South Carolina allowed a career day for Texas A&M’s PJ Hogg, but a strong second half led them to a 79-68 win over the Aggies at Colonial Life Arena. The Gamecocks improve to 12-3 overall and 2-0 in the SEC, while A&M drops to 8-6 and 0-3 in league play.
Hogg was unstoppable for the Aggies, going 7-9 from three-point range to tie his career high of 25 points. But A&M couldn’t get out of their own way as they turned it over 25 times - leading to 30 Gamecocks points - despite shooting it 70% from the field in the first half. They would hold a 59-58 lead following a Tonny Trocha-Morelos three, but a 14-2 Carolina run, capped by a three-pointer by PJ Dozier, gave the Gamecocks their largest lead of the game at 72-61 with 3:21 left.
South Carolina was led by Duane Notice, who had his best game in a while with 19 points on “only” 4-9 shooting from behind the arc. Rakym Felder chipped in with 19 points of his own, hitting all three of his attempts from long distance. Sindarius Thornwell (14) and Dozier (8) didn’t have their best overall games, but hit some big baskets down the stretch to help Carolina’s cause. (Thornwell, for his part, scored 11 of his 14 in the game’s final 6:23.) In a stark contrast to A&M, the Gamecocks committed only six turnovers on the afternoon.
Carolina travels to Tennessee for a Wednesday night affair against the Volunteers. Tipoff for that one is set for 7pm on the SEC Network.