COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina might have been unbeaten through its first four games, but it might have been hard to take the wins for the Gamecocks seriously given they were against unheralded opponents.

But after what the Gamecocks did on Wednesday, they definitely will have to be taken more seriously now.

Senior guard Sindarius Thornwell had 21 points and 10 rebounds and three other players scored in double-figures to help lead South Carolina to a 61-46 win over No. 25 Michigan in a nonconference game at Colonial Life Arena.

It was the first win for South Carolina (5-0) over a ranked opponent since February when it won at Texas A&M.

"Our guys are growing," South Carolina head coach Frank Martin said during a postgame interview on ESPN. "We played some difficult matchups leading into this game. Luckily, Holy Cross plays similar to Michigan so we were prepared for some of the stuff they tried to do. But at the end of the day, it's our kids. Unbelievable attention to detail, unbelievable effort and toughness and we just beat a heck of a basketball team."

The game also was a chance on a national stage for Thornwell to show why he could be one of the top all-around players this year in the SEC, if not the nation.

Thornwell entered the game averaging close to 21 points per game, but scoring isn't all that he means to the Gamecocks.

"He's a winner," Martin said. "I'm frustrated that people don't talk about him and how good he is. But that's OK. He does his job and plays for his team. He makes winning plays. We can play him at the 1, 2, 3, or 4. We can play him all over the place and then he guards the best player on the other team. He's an absolute winner."

Thornwell also had three blocks for South Carolina, which stymied a Michigan offense that entered the game averaging 77 points a game and shooting 38.4 percent from 3-point range in its first four contests.

Michigan shot 19.2 percent from the field overall (10 of 52) and was just 2 of 26 on 3-point attempts.

The Wolverines (4-1) also committed 16 turnovers and had only two assists in losing for the first time this season.

"We didn't get many good looks and when we got them, we still didn't make them," Michigan head coach John Beilein said during his postgame radio show on the Michigan IMG Sports Network. "It should have been even or ahead at (halftime) and we couldn't get it. In the second half, we had the same couple of looks that we created and we didn't knock them down. I thought our defense was solid at times and it just broke down. We'll get better from it."

South Carolina held a 33-27 lead at halftime, but slowly took control in the second half, building its lead to as many as 16 points with 3:07 remaining in the game.

Senior guard Duane Notice scored 13 points, and sophomore forward Chris Silva and freshman forward Maik Kotsar each added 10 points to lead South Carolina, which shot 43.4 percent from the field (23 of 53) and blocked six shots defensively.

Senior guard Derrick Walton led Michigan with 15 points and Mark Donnal had 10 points.

Michigan leading scorer Zak Irvin was held to five points on 2 of 13 shooting and fouled out of the game with 5:33 remaining.

The only thing the Wolverines did well offensively was shoot free throws, given they were 24 of 32 from the free-throw line.

"We couldn't score a basket, so they are going to get more points in the paint," Beilein said. "We only scored 10 baskets. I don't think it was about points in the paint. I think it was an ineptitude in our offense to really make some shots. We had two assists and 16 turnovers. When have you seen that stat? Credit South Carolina. They played a great game and we weren't up for that challenge."