Skip to main content
Partner logo
Mobile Icon Link Mobile Icon Link Mobile Icon Link
Gamecocks+
Murray-Boyles Nets Career-High 35 as South Carolina Rolls Past Arkansas, 72-53
Men's Basketball  . 

Murray-Boyles Nets Career-High 35 as South Carolina Rolls Past Arkansas, 72-53

South Carolina Athletics

Sophomore forward has scored 20 or more points in three-straight games, becoming first Gamecock since Sindarius Thornwell in 2017 with 35 or more in a game on Saturday

Final Box (PDF) Full Gamebook (PDF) Season Stats (PDF) Postgame Media (VIDEO)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Collin Murray-Boyles scored a career-high 35 points shooting 12 for 16, Nick Pringle scored 18 points and South Carolina largely decimated Arkansas 72-53 on Saturday.

Pringle finished 7-for-11 shooting and along with Murray-Boyles made 19 of South Carolina’s 25 made field goals.

Karter Knox scored 11 points and reserve Jonas Aidoo 10 for the Razorbacks.

Arkansas’ final point total and margin of defeat may appear misleading. The Razorbacks didn’t score 20 points until Billy Richmond III made a layup with 12:35 left in the game to reduce Arkansas’ deficit to 47-20.

Arkansas didn’t reach double-digit figures in the scoring column until Aido0 made 1 of 2 foul shots with 2:24 left before halftime and the Razorbacks facing a 27-10 deficit. The Razorbacks finished shooting just 28.8% (15 for 52).

South Carolina led 32-14 at intermission. It was the first time this century that an Arkansas team scored less than 15 points in a half.

After losing its first 13 conference games, South Carolina (12-17, 2-14 SEC) now has won two of its last three. Arkansas’ (17-12, 6-10) NCAA Tournament hopes for an at-large bid took a hit as its two-game winning streak came to an end.

Arkansas travels to play Vanderbilt on Tuesday. South Carolina hosts Georgia on Tuesday.

KEY STATS

  • The Gamecock defense had their best showing of the season to date, holding the Razorbacks to just 14 first half points (eight coming at the free throw line) on 12.5% (3-of-24) shooting the opening 20 minutes of the game.
  • Carolina improves to 10-3 this season when holding its opponents below 70 points. The Gamecocks improve to 40-9 (.816 win percentage) under head coach Lamont Paris the last three seasons when holding teams to 69 points or less.

NOTABLES

  • Today was the second career 30-point game for sophomore forward Collin Murray-Boyles. He surpassed his previous career high of 31 (set last season in a double-digit home win vs. Vanderbilt) with 35 points today on an effective 12-of-16 (75.0%) from the floor. He added seven rebounds, four steals and two assists. He was also 11-of-12 (91.7%) at the free throw line and his 11 made foul shots were a new career-best.
  • Murray-Boyles has logged three-straight 20-point games since last Saturday’s win over Texas and is averaging 28.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks per game in the stretch. He’s been effective from all over the floor, going 31-of-43 (72.1%) from the field and 22-of-25 (88.0%) at the free throw line over the last three games for South Carolina.
  • He now has a career-best 10, 20-point games this season and five games with double-digit makes from the floor (T-2nd in the SEC with Auburn’s Johni Broome).
  • Murray-Boyles is the first Gamecock with 35 or more points in a game since All-American Sindarius Thornwell had 44 in a four-overtime thriller against Alabama on Feb. 7, 2017.
  • He’s the first player since All-SEC guard AJ Lawson with 25 or more points in back-to-back games. Lawson had 25 vs. Florida A&M on Jan. 2, 2021 and 30 vs. Texas A&M on Jan. 6, 2021.
  • Graduate forward Nick Pringle had 18 points, a season-high in SEC play, with nine rebounds and a pair of steals. The Seabrook, S.C., native was 7-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-5 at the charity stripe.
  • Sophomore forward Jordan Butler had a season-high nine points thanks to two makes from behind the arc.
  • Junior guard Zachary Davis had a solid performance on both ends of the floor leading the team with 10 rebounds and five assists on Saturday.
  • Head coach Lamont Paris improves to 3-0 in games against John Calipari, the winningest active coach in men’s college basketball (went 2-0 against Calipari when he was at Kentucky).
  • Today’s victory marked South Carolina’s first ever three-game win streak over Arkansas in 41 all-time meetings. The Gamecocks won at Bud Walton Arena last season and then defeated the Razorbacks again in the second round of the SEC Tournament in Nashville.

UP NEXT

Carolina remains home for its final game of the season at Colonial Life Arena, a Senior Night matchup with Georgia (17-11, 5-10 SEC). Tip is set for 6 p.m. (ET) on SEC Network with Richard Cross (pxp) and Brandon Johnson (analyst) on the call.

###

Related stories