Alabama upsets No. 19 South Carolina leaving SMU as lone unbeaten
The good times are rolling at Alabama.
Not so much in the state of South Carolina.
Two nights after the Crimson Tide won a fourth national title on the football field in seven years beating Clemson, the basketball team absolutely clobbered previously undefeated but lethargic South Carolina 73-50. What a way for first-year coach Avery Johnson to get his first victory in the SEC, beating one of two remaining undefeated teams in the nation.
The Gamecocks scored a season-low 22 points in the first half, turned the ball over 12 times in the opening 20 minutes and went 1-for-10 behind the 3-point line. It got worse to start the second half. South Carolina didn’t score its first points of the half until there were 11 minutes, 51 seconds remaining in the game.
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When Duane Notice made a layup at that point to end the drought, it ended a stretch of more than 14 minutes without a field goal for South Carolina and the Gamecocks were trailing by 24 points.
South Carolina was trying to improve to 16-0 and keep pace with Southern Methodist, the only other Division I team that went into Wednesday’s action undefeated. SMU won easily against East Carolina, but the Mustangs won’t be eligible for the postseason because of NCAA infractions.
While Alabama obviously deserves credit for taking it to the Gamecocks, coach Frank Martin’s team just wasn’t operating at the level at which is has played most of this season. The Gamecocks were sloppy and seemed to be sleepwalking through the outing at times. Leading scorer Sindarius Thornwell went 1-for-6 and scored just two points.
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Sophomore guard Marcus Stroman had to leave the game midway through the second half when he was inadvertently elbowed in the face.
The victory over South Carolina is another positive step in the improvement of the Alabama program under Johnson. The Crimson Tide has endured some confounding losses halfway through Johnson’s first season, not unusual for a team adapting to a new system and coaching staff, but it also has some quality wins. Johnson’s team already could boast of victories over Wichita State, Notre Dame and Clemson prior to beating the Gamecocks.
Sophomore forward Riley Norris tied his career high with 18 points in the first half and then moved past it to finish with 27 points and seven rebounds to lead Alabama in his first start of the season. The Tide made seven of 15 3-pointers in the first half and went on to a 13-for-28 performance behind the arc in the game. Norris made eight of those 3-pointers to tie a school record.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
