FINAL: South Carolina's Three-Point Shooting Powers Them Past Missouri

South Carolina's men's basketball team started and finished strong in a 72-64 win over the Missouri Tigers.

Coming off of their biggest win since the 2018-19 season, Lamont Paris and the South Carolina Gamecocks came into Saturday afternoon's matchup against the Missouri Tigers looking to parlay their sky-high momentum into another win. While fans had to hold their breath at certain times, Carolina managed to to find a way to pull it out in the end.

In the first ten minutes of the game, South Carolina got whatever they wanted on the offensive end in terms of shot selection. From the guards to the frontcourt, everyone in rhythm, sharing the basketball, and passing up good shots for great ones, starting the game off 10-17 or 58.8 percent from the floor and pushing their lead to as large as 14 points.

However, in the final seven minutes of the half, the Tigers made drastic defensive adjustments, going from a man-to-man defense to a variety of zone defenses, such as a 4-1, 3-1-1, and 1-3-1 zone. These different looks stymied the Gamecocks who, with their lack of length and transition offense, bogged down for the next four minutes and forty-five seconds, scoring just four points and witnessing their lead cut down to just four points.

Once Carolina began attacking the basket and taking shots from the middle of the floor, it opened things up once again, and Paris saw his team go into halftime with a ten-point advantage.

BJ Mack going up for a layup vs. Missouri (27th Jan., 2024) / Jeff Blake | USA Today Network

At the start of the second half, the Gamecocks were ice-cold offensively, as Missouri continued to stick with the varied zone defenses, and Carolina, despite having several open shots, couldn't land any of them. This on top of Missouri getting tough shots near the rim and drawing some fouls led to an 11-0 run for the Tigers and Carolina suddenly found themselves down by one just three minutes and nine seconds into the period.

From that point onward, it was a back-and-forth affair between the two teams, but the difference in the game ended up being timely made three-point shots for the Gamecocks. On three different occasions in the final 12:45 of the game, with a lead that was six points or less, Carolina hit a shot from behind the arc that got the crowd back in and gave them more cushion.

The Gamecocks will go back on the road on Tuesday night when they take on the Tennessee Volunteers.

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