MBB: Gamecocks fall to Bulldogs 74-72
South Carolina's road woes found their way home Thursday night as South Carolina suffered a 74-72 loss to Georgia. Mindaugas Kacinas scored 21 points in his final home game.
The game followed a familiar, and frustrating, pattern for South Carolina. Poor shooting, too many jump shots, and untimely defensive breakdowns all factored into the loss. South Carolina shot 35 percent for the game, and that was thanks to several desperation threes after the outcome of the game had already been decided. It took a whopping 26 threes while attempting only 16 free throws, and was outrebounded by 11.
The Gamecocks started out hot. Kacinas hit a pair of three-pointers as they raced out to an 8-2 lead. But the Bulldogs answered with a 10-0 run to take the lead, which they held into the second half. The Bulldogs led 39-34 at halftime stretched the lead to nine early in the second half.
South Carolina showed signs of life with an 8-0 run to pull within a point. Georgia answered with a couple buckets, but then both teams' offenses disappeared. South Carolina went over five minutes without a basket, while Georgia went over three minutes without a basket.
South Carolina got a spark from senior Michael Carrera, who struggled on an emotional night. After missing his first seven three point attempts, Carrera buried a three from the top of the key. On the ensuing defensive possession, he got a steal for a breakaway dunk to tie the game at 49. He was then fouled on a defensive rebound, and made both free throws for South Carolina's first lead since the early minutes.
From there, the teams traded blows. Georgia went on a 7-0 run to retake the lead. Then Kacinas made four straight free throws to go ahead. Then, once again, South Carolina's offense disappeared. Even worse, so did its defense.
The Bulldogs went on an 11-0 run to take command of the game. Yante Maten started the run with a pair of free throws, and then J.J. Frazier took over. He hit a jumper for the lead, and then a clutch three from the corner with 1:14 left. With the Gamecocks forced to foul, Frazier made five straight free throws to seal the game. He scored 19 points for the game, 10 in the final three minutes.
Frazier also had nine rebounds and seven assists. Kenny Gaines led Georgia with 20 points, and Maten had 13. Sindarius Thornwell had 16 points, seven assists, and four rebounds for South Carolina, and Carrera had 13 points, but shot 5-21 and 1-10 from three.
