Five things we learned from South Carolina's loss to Ole Miss

Same story, different night.

It’s becoming a broken record at this point, but South Carolina dropped another tight game on Wednesday night at Colonial Life Arena. This time, the Gamecocks (10-14, 0-11 SEC) lost 72-68 to No. 19 Ole Miss in a matchup that came down to the wire. But like many times before, they weren’t able to come away with the win.

Here are five things we learned from watching the way South Carolina performed on Wednesday.

Razor thin margin for error

When it came down to why the Gamecocks couldn’t come up with the victory, all you have to do is look at their free throw numbers and you’ll have your answer. They were 20-of-32 at the line, while Ole Miss went 14-of-17 on its attempts.

In a four-point loss, that’s the difference right there. South Carolina hasn’t been a good free throw shooting team this year, only making about 68 percent of its attempts in SEC play. It doesn’t have a problem getting to the line; that’s not the issue here. The issue is not being able to convert consistently enough when given the opportunity.

The first-half free throw shooting was nowhere near good enough as it went 8-of-15 (53.2 percent). In the second half, the Gamecocks were much better and went 12-of-17, which helped them get back in the game. But again, if those five missed free throws in the second half were makes, they end up winning against the Rebels. It’s just little things like this that are looming large in tight games.

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Keep coming close but can’t seal the deal

The record is what it is at this point. There’s no way to sugarcoat a team that’s 0-11 in conference play. But South Carolina could very easily be in a much better position, maybe in the fight for a tournament bid. That is if only it were able to finish in close games.

With Wednesday’s four-point defeat, this is now the sixth game in SEC play where the Gamecocks have lost by five or fewer points. Four of those losses were decided by four points or less. It’s remarkable how often this team comes up short. They just can’t seem to finish well enough to win.

The other five losses have been by double digits, with four coming by at least 20 points. So the games have either been tight and down to the wire or blowouts by the final buzzer. There hasn’t been much in between this season.

No sign of quit or give up

It’s hard to imagine how the players must be feeling during this rough stretch. It’s not easy to go from being one of the better teams in college basketball a season ago to now being one of the few winless teams remaining in a conference.

But for as somber as things have looked, the play on the court doesn’t necessarily represent a team that is down in the dumps. South Carolina has continuously given its best shot in these games, which is a good sign to see considering where things are at. At some point, it just feels like something has to give to where it will all come together, at least for one game where the team can earn a win.

Continue to get CMB more shots

Lamont Paris has been adamant about wanting to see Collin Murray-Boyles take more shots. He even admitted after Wednesday’s game that he would be okay with him taking at least 20 shots. That’s how much respect Paris and the rest of the team have for a player as good as Murray-Boyles.

The sophomore forward had a good game, finishing with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting to go along with six assists, three blocks and one steal. He’s been doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the team this year. It would be good to see what else he can do with more shots under his belt per game, though.

When you look at the production around him, it just hasn’t been anywhere near as consistent as he has been. Nick Pringle scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting but missed five free throws. The guard play continues to be a weakness as Jamarii Thomas went 3-of-13 from the field and only scored 11 points. The rest of the guards combined for 18 points. That’s not going to cut it.

At this point, South Carolina doesn’t have much to lose by giving the ball to Murray-Boyles more. The thing with him is that he’s an unselfish player who has good court vision and can find an open player to generate a shot. The problem is the shots aren’t going in. He doesn’t need to be a ball hog by any means, but he needs to continue to take more shots since he’s the most consistent scorer on the floor.

Win tickets to the South Carolina-Arkansas women’s basketball game

Need to give BBV more playing time

Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk might not be the consistent scoring type of forward, not like Murray-Boyles is. But the one thing you can always expect from the sixth-year forward when he takes the floor is fantastic effort.

Bosmans-Verdonk played a season high 20 minutes on Wednesday and gave South Carolina some juice when he was out there. He finished with seven points on 2-of-2 shooting and grabbed three rebounds and blocked one shot. These aren’t eye-popping numbers, but he brings life and energy to the team, which they need.

He’s also a nice big man to have if the Gamecocks are in a pinch. The 6-foot-9, 240-pounder can be an intimidating force on the court just based on his pure size and strength. With seven games left to go in the regular season and this being the final stretch of his college basketball career, it wouldn’t hurt to let Bosmans-Verdonk see more regular minutes. He’s definitely earned it being one of the longer tenured players with the program.

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