James Reese made a free throw with 6.3 seconds left and then Vanderbilt was unable to get a shot off as South Carolina held on for a 72-70 win.

Jermaine Couisnard scored seven points during an 8-0 second half run and then a three-point play by James Reese gave South Carolina a 64-53 lead with 7:18 to play. But South Carolina went cold, missing five straight and finishing the game making just two of its last ten shot attempts.

Vanderbilt chipped away at the lead, and Scotty Pippen, Jr. got the Commodores within two with a minute to play. Vanderbilt had a chance to tie, but Erik Stevenson came up with a steal and fed Devin Carter for a fast break dunk, South Carolina’s only field goal in the final three minutes. Vanderbilt once again had a chance to tie with 11 seconds remaining. Carter missed a three and Keyshawn Bryant was called for a foul on the rebound. That sent Myles Stute, who led all scorers with 19 points and was a perfect 6-6 on free throws, to the line. But Stute missed the first free throw before making the second. Vanderbilt fouls Reese, who also made 1-2, giving Vanderbilt one more chance to tie with 6.3 seconds left.

After timeouts by both teams, Pippen, the SEC’s leading scorer, inbounded the ball and then got it back. The idea was for Pippen to have a running start, but Reese was able to slow down Pippen. A screen didn’t help, and Pippen never got a look at a game-tying shot.

“James was big time all game. When he guarded Pippen he did a great job,” Frank Martin said. “He never got the corner turned and the clock ran out.”

Reese finished with a team-high 13 points. WIldens Leveque was the only other Gamecock in double-figures with ten, but the Gamecocks got solid contributions from a bunch of players. Martin was upset with his bench play against Auburn, when they were outscored 40-11. He was especially unhappy with how Couisnard played. Both areas were much better Saturday. South Carolina got 30 bench points and Couisnard had nine points, four rebounds, and four assists.

“Him being aggressive is really good for our team,” Martin said.

South Carolina shot 54.9% for the game and 64% in the first half, but the Commodores were in control for the first 30 minutes because of South Carolina turnovers. The Gamecocks had 22 turnovers for the game, but 13 of those came in the first half, when they turned the ball over on nearly a third of their 35 possessions. Once they cleaned up the turnovers, the Gamecocks took control of the game.

“We had to play with pace, slow down, and run what coach wanted us to run,” Couisnard said.

South Carolina was also whistled for 28 fouls, sending Vanderbilt to the line 36 times. Martin called it “embarrassing.”

“We’ve got to stop grabbing and holding. We’re too smart to play so dumb. We don’t do that in practice,” he said. “We did everything we could possibly do to mess up the game coming down the stretch.”

Notes:

Vanderbilt students were not allowed to attend the game due to COVID concerns. … South Carolina outrebounded Vanderbilt 30-24, led by six from Stevenson. … AJ Wilson had six points, three rebounds, an assist, block, and steal, but was limited to just nine minutes due to foul trouble. … Announced attendance was 5,581. … South Carolina’s next game is Tuesday at Tennessee.

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