FINAL @South Carolina 77 Georgia 75

[jbcarol]

Derek Scott
‏@DScottGamecocks

Talk about an even [sic] matchup of veteran players--tomorrow's matchup of @GamecockMBB & @UGABasketball features the SEC's top 4 active scorers.

David Cloninger
‏@DCTheState

David Cloninger Retweeted Derek Scott

Thornwell, Frazier, Notice, Maten.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/sportstalksc/status/827988267266080768

Frank Martin: It's fitting that on the day USC celebrates its 1997 title, a McKie was on the line to end the game.

https://twitter.com/GamecockMBB/status/827997752403558402

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/JasonHButt/status/827989870056505344

Columbia, S.C.

Down by five and needing a bucket with less than nine minutes to play, Georgia got two close shots from Yante Maten and Derek Ogbeide.

Neither went through the hoop, with South Carolina earning the ball back in transition.

And from there, South Carolina senior guard Sindarius Thornwell was found in transition wide open for a 3-pointer, which he launched and made to give the Gamecocks an eight-point lead. The fans on hand, part of a sellout at Colonial Life Arena, then watched the No. 19 Gamecocks go on to beat the Bulldogs 77-75.

Thornwell gave South Carolina a lift several times, hitting four 3-point buckets.

The game was tight for about the first 31 minutes before South Carolina (19-4, 9-1 SEC) gained control. Georgia (13-10, 4-6) matched the Gamecocks with a 38-38 deadlock at the break, and they were later tied at 51. From there, the Gamecocks went on an 8-0 run to put the Bulldogs on their heels.

Georgia did make it interesting late, cutting South Carolina's lead down to 75-73 with 7.7 seconds left to play. Justin McKie then delivered two free throws at the end to put the game away. Georgia forward Mike Edwards added a late basket with 0.4 seconds left for the final score.

Fox on the loss: "We felt like it would be a typical hard-fought game. Offensively, we shoot nearly 50 percent, but we gave up too many second-chance points. I thought that was the key to the game, the second-chance baskets in the second half. Give their team credit, they got a good basketball team. It was a hard-fought game and we came up a play short."

Jason Butt ‏@JasonHButt Feb 4

You look back at these games. If Georgia beats Oakland and Texas A&M, the outlook is incredibly different at the moment.