South Carolina looks to defeat Georgia for the 12th straight time on Saturday afternoon when the Southeastern Conference rivals square off at Athens, Ga.
The Gamecocks (13-10, 4-7 SEC) dropped their third straight game following an 86-76 setback to visiting No. 5 Kentucky on Tuesday.
Georgia (6-18, 1-10) is mired in a larger slump, having lost four in a row and 12 of 13 following a 72-63 setback at Florida on Wednesday.
South Carolina was led by Keyshawn Bryant, who collected 18 points and 14 rebounds against the Wildcats. Wildens Leveque had 16 and seven, respectively, and Jermaine Couisnard chipped in 17 points and five assists in the loss.
The Gamecocks shot just 37.8 percent from the floor. Conversely, Kentucky connected on 56.7 percent from the field, including 40.0 percent from 3-point range.
“Our defense was not very good today and then offensively, we keep shooting 30 percent from the field,” South Carolina coach Frank Martin said. “It’s going to be hard to beat these teams.”
Georgia shot 37.5 percent from the field in its last game, including 20.0 percent from distance. The Bulldogs, however, committed 14 turnovers that the Gators converted into 16 points.
Kario Oquendo, who averages a team-high 13.8 points per game, scored 15 of his team-high 22 points in the second half. Aaron Cook added 14 points, Braelen Bridges had 12 and Jabri Abdur-Rahim chipped in eight points and seven rebounds.
Georgia trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half before trimming the Gators’ lead to 64-61 with 2:56 left. Florida ended the game on an 8-2 run.
“I thought our guys executed in a lot of good ways,” Georgia coach Tom Crean said. “Our guys stayed on the attack when we made the comeback. It’s a tough way to lose … our kids are putting so much into this.”
The last time Georgia and South Carolina met, Bryant sparked a 24-0 second-half run by scoring 12 of his 19 points to lead the host Gamecocks to an 83-66 win on Jan. 22.
Erik Stevenson, who averages a team-best 11.2 points per game for the Gamecocks, scored a game-high 20 points. Couisnard added 15 points.
Georgia was outscored 47-24 in the second half of that contest. The Bulldogs’ Bridges, who averages 12.5 points per game, scored 20 points and Noah Baumann added 14.
–Field Level Media
