South Carolina’s struggles continue in 83-60 loss at Texas A&M

Well...yikes.

The South Carolina Gamecocks, fresh off an underwhelming stretch at home that saw them drop three of their past four contests, took that same show on the road for a resounding 83-60 defeat at the hands of Texas A&M.

Unlike their most recent losses, in which South Carolina either failed to keep a late lead or couldn’t complete a rally, the Gamecocks were dominated from the word go in College Station. The Aggies held a commanding 49-27 halftime lead after shooting 63% from the field, and collected 11 total blocks — one shy of a program record. Texas A&M also dominated points in the paint (40 to 18) and steals (11 to 4) as the Gamecocks could only muster a 28% shooting performance and otherwise failed to do much of anything right.

The good news? Justin Minaya not only returned from his ankle sprain, he led the Gamecocks (13-10, 4-6 SEC) with 16 points off the bench and also pulled down seven rebounds. Chris Silva added 12 points and eight rebounds, but the rest of the starters only combined for 18 points in a woeful offensive showing. Kory Holden also returned from injury, but was limited to nine minutes and showed little effectiveness. Quite simply, this was as bad as the Gamecocks have looked all season. Texas A&M (15-8, 4-6) demonstrated why they spent a few weeks in the AP top 10 earlier this year, and South Carolina showed that it’s currently an NIT team unless things can change in a hurry.

Up next: The Gamecocks’ road trip continues with a stop at Arkansas on Tuesday at 7 p.m.