Collin Murray-Boyles details what went wrong for him in NCAA Tournament loss
The game plan was simple: find a way to stop N’Faly Dante. But that was easier said than done.
In the Gamecocks’ 87-73 loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Oregon center was unstoppable. Dante finished with 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting. He also had a pair of blocks and a handful of dunks that made the crowd go wild.
No matter what South Carolina threw at Dante, it never seemed to be enough. And it also seemed to impact the way those guarding him played, especially Collin Murray-Boyles.
“It was hard to get anything over him, hard to get any rebounds around him,” Murray-Boyles told GamecockCentral. “He just made it really difficult and he’s a really good shot blocker.”
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The freshman forward had a very quiet day, which is very atypical from what he had been doing for much of this season. He had just six points on 2-of-5 shooting.
But the statistic that really stands out is one rebound. Murray-Boyles had six or more rebounds in 14 games, which is above his team-high 5.9 average this season. When it came to going up against Dante, he had no answers and couldn’t be a force in the paint.
“On offense, any time he gets his arms above the rim, it’s really hard to contain him,” Murray-Boyles said of Dante. “I mean, when he’s sealing the paint, it’s really hard to get around him. He really did a good job.”
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Over the last two games, Murray-Boyles’ play took a steep decline after having so much success against Arkansas in the second round of the SEC Tournament. Including the Auburn loss last week, he finished with just 10 points on 21 percent shooting. For reference, he had 24 points on 73.3 percent shooting against the Razorbacks a week ago.
And there might be a reason behind some of his recent struggles. Murray-Boyles revealed that he had been dealing with a virus since the end of the conference tournament.
“From where I was coming from, I was sick for a couple days,” he said. “I haven’t really been around the team since the SEC Tournament. I was just getting back into it. And I think that affected how I played today.”
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While Murray-Boyles hasn’t been one to make excuses this year, it really seemed to impact his play. He said this virus “really kicked my butt” and left him feeling “very fatigued” throughout Thursday’s game.
“Not aggressive. Just trying to conserve energy,” said Murray-Boyles, describing his play. “I just knew how much I could do out there wasn’t going to be my top performance stuff.”
Murray-Boyles ends his freshman year averaging 10.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. He has previously said that he plans to be back with the Gamecocks next season.
