Murray-Boyles leads No. 15/20 South Carolina to 68-65 victory over Ole Miss

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Collin Murray-Boyles scored 16 points and No. 15 South Carolina reached 20 victories for the first time in seven years with a 68-65 victory over Mississippi on Tuesday night.

The Gamecocks (20-3, 8-2 Southeastern Conference) won their first game as a ranked team — and sixth in a row overall — after not appearing in the Top 25 since 2017. That was also the last time they reached 20 victories on the way to the Final Four.

Ta’Lon Cooper and Myles Stute had 12 points each for South Carolina.

Allen Flanigan led all scorers with 26 points, including 16 in the second half to fuel the Rebels’ comeback try in the second half.

Good morning. #Gamecocks🐔🏀 // #ForeverToThee pic.twitter.com/KLvox0vTqD

— Gamecock Men’s Basketball (@GamecockMBB) February 7, 2024

It looked as if South Carolina had this one in hand in the second half, ahead 53-36 on B.J. Mack‘s basket with 15:41 to go.

But the Rebels (18-5, 5-5), behind Flanigan, went on a 24-9 run over the next 12 minutes and cut it to 62-60. But Stute followed with his fourth 3-pointer and Murray-Boyles, a freshman, took an inside pass from Josh Gray to extend the lead.

When it looked as if 7-foot-5 Jamarion Sharp had a can’t miss basket with 1:20 to go, Murray-Boyles, 10 inches shorter, rose up to knock the shot away.

Mississippi cut it to 68-65 on Flanigan’s inside layup with 38 seconds left. It had a final chance after Meechie Johnson‘s long 3 clanged away, but Murrell’s running 3 attempt was way off the mark.

The Rebels lost their second straight and fell for the fifth time in eight games.

South Carolina seemed to answer any concerns about how it would hold up after finally getting ranked by shooting 68% (18 for 29) in the opening half, with seven 3-pointers, to build a 43-31 lead.

KEY STAT

• South Carolina locked in defensively the final 5:40 of regulation allowing just five points on 20.0 percent shooting (2-for-10) by the Rebels. The Gamecocks entered today 17^th nationally (1^st in the SEC) in scoring defense allowing just 64.1 points per game. Carolina has now held 19 opponents (eight in conference play) to less than 70 points, which is T-2^nd nationally with Maryland and Virginia and leads the SEC.

We win. WE DANCE. #Gamecocks🐔🏀 // #ForeverToThee pic.twitter.com/oNGGsnlcNV

— Gamecock Men’s Basketball (@GamecockMBB) February 7, 2024

NOTABLES

• Freshman forward Collin Murray-Boyles finished with a team-high 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting, nine rebounds and two blocks. It marks back-to-back games the big man has led Carolina in scoring. He now has five games this season scoring in double-figures, four games leading the team in boards and six leading in blocks which was capped off by a critical deny at the rim with 1:22 remaining to keep the lead at five.
• Junior guard Meechie Johnson tied a career-high with eight assists to just one turnover. He has 17 assists and just one turnover over his last three games and has led the Gamecocks in two of the last three contests in helpers. Johnson chipped in on the boards grabbing five big rebounds for the Garnet & Black.
• Three Gamecocks scored in double-figures: Murray-Boyles (16), Myles Stute (12) and Ta’Lon Cooper (12). Stute shot 80.0 percent (4-for-5) from downtown, improving Carolina’s record to 13-0 when he scores 10 or more points.
• Graduate guard Ta’Lon Cooper notched his 13^th double-figure scoring game of the year along with four rebounds and two assists. Needing just one helper tonight, Cooper is now one of four active players in division one with 1300 career points and 700 assists.
• The Gamecocks improve to 13-2 in games decided by 10 or fewer points this season.
• The win gives head coach Lamont Paris his 20th win this season, the most by a second-year head coach in program history surpassing George Felton, who won 19 games in his second season in 1987-88.
• The victory marks the team’s sixth straight SEC win which hasn’t happened since the team won 11-straight games during the 1996-97 SEC Championship season.
• The win also gives the team a nine-win improvement from last season, which is T-3rd best, single-season turnaround in program history based off win totals (9-win improvement from 94-95 to 95-96).

UP NEXT

Carolina (20-3, 8-2 SEC) remains home and host Vanderbilt (6-15, 1-7 SEC) on Saturday. Richard Cross (pxp) and Pat Bradley (analyst) have the call for the 1 p.m. (ET) tip on SEC Network.

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