Tide upset unbeaten Gamecocks
ALABAMA 73, NO. 19 SOUTH CAROLINA 50
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama’s Riley Norris hardly missed from outside and South Carolina struggled to hit from anywhere.
Norris hit his first seven three-point attempts and scored a career-high 27 points to lead Alabama to a 73-50 upset of previously unbeaten No. 19 South Carolina on Wednesday night.
The Crimson Tide (10-5, 1-2 SEC) got the first league victory of Avery Johnson’s debut season in stunningly easy fashion. The upset leaves No. 10 SMU as the nation’s only unbeaten major college team.
“Incredible win for us,” Johnson said, adding that the Tide’s scout team had dominated the starters a day earlier.
The Gamecocks (15-1, 2-1) missed their first 12 shots of the second half and went more than 11 minutes without a field goal starting before the break. They ended an eight-minute scoring drought after halftime down 48-22.
South Carolina never cut it below 18 after that.
“I think we played awful,” said Michael Carrera, who led the Gamecocks with 14 points and 10 rebounds. “We played awful. Offensively and defensively,
we played awful.”
Norris made the most of his first start of the season, shooting 8 of 11 on threes. He also grabbed seven rebounds. Justin Coleman added 14 points and six assists off the bench after Norris took his place.
Johnson decided to start Norris two days earlier, and was richly rewarded for that call. Norris shrugged off the performance, repeatedly giving
credit to teammates for feeding him the ball.
The last time he got that hot in a game? “It’s been high school,” Johnson said. “I don’t even remember, honestly.”
Coleman wasn’t surprised. “Riley’s a great shooter,” he said. “He’s one of the best shooters in the country so every time it leaves his hand, I always think it’s going in.”
The Gamecocks didn’t come close to their previous scoring low of 65 points. They were also outrebounded for only the second team and Coach Frank Martin said his players “got beat to every ball.”
“They attacked us,” Martin said. “They did to us what we usually do to people, which is not let them run their offense.”
In other games involving SEC/top 25 men Wednesday, Buddy Hield scored 26 points to help No. 2 Oklahoma hold off Oklahoma State 74-72. Hield made 10 of 17 shots for the Sooners (14-1, 3-1 Big 12), but he committed 10 turnovers, including a crucial one that gave Oklahoma State a chance to win. Jeffrey Carroll missed a potential game-winning three-pointer for the Cowboys as time expired. ... Kris Jenkins scored 20 points and Jalen Brunson had 14 to lead No. 6 Villanova to an 83-68 victory over Marquette. The Wildcats (15-2, 5-0 Big East) blew a 16-point lead and trailed early in the second half until they took control late in game. ... Jaron Blossomgame scored 17 points, including the clinching dunk with 13.5 seconds left, to lift Clemson to a 68-63 victory over No. 9 Duke. Coupled with Sunday’s victory over then-No. 16 Louisville, it’s the first time the Tigers (116, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) have beaten consecutive ranked opponents since closing the 1989 season with victories over Duke and Georgia Tech. ... Ben Moore scored 17 points and No. 10 SMU remained unbeaten by routing East Carolina 79-55. Markus Kennedy had 11 points and 10 rebounds, Jordan Tolbert finished with 15 points and Nic Moore had a career-high 12 assists for the Mustangs (16-0, 5-0 American Athletic Conference). ... Terry Maston scored a career-high 17 points and combined with Taurean Prince for all the scoring in No. 22 Baylor’s game-turning run before halftime as the Bears beat TCU 82-54. Baylor (13-3, 3-1 Big 12) went ahead to stay with a 13-0 run over the final 3 1/2 minutes of the first half. ... Vince Edwards scored 19 points, Isaac Haas had 14 and Caleb Swanigan added 13 as No. 24 Purdue routed Penn State 74-57. The Boilermakers (15-3, 3-2 Big Ten) have won seven of eight in this series and nine consecutive at home against the Nittany Lions (10-8, 1-4).