Carolina Crushes Oklahoma St. 75-49

COLUMBIA, S.C. (USC SID) — A balanced scoring effort and a suffocating defense helped guide the Gamecocks (5-3) to a 75-49 win over Oklahoma State (7-1) Saturday afternoon in their matchup in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The Carolina guard play dictated the game, as the five-man rotation combined to score 56 points. Duane Notice led all scorers with 20 points, his second straight 20-point effort. South Carolina held a 9-5 advantage at the first media timeout of the contest with 14:26 remaining in the half. Tyrone Johnson scored on a fast-break lay-in off Laimonas Chatkevicius’ third block of the half out of the break, but the Cowboys scored two at the free throw line after a called foul on the Gamecocks. Hard work, and high energy on both ends of the floor by the Gamecocks and a lay-up and two at the foul line from Sindarius Thornwell saw Carolina’s lead extend to 17-10 with just under nine minutes to play in the half. The Gamecock defense held Oklahoma State to just 16 percent through its first 18 attempts, connecting on just three. OSU’s Phil Forte attempted a 3 from the corner out of the under-eight minute media timeout that Mindaugas Kacinas blocked, but the Cowboys connected on back-to-back 3s from Jeff Newberry and Forte, and Michael Cobbins scored under the basket on a missed Carolina attempt, which gave OSU its first lead at 18-17 with 5:54 to play in the half, forcing a Carolina timeout. It would ultimately be its only lead of the day and lasted just 12 seconds. South Carolina regained its lead out of the break, scoring five unanswered on a jumper from Notice and a 3 from Justin McKie. McKie added two more on a spin move in the lane, and Tyrone Johnson connected on a three-point play leading the Gamecocks into the locker room with a 32-24 upperhand. South Carolina’s defense held Oklahoma State to 26 percent from the floor in the opening half, as the Cowboys connected on just 8-of-31 attempts. Thornwell paced Carolina in the opening stanza with nine points and eight rebounds. The defense would only intensify over the final 20 minutes for Carolina, and Oklahoma State would see its percentage from the floor drop even lower with an 8-of-34 success rate in the second half. A steal and lay-in from OSU’s Anthony Hickey brought the Cowboys to within five at 37-32 at the 17-minute mark, but Carolina responded with a dunk from Demetrius Henry and a contested jumper from Notice on the baseline, extending the lead back to nine at the under-16 minute media timeout. Two free throws from Thornwell pushed the Gamecock lead back to 10 at 44-34, with 14 minutes to play. A miss from Hickey would give Carolina a three-point play, as Johnson hit the fast break lay-up and was fouled by Forte. Johnson hit from the free throw line, and the Gamecocks would capitalize on another missed 3 from the Cowboys, as Kacinas hit a 3, pushing the Carolina lead to 50-34 and forcing a timeout. Carolina continued to play solid on both ends of the court. Johnson connected on another three-point play and Notice hit his third 3 of the contest to give Carolina a 22-point advantage at 60-38 with 9:54 to play. Carolina free throws and Notice’s 20th point of the contest continued the Gamecock lead, which stood at 68-44 with 5:03 to play. The lead would peak at 30 points, 73-43 at the 4:03 mark, after Kacinas made his second 3-pointer of the afternoon. The junior post would score seven points with seven rebounds in the final half alone, racking up 12 rebounds overall for a season high.