Five things we learned from South Carolina's SEC-opening loss to Mississippi State

Well, that was one way to ring in the new year.

After going 10-3 in the non-conference slate, South Carolina proved to be no match for No. 17 Mississippi State in the SEC opener, losing 85-50.

Here are five things we learned from watching the way the Gamecocks performed on Saturday.

[Join GamecockCentral: $1 for 7 days]

An embarrassing performance

This game was over within minutes. That’s not even an over exaggeration.

As soon as Mississippi State went on a 15-2 run to open the game, that was about all she wrote. The Bulldogs never let up at any point on Saturday and cruised to victory. But from a South Carolina standpoint, it was just rough to watch that first half. 18 points on 6-of-23 shooting at the break? Yeah, that was it.

It’s one thing to lose. But the way in which the Gamecocks lost was embarrassing. To make matters worse, this is how they’ll open SEC play this year. And with how good the conference is, there might be a few more of these games on the way.

A lack of fight

South Carolina not playing well didn’t surprise Lamont Paris. But not showing fight as the game wore on did surprise him. That should speak volumes about where things stand right now.

With 16 minutes left to go in the second half, the Gamecocks were down by as much as 30 points. The game was already well in hand. If there was going to be any good to take away from this game, it would’ve been to see the team show some life by the end. That just never happened.

Mississippi State just kept firing away and shot 62.1 percent in the second half, outscoring South Carolina 42-32. There were so many times where the defense broke down and gave up an easy shot. The team looked off from the jump.

[USC-Alabama MBB: Win two tickets]

The signs were there

For as bad as Saturday was, it wasn’t a complete surprise. Maybe losing by 35 points was surprising but the way in which the game went down was not shocking.

South Carolina dealt with its share of issues in non-conference play. Since the team kept finding ways to win, it wasn’t as big of a deal. Keep in mind, those struggles mostly came against lower tier mid-major opponents. This was the same team that trailed at halftime against Radford and Presbyterian.

So all of the Gamecocks’ problems came to a head in Starkville, it wasn’t surprising. If they started slow, which they most certainly did, they were going to be in trouble. Even if they were down by 10 at the break, it would’ve been a tough hole to climb out of. But between the slow start, poor shooting and turnovers, a 25-point deficit at halftime made sense.

The turnovers are getting out of hand

In the opening minutes of the game, South Carolina was already playing sloppy basketball. The Gamecocks were racking up a plethora of carefree turnovers, passing the ball where they shouldn’t. By halftime, they were already up to 10.

By the sound of the final buzzer, the team finished with 14 on the day, an ugly number to look at. Collin Murray-Boyles, who now has 40 turnovers in 14 games this season, had six against Mississippi State. For perspective, that was more than the total points he had (5).

As a whole, the team has turned the ball over 159 times this year. These games where they have double-digit turnovers can’t keep happening. It’s just one of the many problems they are experiencing right now.

[USC-Auburn MBB: Win two tickets]

It will only get worse before it gets better

It’s just one game but this could be a sign of things to come for the Gamecocks, whose schedule only gets tougher from here on out. Every game in league play will be tough considering how good the SEC is this year. But playing two top-five teams — No. 5 Alabama and No. 2 Auburn — at home next week could be ugly.

Alabama demolished unbeaten Oklahoma 107-79, while Auburn continued to play like the best team in the conference, beating Missouri 84-68. With these games coming in Columbia, maybe some home court advantage will serve South Carolina well. But these are the two-best teams in the SEC. The Gamecocks just don’t have the firepower to keep up with squads like that. It will be interesting to see how this team responds from such a bad loss, though.

Discuss South Carolina basketball on The Insiders Forum!