Keyshawn Bryant posted his first double-double of the season and the fourth of his career to lead South Carolina to an 83-59 victory over Georgia on Wednesday night in Columbia, S.C.
Playing just his fourth game since returning from a knee injury, the 6-foot-6 junior scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds coming off the bench for the Gamecocks (4-5, 2-3 Southeastern Conference), who snapped their losing streak at three games. Bryant also had three steals and a blocked shot in his 26 minutes on the floor.
Jermaine Couisnard added 18 points, AJ Lawson 12 and Justin Minaya 10 for South Carolina.
K.D. Johnson scored 14 points and Andrew Garcia had 10 to lead the cold-shooting Bulldogs (9-6, 2-6 SEC).
South Carolina led by 10 points at the break and by double-digits over the last 13 minutes of the second half, as the Bulldogs had trouble coping with the Gamecocks' zone defense all night, shooting only 31.8 percent from the field.
The Gamecocks shot over 50 percent from the field in the second half to finish the game shooting 44.6 percent.
Both teams got off to cold starts with the Gamecocks making only two of their first 14 shots and the Bulldogs only two of their first eight. That allowed the Bulldogs to take an early 12-6 lead on the strength of an 8-0 run
The Gamecocks, however, began finding the range and connected on 7 of 10 from the field for a 14-0 run that gave them a 32-19 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the period.
The Bulldogs got that down to 36-26 at the break despite going only 11 of 33 from the field overall, making only one of a dozen 3-point attempts, and turning the ball over 12 times in the period.
Their 26 points were a season low for a first half.
--Field Level Media
Georgia | South Carolina | |
K.D. Johnson 14 | Scoring | Keyshawn Bryant 19 |
Sahvir Wheeler 7 | Assists | Trae Hannibal 6 |
Sahvir Wheeler 9 | Rebounds | Keyshawn Bryant 10 |
P.J. Horne 4 | Free Throws Made | Keyshawn Bryant 3 |
Tye Fagan 2 | Steals | Keyshawn Bryant 3 |
Toumani Camara 1 | Blocks | Jalyn McCreary 4 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Georgia | 59 | 31.8 | 4-26 | 13-17 | 13 | 34 | 4 | 7 | 20 |
South Carolina | 83 | 44.0 | 9-19 | 8-10 | 16 | 42 | 7 | 9 | 16 |