South Carolina pulls away from Georgia, 72-62, behind Murray-Boyles and Gray

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) –  Collin Murray-Boyles scored 16 points, Josh Gray added 15 off the bench and South Carolina pulled away for a 72-62 win over Georgia on Saturday.

Murray-Boyles and Gray both were 7-of-9 shooting and the Gamecocks shot 52% (29 of 56), making it easy with assists on 25 baskets despite a soldout, hostile crowd at Stegeman Coliseum.

South Carolina has won five straight since a 74-69 home loss to the Bulldogs, including wins against then No. 6 Kentucky and No. 5 Tennessee.

Meechie Johnson had 11 points and Ta’lon Cooper 10 with eight assists for the Gamecocks (19-3, 7-2 Southeastern Conference).

Jabri Abdur-Rahim scored 20 points for the Bulldogs (14-8, 4-5). Blue Cain added 11 and Noah Thomasson 10.

After Murray-Boyles opened the game with a dunk, South Carolina didn’t lead again until Zachary Davis had a pair of layups and Gray another to make it 49-47 with 14:02 to go.

Georgia got two quick baskets but then went 7:47 without a field goal. Gray had two baskets to start an 8-0 run and after Abdur-Rahim made two free throws Johnson drilled a 3-pointer for a 60-53 South Carolina lead with 6:30 to play.

Justin Hill ended the drought but BJ Mack started a 9-2 run with a 3-point play and the Gamecocks led 69-57 with 2:30 left.

Georgia had eight 3-pointers in the first half, seven in about eight minutes, and the Bulldogs took a 29-19 lead when RJ Melendez capped a fastbreak with a dunk. After making 7 of 10 behind the arc, Georgia went 2 of 18 the rest of the way.

Following the Melendez dunk the Gamecocks drained three-straight 3-pointers and added two more down the stretch and trailed 40-38 at the break.

Abdur-Rahim had 11 points for Georgia and Murray-Boyles had 10 for South Carolina in the first half. The visiting Gamecocks had 16 assists on 16 baskets.

Ole Miss visits South Carolina on Tuesday. Georgia goes to Mississippi State on Wednesday.

KEY STAT

• South Carolina went on an 11-2 run over 7:47 in the second half erasing a 51-49 deficit, turning it into a five-point lead with 4:35 to play. The Gamecocks held the Bulldogs to just 29.2 percent shooting (7-for-24) over the final 20 minutes of play.
• With today’s win, Carolina has now held an SEC leading 18 opponents (seven in conference play which leads the SEC). The Gamecocks entered the day tied with Auburn for a league leading six games holding opponents to less than 70.

NOTABLES

• Freshman forward Collin Murray-Boyles led South Carolina with a team-high 16 points, shooting 7-of-9 from the floor. The big man added five rebounds, four assists, and two steals in his seventh consecutive start. Murray-Boyles has now scored in double-figures four times this season and has led the team in steals five times.
• Josh Gray had himself a day scoring a season-high 15 points on 77.8 percent shooting (7-for-9) with six dunks. The senior forward also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds with four coming on the offensive glass. Over his last five games, Gray is averaging 8.2 points and 5.6 rebounds off the bench for the Garnet & Black.
• Graduate guard Ta’Lon Cooper recorded a game-high eight assists to just two turnovers. Cooper entered today seventh in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.52:1) and third in the SEC in assists per game (4.2). Cooper now has 16 games this season, leading the team in helpers. He also added 10 points for his 12^th double-figure scoring game this year. He is now one assist shy of being one of four active players with 1300 points and 700 assists.
• Junior guard Meechie Johnson returned to double-figures for the first time since Jan. 23 scoring 11 points, knocking down three triples. Johnson came into today’s matchup 13^th in the SEC in scoring averaging 15.1 points per game and notched his 16^th game scoring in double digits this year.
• The Gamecocks recorded a season-high 25 assists on 29 made field goals. It marks the most under head coach Lamont Paris with the previous high (21) coming back on Dec. 30 against Florida A&M. It’s the team’s third SEC game with 20 or more assists, which is tied with Kentucky for the most 20+ assist games in league play.
• Carolina now has nine single-digit turnover games this season and improves to 10-4 under head coach Lamont Paris the last two seasons when the team has single-digit turnovers. The 2007-08 team had 12 games with single-digit giveaways, the most by a Gamecock team since entering the SEC in 1991-92.
• South Carolina improves to 15-0 when scoring 70 or more points this season and is 12-2 in games decided by 10 points or fewer.
• The Gamecocks had 40 points in the paint, good for a +16 margin (40-24).
• The win marks the fourth SEC road victory for Carolina this season which is tied for third most all-time in a single year with the 2015-16, 2018-19 and 2021-22 teams.
• The team’s 7-2 start in SEC play is just the fourth 7-2 or better start in league games since entering the conference in 1991-92. The team had 7-2 or better starts in 1996-97, 1997-98 and 2016-17.
• Carolina’s 19-3 start to the season matches the best start in school history since 2015-16. That team and the 1969-70 teams are the only teams in program history to start 20-3 or better.

UP NEXT

Carolina (19-3, 7-2 SEC) is back home for two games next week, first welcoming in Ole Miss (18-3, 5-3 SEC) on Tuesday night. Roy Philpott (pxp) and Jimmy Dykes (ana­lyst) will be on the call for the 6:30 p.m. (ET) SEC Network broadcast.

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