'We just weren't as together': Second half miscues hurtful in South Carolina's loss to Clemson
For a period of time in the middle of Wednesday’s game, South Carolina was clearly the better team on the floor. Everything was going its way.
In the final seven minutes of the first half, the Gamecock defense didn’t give up a single point to Clemson. Because of that, the offense was able to do their part and go on a key run to take an 11-point lead out of the break.
But as the game rolled along, all the good things South Carolina had done slowly faded away.
“I know there was a time where we were stagnant offensively,” head coach Lamont Paris said. “And then, we also had a couple guys that missed a shot or couldn’t make a play. We couldn’t get over it. We were processing that internally, you could see it on a couple guys here and there. You’re going to miss more than you make, but we just weren’t moving as much.”
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Midway through the second half, the Tigers came to life and changed the entire complexion of the game. They went on an 11-0 run to tie the game and regain control. Despite the Gamecocks’ best efforts, things just continued to snowball from there.
After playing so well defensively in the early going, South Carolina gave up 49 second-half points. It was the most the team had allowed in one period all season.
Related: South Carolina-Clemson box score
As a result, Clemson managed to pull away late with some timely plays and win 72-65, handing the Gamecocks their first loss of the year.
“I mean, they scored a lot of more points in the second half than they did in the first half,” guard Meechie Johnson said. “So probably just not being as together on defense and letting little mistakes happen, offensive rebounds, fouling them more. We just weren’t as together as we were in the first half and it showed.”
What really put the nail in the coffin for South Carolina were the extra opportunities given to Clemson. The Tigers finished the night with 16 second-chance points. The biggest of which came in the final two minutes when Clemson center PJ Hall missed a free throw and the Tigers were able to grab the rebound. A few passes later, and Chase Hunter hit a three from the top of the key to put the game out of reach.
“They turned up how aggressive they were. They were just head down to rim. That was what they were doing,” Paris said. “Sometimes that’s hard. It’s hard to officiate that, it’s hard to defend that. They were being very aggressive and it was effective. They turned up their level of aggression in terms of attacking, and we made a couple of errors defensively. And they skipped the ball from one corner to the next. That’s about as basic as it gets and they get a wide-open three on that. It was a combination of a lot of things. But they played better than us at that time.”
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In the second half, South Carolina shot 10-of-30 from the floor and 5-for-16 from three-point range. Johnson was the main source of offense as he finished with 26 points. Meanwhile, it was a struggle for the rest of the offense to find some consistency.
“Basketball is a game of runs. They were just able to score a little more than we did,” Johnson said. “In that little period, we weren’t able to get enough stops. The ball wasn’t going in for some of us. It’s a tough loss for sure.”
