Big second-half showing helps South Carolina to win over East Carolina

Collin Murray-Boyles is undoubtedly capable of taking matters into his own hands. But it’s always nice to have some help from the rest of the supporting cast.

When South Carolina couldn’t buy a shot early on Saturday, Murray-Boyles could always be counted on to score. And eventually, the shots started to fall for the rest of the team.

Back at home for the first time in 16 days, the Gamecocks (6-3) picked up a 75-68 win over East Carolina. They’ve now won three consecutive games with their most recent loss coming against Xavier last Monday.

How it happened

South Carolina couldn’t generate any offense outside of Murray-Boyles for a good portion of the first half. The sophomore forward had all the team’s points through the first 11 minutes before another Gamecock scored a point.

Whether Murray-Boyles was on the floor or not, the others had a tough time scoring, specifically at the guard spots. There were multiple points where there was miscommunication leading to the shot clock winding down with a missed shot to follow.

Meanwhile, East Carolina came in playing aggressive, a common trend from the last two seasons when the Pirates have played South Carolina. For the first half, they shot 51.9 percent from the field and blocked three shots with three additional steals.

While the Gamecocks trailed for more than 14 minutes of the first half, they started to chip away and cut into the deficit. Jamarii Thomas took some time to get going and scored his first 10 points of the game in the final six minutes before the break. He went into the half making his final three shots, two of which came from behind the arc.

Outside of Thomas and Murray-Boyles, who also scored 10 points in the half on 5-of-5 shooting, South Carolina didn’t get much production from the rest of the supporting cast and trailed by five at halftime. The rest of the team went a combined 2-for-14 from the field.

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Murray-Boyles continued to do most of the scoring as the second half began, making the team’s first three shots before a Thomas jumper gave South Carolina its first lead since the 16:54 mark.

From there, the Gamecocks were in complete control and went on a 17-0 run over the next six-plus minutes. During this stretch, they hit seven of their first nine shots, making up for a lackluster start in the first half. Meanwhile, the Pirates wouldn’t make another shot until the 13:27 mark of the half.

After trailing by as much as 11 points in the game, South Carolina now had the upper hand and it remained like that the rest of the way. Murray-Boyles went a perfect 10-for-10 from the field with 20 points. Thomas was also a huge contributor in this game with 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting. He went 5-for-8 from behind the arc.

Morris Ugusuk and Zachary Davis were also big in the second half turnaround. Ugusuk drilled three triples and Davis had 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting.

Two observations

CMB is your main source of offense—As if it weren’t already evident enough, Saturday’s game strongly reinforced it. Murray-Boyles was fantastic with a 20-point showing on 10-of-10 shooting. It took some time for the rest of the offense to get going. But Murray-Boyles was the main reason why the game remained close in the first half and then allowed for the Gamecocks to go on their big runs in the second.

Dominated the second half—Sure, East Carolina still made its shots as the game wore on and even cut the lead down to single digits in the final minute. But the Gamecocks were much better in the second half compared to the first and scored 48 points on 68 percent shooting.

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Key stat

12-for-23—Maybe this is going to be a main part of South Carolina’s identity this season. The Gamecocks knocked down 12 three-pointers. They struggled to find the hole in the early minutes of the game. But as the second half got rolling, the shots started coming in bunches with eight made threes.

Turning point

A big 17-0 run set the wheels in motion for the Gamecocks to jump back in front and then roll to a victory on Saturday.

Up next

South Carolina won’t be in action again until next Saturday, Dec. 14 when it hosts USC Upstate. Tip-off will be at 2 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.

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