Twice now, in what has been a rollercoaster of a season, the Gamecocks found themselves up at halftime on the road against KenPom top 25 teams.

And twice, against both Houston in early December and Saturday against LSU, the Gamecocks couldn’t find a way to get over that hump and ultimately pull off a big win.

“It’s just building on each game. It’s building on every rep. The last seven minutes of both games—Houston and LSU—we got stagnant offensively and we weren’t able to execute,” acting head coach Bruce Shingler said.

“Obviously we have to learn how to finish games, close games, with better execution offensively and defensively to get some stops.”

The Gamecocks were up double digits in the first half against LSU and up eight with 7:47 to play against the Tigers to lose by five. Against Houston in early December the Gamecocks led by as many as seven in the first half only to lose by 10.

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It was similar issues—offensive recession and fouling too much—and the Gamecocks missed out on what would have been two resume-boosting wins early in the season.

While they can hang their hat on being able to compete and be in games late with two tournament caliber teams like Houston and LSU, the next step for the Gamecocks this season is getting over the hump.

“Just limit our foul counts and make smart decisions on the offensive end,” Keyshawn Bryant said, “and we’ll be all right.”

South Carolina did fight through a lot of adversity; Frank Martin was available along with assistant Chuck Martin, head of player development Doug Edwards and two bigs Alanzo Frink and Jalyn McCreary.

But, though all of it the Gamecocks were shorthanded and were able to push LSU to the final minutes.

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“I thought our effort was there,” Shingler said. I thought our guys laid it on the line. We came up a little bit short. I saw a lot of positives out of this game. We have a lot to build on.”

The Gamecocks missed out on another opportunity for a Quad I win Saturday night, but get a chance for another Tuesday at Missouri, which is off to an 8-2 start (2-2 in the SEC) and No. 25 in the NET rankings.

It’s a chance for South Carolina on the road against another good team to try and get over the hump and notch a win over a top 25 team in the NET.

“I learn this team has experience. We’re together as a team, as a whole. That’s a good thing going down the road,” Bryant said. “We’re not going to hang our heads. We’re going to keep playing and look forward to the next game.”

It’s been a long month for South Carolina, and Saturday was just the third game in 42 days because of three separate COVID pauses.

The Gamecocks had one full practice before playing LSU, and Shingler hopes this game is something to build on as the Gamecocks get into the teeth of the SEC schedule.

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“I’ve learned our guys can deal with adversity. I learned our guys could handle adversity and whatever situation they put themselves in they’ll give 100 percent effort. That’s our DNA. That’s our culture,” Shingler said.

“We have a lot of things we need to build off of. We’ll watch the film. We need to move forward.”