There was little that South Carolina did right and almost nothing that Arkansas number 12 did wrong on a final score of 101 to 73 in Columbia on Tuesday night.
The Gamecocks’ home final (6-13, 4-11) of the 2020-21 season resulted in their fifth consecutive defeat at the Colonial Life Arena and the second time an SEC opponent reached 100 points scored against them in Columbia. The Razorbacks (20-5, 12-4) extended their winning streak to 10 games after throwing 55 percent of the field, 45 percent beyond the three-point arc and 92 percent of the free-throw line.
“We just left the gym,” Gamecocks coach Frank Martin said postgame. “Defensively, we simply did not oppose any fight, no resistance and offensively we played selfishly, that going to the game was all we talked about (not doing). Don’t make bad moves, because when you do they score every time. Everything what we did was make bad bids. We ran out of the gym, they’re good and we didn’t have an answer for them tonight. “
A competitive competition in the first seven and a half minutes, a 14-14 game got ugly when the Razorbacks spilled in a three-point attack and the Gamecocks were unable to keep up, regardless of how they tried to score. Arkansas made 10 of 20 of the three-point streak at halftime, while South Carolina had 12 baskets made from across the field in the first half.
“The plan was to sit down and play D, which worked in the first six minutes,” junior striker Keyshawn Bryant said. “Afterwards, we started taking a lot of shots as a team and we tried to make a game of goals instead of trying to sit and defend. They shoot and we miss. The team that makes the most shots wins the game. “
Despite leaving a road victory against Georgia, in which he held the shipowner Sahvir Wheeler, Gamecocks had problems throughout the season, preventing the best scoring opponents from having career nights. Arkansas gunner, guard Moses Moody (16.6 ppg), set a career record of 28 points out of 10 out of 15 shots with four hits and three points. He was one of three Razorbacks to score at least 20 points.
“Moody is good, but we made it a lot easier for him,” said Martin. “I don’t think he even started to sweat trying to score. We were undisciplined. They have good players and when you allow good players to feel comfortable, they play very, very well. We never make them uncomfortable and that’s what you get when you play against a Top 15 team in the country and you don’t fight defensively and you don’t play with the offensive discipline we talk about trying. “
One game after hitting 54 percent of the field, 44 percent of the three-point break and 54 percent of the free-throw line, the Gamecocks reversed the inefficient team they were in the previous six games, all of which resulted in defeats. , some similar to Tuesday’s unbalanced result. On Tuesday, Carolina shot 38 percent of the field, 26 percent of the three-point line and just 57 percent of the free-throw line. Against an attack from Arkansas that entered the country in 12th place in scoring (82.4 ppg), that was not enough to be competitive for 40 minutes and it showed.
“It is one of those years. We have good parts and, when the parts work well together, we represent our team in the right way ”, said Martin. “Our parts have not connected for a long time. We have a lot of guys who are playing for ‘me’ and not ‘us’. This is unfortunate. We need to keep trying to find out why, a year ago, with basically the same people, that never happened. This has been a messy year and it caught me off guard. I didn’t expect some things we’ve been dealing with and I’m not talking about greed. We had guys who have been here for three or four years and it wasn’t their case before and it suddenly became a problem now. We have to find that out, but this is not the time to find that out. You do this in the off-season. “
The Gamecocks conclude their regular season on the road on Saturday, a midday tip against Kentucky on ESPN. It is a rescheduled competition that should be the opening of Carolina’s conference on December 29th. The team will then go to Nashville for the SEC tournament, where it is currently projected to be 11th out of 13 teams. Auburn will not compete in postseason games due to a self-imposed ban for violating NCAA rules.