In its early Saturday afternoon matchup, Ole Miss had the opportunity to sweep the season series against South Carolina, but the Gamecocks had other plans. Ole Miss led the entire way in the first half, and it was not until the 15 minute mark that South Carolina gained its first lead.
Once South Carolina settled in, this game became interesting. Neither team could pull away for a majority of the second half, but the Gamecocks turned its intensity up as time went on. South Carolina’s defense stymied the Rebel offense, not allowing a single field goal in the last seven minutes of play.
Additionally, South Carolina ended the game on a 9-2 run, which would have been 9-0 if not for a last-second layup by Tye Fagan.
Fagan scored a season-high 17 points in the game. His production on offense was the leading reason why the Rebels were in a position to win; however, the transfer guard from Georgia’s scoring outburst was not enough to overpower the balanced attack from South Carolina.
Hayden Brown led the Gamecocks with 18 points, followed by Jacobi Wright and Meechie Johnson Jr., who finished with 17 and 13 respectively.
For a majority of this game, the Carolina offense was stagnant and struggled shooting the ball. South Carolina shoots the most three-pointers in the SEC, a true live and die philosophy, so when the shots are not falling, the Gamecocks struggle.
Despite its struggles as a team, South Carolina got some help from the likes of Wright and Chico Carter Jr., who each hit timely three-pointers to lift the Gamecocks.
With this loss, Ole Miss drops to 10-15 for the season and 2-10 in conference play. After a 6-0 start to the season, with a notable win against Florida Atlantic, the Rebels sit one spot above the last place LSU Tigers.
This is also the same team that took Tennessee, Auburn and Kentucky down to the wire.
Ole Miss has great talent who play off each other very well, but the team itself has dropped too many winnable games and been outplayed in others, which is why they are tied for 12th place in the SEC.
The non-conference blowout losses to Memphis, UCF and Oklahoma State, coupled with the losses to North Alabama, Vanderbilt and now South Carolina have taken a toll on the Rebels. It is hard to figure things out mid season, but Ole Miss has a semi-favorable remaining schedule that they can use to build a foundation for next season
The Rebels travel to play the Florida Gators on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m. CST. This game can be viewed on the SEC Network, so tune in to watch Ole Miss try to steal a win on the road.
