South Carolina’s Struggles Continue in Costly Loss to LSU
BATON ROUGE, La. — Morris Ugusuk saw an opportunity—a momentum-shifting play that could inject life into South Carolina’s comeback hopes. With his team down 12, he lofted an inbound pass toward Collin Murray-Boyles, hoping for a highlight-reel alley-oop.
Instead, disaster struck.
The ball, thrown from 30 feet away, sailed clean through the net. It would have counted as a three-pointer—except Ugusuk was out of bounds when he let it fly. Turnover. Shoulders slumped, and Murray-Boyles walked back downcourt, hands on his head in disbelief.
Yes, it’s been that kind of season for the Gamecocks.
South Carolina (10-16, 0-13 SEC) suffered another blow in an 81-67 loss to LSU on Sunday, marking their 13th straight SEC defeat. The Tigers, once battling USC for the conference basement, have now won two straight, while the Gamecocks remain in sole possession of last place. With five games left, they look destined for the dreaded No. 16 seed in the SEC Tournament’s opening game.
The shooting wasn’t the issue—Jamarii Thomas dropped 23 points, while Murray-Boyles added 16—but the defense was nowhere to be found. LSU (14-12, 3-10 SEC) torched South Carolina, hitting 50% from the field and a blistering 43.3% from three (13-of-30).
For perspective, LSU entered the game as the worst three-point shooting team in the SEC (31.2%)—but against the Gamecocks, they looked unstoppable. Cam Carter led the charge for the Tigers with 17 points.
As South Carolina inches toward an unwanted history—just one loss away from tying the program’s single-season record of 14 straight defeats—it’s clear this team is running out of answers.
