Tomorrow is officially Groundhog Day, but Lamont Paris couldn't help but feel it a night early.

South Carolina men’s basketball finally quelled its turnover problem for a game, just in time for another issue to pop up in this never ending whack-a-mole of a season.

This time it was a red hot shooting opponent, as a usually docile Texas A&M offense exploded for nine made 3-pointers in the first half and led the No. 13 Aggies to a 76-72 win at Colonial Life Arena.

"In some ways it feels like some level of Groundhog Day," he said. "Again our guys played with a lot of energy, a tremendous amount of energy. They played extremely hard. They played well enough."

Texas A&M (17-5, 6-3 SEC) entered the game dead last in the SEC in overall shooting and 15th in 3-point shooting percentage, but shot 11-of-23 from 3-point range, one make off the team's season-high for an individual game. Sensational fifth-year senior guard Wade Taylor IV accounted for most of it, knocking down four of his first five attempts and seven in the game, scoring 25 points.

The lead ballooned to 13 points and South Carolina (10-12, 0-9 SEC) looked like it would be on the receiving end of a blowout, but the offense woke up just in time to create a little bit of momentum. In fact the first half ended as one of the team’s better offensive performances in awhile. The Gamecocks averaged 1.2 points per possession in the opening 20 minutes and made a concerted effort to get Collin Muray-Boyles involved, as the big man scored on three consecutive possessions late in the half.

It was everything Paris had been looking for from his offense, just in time for an opponent to shoot the lights out and render everything else nearly moot.

"That showed some improvement," Paris said. "I think we've tried to simplify a couple of things."

Still, as they have in nearly every home game this year, the Gamecocks pushed all the way down to the wire. After falling behind by 13 again in the second half, they ripped off an 11-0 run to get the contest back in striking distance. Morris Ugusuk knocked down three 3-pointers in the run, including one off a highlight-reel volleyball style batted pass from Murray-Boyles.

The offense ended the game with only a dozen turnovers, the second-lowest total of SEC play only after the nine against Auburn.

"This was probably one of our lowest turnover numbers in SEC play," Murray-Boyles said. "We've been preaching taking care of the ball. Taking care of the ball has been our biggest thing in practice. Just seeing it in effect tonight and seeing the growth is really promising."

A tight battle, a competitive game, and an opportunity to pull an upset. A familiar script for a team with everything but an SEC win.

But just as every other version of the script has gone, South Carolina could not quite make the plays it needed to dawn the stretch.

Taylor hit a dagger of a stepback 3-pointer with just under four minutes to go to take the lead back to nine. The offense went almost three minutes without scoring, just enough time for the Aggies to restore their cushion.

"When you see who made most of those 3s, it's a different story," Murray-Boyles said about Texas A&M's outburst. "Wade is one hell of a player. Credit him and what he has done for his team."

And ironically after a game where the turnovers were nowhere near their usual backbreaking deficiency, a fumbled fastbreak with 1:12 to go restored a possession for Texas A&M. It ended up being a crucial one as the Aggies missed five free throws down the stretch to leave a crack in the door open, but South Carolina could not get closer than two points. Murray-Boyles scored four points late to get to 22 for the game, but once again it was in a losing effort.

South Carolina heads to its bye week still winless in conference play, now tied for its longest SEC losing streak in program history and with a trip to Kentucky on the horizon next Saturday.

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