Gamecock men pull off wild 77-74 overtime victory against Ole Miss

If you missed the South Carolina men’s basketball game at Mississippi on Tuesday night — or perhaps tuned out, discouraged, while the Gamecocks trailed for much of the second half — you missed one heck of a finish: USC guard James Reese V banked in a half-court shot to beat the buzzer and the Rebels in overtime, 77-74.

The road victory was just the program’s third ever in Oxford, and the Gamecocks’ first there since 2016.

As has often been the case with this team, South Carolina went toe-to-toe with Ole Miss (12-14, 3-10 SEC) in the first half, trailing just 29-28 at the break. But things started to get away from the Gamecocks in the second period, as the Rebels were able to build as much as an eight-point lead. Keyshawn Bryant and Erik Stevenson, though, had other ideas, and teamed up to spark South Carolina on an 11-3 run as regulation wound to a close, tying the game at 68 and forcing overtime.

Stevenson paced the Gamecocks with 17 points, while Bryant added 16. Devin Carter also posted 16 points, as well as a career-high 11 rebounds to notch his first double-double. The South Carolina defense turned in a vintage Frank Martin performance, too, not allowing an Ole Miss bucket for nearly 3 minutes in overtime. While the Gamecocks had just a 38-37 edge in rebounding, they grabbed an eye-popping 12 steals, and outscored the Rebels 42-34 in the paint.

South Carolina returns to Columbia for the first of a two-game homestand, facing a tough test in LSU (18-7, 6-6 SEC) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.