went on a 21-9 run in a little more than five minutes to capture a 68-67 lead for its first since Bryant’s opening jump shot.
 
Stevenson scored 15 and Carter had 10 off the bench for the Gamecocks. Despite missing 19 of 27 3-pointers, South Carolina (16-10, 7-7 SEC) was 18 of 24 inside the arc and finished 26 for 51 (51%) overall.
 
Reserve Tari Eason scored 21 points with 10 rebounds and Days scored 18 for LSU. The Tigers missed 9 of 22 free-throw attempts.
 
LSU (19-8, 7-7), which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end, travels to play fourth-ranked Kentucky on Wednesday. The Gamecocks host Mississippi State on Wednesday.

KEY STATS
> The Gamecocks shot 51 percent from the floor while only allowing LSU to shoot 44 percent from the field. It’s the 14^th time this season Carolina has outshot its opponent and is 14-0 when it does so.
> After only making two three-pointers in the opening half of play, the Gamecocks shot 40 percent (6-for-15) from beyond the arc in the second half.
> LSU took advantage of the Gamecocks’ 20 turnovers. The Tigers scored 28 points off turnovers, while Carolina only score 9 points off of LSU’s 15 turnovers.
> LSU forced 20 turnovers, 12 of which came via Tiger steals.

NOTABLES
> Jermaine Couisnard scored a career-best 33 points. He scored 18 first-half points, which surpassed his season high.
> Couisnard’s performance was the highest-scoring for him since Feb. 5, 2020, against Ole Miss when he scored 28.
> Couisnard’s 12 made field goals was a career high and it was the first time since March 15, 2016, a Gamecock has made 12 or more field goals.
> Couisnard’s performance was the first 30-point game by Gamecock since Jan. 6, 2021, when AJ Lawson put up 30 points against Texas A&M.
> The Gamecocks shot 51 percent from the floor, which marked the sixth time they’ve done so this season. The Gamecocks moved to 6-0 when they make more than half of their field goal attempts.

UP NEXT
> South Carolina remains at Colonial Life Arena for another big SEC game against Mississippi State (14-11, 5-7 SEC). The Bulldogs are 0-7 on the road this season. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday with Roy Philpott (pxp) and Mark Wise (analyst) on-site and on the call for the SEC Network broadcast.

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