South Carolina gets back on track, crushes Vanderbilt 90-64

The South Carolina Gamecocks bounced back in a big way on Saturday night, handling the visiting Vanderbilt Commodores in a cathartic 90-64 blowout to notch their third SEC win in four games — as well as their third straight victory over the ‘Dores.

And look, I’ll get this out of the way: Vanderbilt is not good. Like, tied-an-SEC-record-with-24-straight-league-losses not good. Nevertheless, let’s not allow facts to get in the way of a good time, especially when stuff like this was happening:

The normally cold-shooting Gamecocks were on fire, shooting 54% from the field and posting a 39% mark from 3 — and perhaps most shocking of all, making 71% of their free throws — in what was a sight for sore eyes.

South Carolina had five players reach double figures and saw lot of production from its bench as well. Justin Minaya and A.J. Lawson paced the Gamecocks, scoring 14 points apiece, and Minaya notched a double-double with 12 rebounds. Jair Bolden (13), Alanzo Frink (13), and Jalyn McCreary (11) rounded out the scoring, as Jermaine Couisnard (seven points) and Maik Kotsar (two) had quiet evenings.

Keyshawn Bryant also returned from the head injury that forced him to sit out against Auburn, posting seven points and four rebounds.

The Gamecocks dominated the ‘Dores on the boards and in the lane, collecting 43 rebounds to Vanderbilt’s 31, and scoring 44 points in the paint to Vandy’s 26. It’s hard to argue with a performance like this, but if there’s anything to quibble about, the Gamecocks committed a ton of fouls, with Vandy getting 35 attempts from the free-throw line and coach Frank Martin receiving a technical after airing some frustration about that.

South Carolina (11-8, 3-3 SEC) travels to face Arkansas on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.