South Carolina had Collin Murray-Boyles, and Boston College did not.
In a nutshell, that was the whole game in South Carolina men’s basketball’s trip to Chestnut Hill. The Gamecocks beat the Eagles 73-51 in the SEC/ACC challenge behind a dominant performance from the sophomore forward, who had a double-double before halftime and overwhelmed all challengers at both ends of the floor.
Murray-Boyles had 14 points and 10 rebounds in just 15 first half minutes, and finished the game with 16 points and 14 boards, a presence Boston College (6-3) simply had no answers for. It was a battle of bigs early on as Eagles’ forward Chad Venning scored six points in a row in the opening minutes, but once Murray-Boyles took control down low it completely flipped the tenor of the game. He stepped into a 3-pointer early to stop the Venning run, gave South Carolina (5-3) an early lead with a dunk and was the focal point of nearly every offensive set and action the Gamecocks called.
But a mostly back-and-forth opening half finally tipped towards the visitors when the defense turned it up a gear, at times reminiscent of the stellar defensive performances from last year’s group. The Gamecocks held Boston College without a made field goal for the final seven minutes of the first half, only surrendering two points overall on a pair of free throws. South Carolina closed the half on a 14-2 run, half of the points courtesy of Murray-Boyles. He nearly scored as many points on his own in the first half as the entire Boston College team, and it essentially reduced the second half to garbage time.
Not without a few more positives for Lamont Paris and his staff, though. Specifically in the form of sophomore guard Morris Ugusuk, who finished the game 3-of-3 from 3-point range and knocked down a pair of second half triples from deep on open looks. Ugusuk finished with nine points, and it was the third time in the last four games he has knocked down at least three 3-pointers.
Dominant as Murray-Boyles has been, this team will still need secondary scoring options in SEC play. The sophomore from Helsinki has been the biggest positive surprise for the Gamecocks through eight games, and his continued development would be a significant boost with conference games just a month away.
The 51 points were a season-low in points allowed, and the lowest total overall since holding Elon to just 43 points nearly a full calendar year ago. And you have to go back over five years to find the last time a power five conference opponent finished with this low a total against the Gamecocks, going back to when Georgia scored just 46 in the 2018-19 regular season finale.
South Carolina will close non-conference play with five straight home games, four buy games against mid-majors plus the Dec. 17 rivalry showdown against Clemson. The homestand starts Saturday at 2 p.m. ET against East Carolina.
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