Iverson Molinar, Mississippi State big men send Gamecocks home early

South Carolina’s season may be over.

The No. 7-seeded Gamecocks allowed No. 10 seed Mississippi State to work its offensive game plan all night on Thursday. The Bulldogs got the ball inside, taking authority with their big-man advantage and consistently getting to the free-throw line in a second-round SEC tournament matchup.

And despite a scorching-hot first-half shooting stretch and briefly navigating a 10-point deficit midway through the second half, South Carolina couldn’t sustain enough offense or bottle up Bulldogs star Iverson Molinar down the stretch.

The result: The Gamecocks were sent home early in a 73-51 loss, squashing the goal of a deep SEC tournament run and any hopes of an NCAA tournament berth.

A win over Mississippi State would have locked up an NIT appearance. The Gamecocks (18-13, 9-9 SEC regular-season record) are probably still in the field, but they will now have to sweat it out a bit come Sunday.

Here are a handful of reasons why:

We knew coming into the game that Mississippi State had the clear, decided big-man advantage behind the three-headed attack of Tolu Smith, Garrison Brooks and D.J. Jefferies.

Ben Howland knew it, too. So did Frank Martin. But it didn’t matter.

The Bulldogs put an emphasis on working inside-out against South Carolina, dumping the ball down low, and going to work. Smith finished with a game-high 20 points (8-for-14 shooting) and 12 rebounds to lead a post attack that finished with a 42-16 margin on points in the paint – the No. 1 difference in a game in which Mississippi State also had a 49-39 rebound advantage and netted 17 second-chance points to South Carolina’s three.

Mississippi State guard Iverson Molinar was Public Enemy No. 1 for South Carolina’s defense coming into the game. In the first matchup, the All-SEC first-teamer poured in 20 points on an efficient 5-of-10 shooting effort and a perfect 10-for-10 at the free-throw line.

The first half of tonight’s rubber match went the way of round two between Molinar and a Gamecocks defense that locked him up for 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting in that bout.

But the second period was an entirely different story. Molinar finished with 12 points in the half. Not an overwhelming output in the box score. But he was subtly dominant, taking over and exploding his way into the lane to either get buckets around the rim or finish at the free-throw line to end with 19 points.

He was the floor general the Bulldogs needed, controlling the rest of the game to lead Mississippi State to a date with No. 2 seed Tennessee in the quarterfinals.

Keyshawn Bryant had a wide-open cruise to the rim. After Devin Carter’s pesky defense forced a Bulldogs turnover, from his knees he kicked a pass ahead to a streaking, in-stride Bryant. The lefty rose up to power home a one-handed slam. And bricked the dunk attempt off the back iron.

South Carolina had worked a 47-37 deficit down to three with a 7-0 run by taking advantage of a couple of bone-headed Mississippi State turnovers. If Bryant slams that one home, it would have been a one-point deficit with 13 minutes to go.

Instead, the Bulldogs responded with a 19-4 run to put the game away, finishing the final 13 minutes by outscoring South Carolina 26-7. The missed dunk was the turning point in a game that saw several Gamecocks mistakes.

Let’s take you to imaginationland for a moment and put you in the shoes of a certain sportswriter: Imagine that you live in an apartment with less than stellar water pipes.

Now, imagine that when you turn on your showerhead, it’s ice-cold for a minute or two, then gets scorching hot out of nowhere but settles into lukewarm soon afterward.

That was South Carolina on Thursday night.

After missing their first five shots, including a couple of good looks from three and a bunny that got blocked after the opening tip, the Gamecocks caught fire. They made 10 of their next 16 shots after that, highlighted by banging home five of their next seven 3-pointers – three from Erik Stevenson (team-high 18 points) and two from Jermaine Cousinard – for a 26-20 lead midway through the first half.

Then, over the next 4.5 minutes – from the 8:39 mark to the 4-minute mark – the Gamecocks committed four turnovers and missed all five of its field-goal attempts, and Mississippi State took advantage with a 10-0 run.

In the second half, the showerhead went back to ice cold. Save for the first five shots, South Carolina went 13-for-24 (54 percent) in the first half. Over the final 20 minutes, the Gamecocks finished 4-for-31 (12.9 percent) and 8-of-16 on free throws (after a perfect 3-for-3 in the first half).

Their 17 second-half points were a season-low in a half this season as their shooting percentage dropped from 44.8 percent after the first half to 28.3 percent for the game.

For a team that finished 11th in the conference with a 42.8-percent shooting mark, the cold shooting wasn’t a surprise. After that hot start, though, it looked like South Carolina might be able to ride a well-timed shooting spree to a quarterfinals appearance. Instead, questions about the future of this program are going to swirl more aggressively.

Martin dropped a hell of a quote this week when responding to questions of whether he was feeling pressure about his job status.

“Pressure? Come on, man. I’ve been shot at,” Martin said. “I used to work 80 hours a week to make 25 grand. My first year at [Kansas State], I had no contract. They could have fired me on the spot for zero dollars. This school has treated me like a champ. What do I have to complain about?”

Whether Martin remains the head coach at South Carolina moving forward will be answered this offseason. But the disappointing finish in the SEC tournament – after a strong finish to the regular season – adds another bullet point to the argument for those who no longer want him at the helm of the program.

The Gamecocks will now await their NIT fate, which will be announced at 9 p.m. Sunday. Thus far, five NIT bids have been taken up by mid-major automatic bids. Florida's loss today likely puts the Gators ahead of South Carolina despite the Gamecocks' head-to-head win. But it will now be a close call.