Collin Murray-Boyles Has Frustrating Day in South Carolina’s Loss at Indiana

South Carolina leading scorer Collin Murray-Boyles dealt with foul trouble in Saturday’s 87-71 loss at Indiana and finished with just two points.

Indiana Hoosiers forward Malik Reneau (5) posts up against South Carolina forward Collin Murray-Boyles (30) at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. / Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The power forward matchup was the one-on-one battle to watch in Indiana’s game against South Carolina Saturday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Indiana junior Malik Reneau had a breakout season last year, going from 6.1 points per game as a freshman to 15.4 as a sophomore. At 6-foot-9 and 232 pounds, he entered Saturday averaging 16 points per game through two contests. 

On the other side, South Carolina had been led by sophomore power forward Collin Murray-Boyles with 21 points and a 68.7% field goal percentage through three games. At 6-foot-8 and 245 pounds, he’s projected to go No. 14 overall in ESPN’s latest 2025 NBA mock draft.

How Reneau and Murray-Boyles fared against each other would go a long way in deciding Saturday’s game between the Big Ten and SEC foes. Reneau and the Hoosiers had the upper hand, as Indiana emerged with an 87-71 victory, improving its record to 3-0 and dropping South Carolina to 2-2 in coach Lamont Paris’ third season.

“They have a physical presence,” Paris said. “They have talent at a lot of their positions, I mean, high-level talent at a lot of their positions. So if they can continue to play together and share the ball and not really care who gets the credit, they got the makings of a very, very talented team.”

Reneau got off to a slow start, missing his first four attempts from the field. Murray-Boyles, on the other hand, scored inside on the second possession and gave the Gamecocks an early 4-0 lead. But the South Carolina power forward committed to quick turnovers – the second an offensive foul – signaling what was to come.

Indiana went on a 14-0 run after trailing early. Murray-Boyles picked up his second foul at the 6:38 mark, going up for a rebound against Indiana sophomore Mackenzie Mgbako. He went to the bench for over six minutes before subbing in with 55 seconds left in the half. Murray-Boyles, who entered the game attempting 12 shots per game, finished the first half with just three.

It was a quiet first half for Reneau, too, with just two points on 1-for-5 shooting. Indiana point guard Myles Rice’s 17 first-half points gave the Hoosiers a 43-32 lead going into the break. 

Officials whistled Murray-Boyles for his third foul after contesting Oumar Ballo inside with 16:10 to play. His team trailing by 12 points, Paris had a difficult decision to make. Take Murray-Boyles out of the game to avoid picking up a fourth foul, or keep him in the game, knowing South Carolina needed him to build a comeback. Paris rolled the dice and chose the latter, but it came back to bite him.

Less than a minute later, with 15:34 left in the game, Murray-Boyles picked up his fourth foul while defending Reneau. Neither option was favorable, but Paris had to pull his leading scorer at that point. 

Indiana's Malik Reneau (5) defended by South Carolina's Nick Pringle (5) and Collin Murray-Boyles at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Murray-Boyles checked back in at the 11:51 mark, only to foul out shortly after with 8:16 to play – again defending Reneau. Indiana’s lead grew as big as 18 points with 10:46 remaining, though South Carolina whittled it down to eight points with 1:19 to play. But that was too little, too late, ultimately culminating in an uncharacteristic day for Murray-Boyles.

Reneau finished with 13 points on 4-for-10 shooting, three rebounds, two assists, four fouls and two turnovers. Murray-Boyles finished with two points on 1-for-4 shooting, six rebounds, four turnovers and one assist in 19 minutes of action. That’s a steep drop from his 21 points, 10.7 rebounds and 31 minutes played per game.

“I thought we did a great job on him,” Indiana coach Mike Woodson said. “We got him in foul trouble. I didn't think they would let Malik play one-on-one a lot, so they kind of came down from what we call the soft spot on Malik. We refused to let him play. Doubled him from the backside a little bit and showed him different looks, some from the top. He struggled a little bit tonight. We needed that because he's been on fire coming into this ballgame.”

Paris said Murray-Boyles’ presence usually sets the tone for South Carolina defensively, and not having him on the floor was very impactful. Paris would have liked to have Murray-Boyles out there from a rebounding standpoint, too. His absence allowed South Carolina to play a lineup with more shooters, which Paris thought benefitted his team for a stretch.

But overall, South Carolina couldn’t give Indiana its best shot with Murray-Boyles struggling.

 “I think he got frustrated overall on the day,” Parris said. “[Murray-Boyles] draws a lot of fouls, that’s just a fact, probably similarly to what Reneau does. … I think those two guys are very similar. They play an aggressive brand of basketball offensively. They’re both strong and physical, and they tend to draw fouls. I thought there was contact, and he wasn’t drawing fouls. I think they bled over – and then he missed one or two around the basket, and I think there was some level of frustration.” 

“It’s hard to play once frustration sets in. I think it’s an athlete’s worst enemy. So I think that probably contributed to it. But also, you got fouls, so I tried to get him in there some. It’s just hard for a guy to sit the whole half and then come in with eight minutes left and try to play after you’ve been sitting for the first however many minutes of the half. Normally, I don’t think guys are built to perform that way. So I put him in there, and he picked up another foul. But we needed him to get going, really, for us to have our best chance to play the way we wanted to offensively.”

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