Better than last Saturday, but still nowhere near enough.

South Carolina men’s basketball came out for its SEC home opener against No. 5 Alabama with more fight than it had Saturday at Mississippi State. The Gamecocks were more active offensively, more engaged defensively and hung in for as long as possible against one of the nation’s best teams.

But the inevitable was just that.

Alabama went on a 14-2 run through the middle of the first half, took a 17-point lead into the locker room and cruised out of Colonial Life Arena with an 88-68 victory.

"We got off to the start we wanted to I think pace wise, physicality wise," guard Jacobi Wright said. "They just went on more runs than we did, and we kind of didn't combat that and go on a run ourselves. They're a good team so credit to them as well, but I think we should've played better defense at some points in the game."

In reality, there was not much South Carolina (10-5, 0-2 SEC) was going to be able to do with an Alabama (13-2, 2-0 SEC) offensive performance like the one it put on display Wednesday night. The Crimson Tide shot 54.7 percent from the floor, was 6-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half and had 21 assists on 35 made field goals, a blistering showing very few teams in the country would be able to keep up with, and certainly not a South Carolina squad missing Myles Stute.

"You can't give up 88 points and feel like you're going to win," Lamont Paris said. "There are very few teams that are built that way, period."

Future NBA Lottery pick Mark Sears did most of the heavy lifting for Alabama, scoring eight quick points to set the tone and ending the game with 22 points, pacing the Crimson Tide in front of Aden Holloway's 13 points and Clifford Omoruyi's 10.

That being said, South Carolina did not do a lot to help itself despite the better overall performance. Turnovers plagued the Gamecocks again, 15 of them coming in seemingly every possible form. One gaudy second half stretch featured four in just over two minutes. For the second conference game in a row, superstar Collin Murray-Boyles struggled to get it going.

The sophomore forward finished with just six points and made one field goal, and the defensive gameplan he faced was eerily similar to what he saw Saturday in Starkville. Double teams, baseline defense, forcing tough catches, daring another Gamecock to beat them.

"Some of it is doubling," Paris said. "Some of it is I think he's been sped up a little bit. I think there was more traffic in the Mississippi State game, and you've got to make decisions in traffic and sometimes in a short amount of time, and he didn't do a great job in that way.

"But I think if you look at the common denominator in the last two games in who was guarding him, you have two guys who are very strong and also very mobile. And that's also what Collin does."

Jamarii Thomas and Nick Pringle did their level best with a combined points, but the shooting onslaught at the other end was impossible to keep up with. Wright took on the role of a guard needing a career-best day to carry the offense. Just four days after Zachary Davis scored a career-high 22 points at Mississippi State, Wright tied his own career-high with 20.

In a season which looks increasingly like it will be about depth and development, South Carolina redshirt freshman Arden Conyers saw his most extended action yet. Conyers played 18 minutes after only playing just a tick under 17 total in the first 14 games, at least bringing some new life into a South Carolina lineup needing to replace forward minutes with Stute out.

On this particular night, though, finding minutes for young players was about all to be discussed in a game where Alabama took a 14-point lead in the first half and never let it drop any lower.

And next up for the Gamecocks? The other side of the Iron Bowl, with No. 2 Auburn coming to Columbia on Saturday afternoon.

"I think in SEC games last year we gave up 70 points or more five times out of 18 games," Paris said. "You give yourself a chance to win. We have to learn what that looks like to be able to do that."

Still learning, and the tests are only getting more difficult.

*******************************************************************************************

Looking to continue the conversation? Join us on the insider's forum to talk all things South Carolina men's basketball.