The Horns trailed by as many as 22 points in an abysmal performance in Columbia.
Even with the benefit of a week off, the Texas Longhorns couldn’t execute the gameplan on either end of the court in an embarrassing 84-69 loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday in Columbia, ending the 0-13 start in conference play for head coach Lamont Paris and his program.
Texas freshman guard Tre Johnson scored a game-high 29 points in 38 minutes, but didn’t receive much help from his teammates, none of whom were able to reach double figures.
For South Carolina, forward Collin Murray-Bowles scored 16 of his 22 points in the first half, dominating the opening 20 minutes and finishing as one of four Gamecocks in double figures, including 15 points from guard Jamarii Thomas on 12-of-13 shooting from the free-throw line as guard Zachary Davis added 12 points and guard Morris Ugusuk made all three of his three-point attempts on his way to 10 points.
South Carolina attempted 18 more free throws than Texas and was plus-16 from the line, mostly a result of late-game desperation by the Longhorns as they attempted to mount a comeback after trailing by as many as 22 points in the second half.
On the road in a sparsely-attended game that hardly presented a hostile environment, Texas started poorly, struggling to create quality looks on offense, starting 2-of-11 shooting and missing seven straight shots heading into the under-12 timeout down 12-5 thanks to multiple defensive lapses, including a poor understanding of the scouting report on Murray-Boyles, South Carolina’s leading scorer, when senior forward Kadin Shedrick bit on a three-point shot fake and giving up a layup as a result of senior forward Arthur Kaluma making a slow rotation and failing to gain position and maintain verticality in it.
The Longhorns never found a rhythm by the time the under-eight timeout arrived, getting a layup from senior forward Jayson Kent and a three from Johnson, but still trailing 20-10 when junior guard Jordan Pope committed a foul on a three-point attempt and South Carolina made a three.
Shedrick made another defensive mistake on a pump fake by Murray-Boyles, allowing a layup and committing a foul that Murray-Boyles couldn’t convert at the line.
By the under-four timeout, Murray-Boyles had 14 of the 26 points by South Carolina, which still maintained a 10-point lead, adding six rebounds and three blocks.
At halftime, the Gamecocks had stretched the lead to 40-22 as the Longhorns shot under 30 percent in the first half as South Carolina closed it with an 8-0 run aided by the frustration of Texas head coach Rodney Terry boiling over with a technical foul after a whistle on senior forward Ze’Rik Onyema with 14 seconds remaining.
The Cocks hit all four free throws to send Onyema into halftime minus-16 in eight minutes.
Some of the struggles were a result of zero contributions from Pope and Kaluma, who combined to go 0-of-3 shooting with two fouls each in 11 combined minutes. Pope was minus-six in six minutes and Kaluma was minus-eight in five minutes.
Three other starters — senior guard Julian Larry, senior wing Tramon Mark, and Shedrick combined for four points on 0-of-6 shooting.
In an abysmal first half that featured a hefty number of disappointments, the turnover-prone Gamecocks only gave the ball away two times for a turnover rate of 5.9 percent after entering the game at 19.2 percent, 300th nationally. South Carolina was also plus-nine in made free throws and plus-eight in free-throw attempts.
After Kaluma was fouled on a jump shot to open the second half, the next stretch was emblematic for Texas — Murray-Boyles bullied Kaluma physically to rattle in a shot, got a weak whistle for Kaluma’s third foul, and the Longhorns couldn’t convert offensively as Pope missed an open reverse layup, Shedrick got the offensive rebound and shot it off the bottom of the rim, and Mark missed an open three.
The lead reached 22 points for South Carolina when Shedrick made a poor pass out of control in the paint and it led to a breakaway dunk for the Gamecocks, forcing a timeout by Terry.
After playing even for most of the second half, Texas finally went on a late run, outscoring South Carolina 11-2 heading into the under-four timeout by getting out into transition and getting a three from Mark, cutting the lead to 13 points.
But it was too little, too late for the Horns as the Gamecocks went more than seven minutes without a made basket, but only attempted two shots from the floor during that time, scoring 15 points from the free-throw line in the final 7:42 and attempting 29 free throws in the second half.
Texas remains on the road this week with a Wednesday matchup against Arkansas in Fayetteville.