After a long week away from home in the Virgin Islands to win the Paradise Jam, South Carolina returned home, had a poor couple of days of practice, but did enough to beat Lipscomb 92-76 at the Colonial Life Arena. The Gamecocks (6-0) had six players score in double figures, led by senior Laimonas Chatkevicius, who scored 17 points.

Two MVPs

Senior Mindaugas Kacinas: More than half of South Carolina’s points came in the paint on Friday afternoon and a big part of that was because of the work of Kacinas, who was 7-for-10 from the floor. The senior had nine points in the first half to help the Gamecocks to a 51-40 lead at the break, and then he chipped in six more in the second half.

Kacinas (6) trailed only freshman Chris Silva (7) in rebounds for the Gamecocks on the afternoon while also notching a block in his 30 minutes on the court. Freshman PJ Dozier also had six rebounds in his 23 minutes of action from his guard position.

Senior Laimonas Chatkevicius: The Bison (3-5) were able to hang close with the Gamecocks through much of the game due to their outside shooting abilities. With South Carolina unable to play at a high level defensively, they were going to have to out-score their opponents to remain undefeated.

Chatkevicius was perfect from the field converting on 7-of-7 shots and all three of his free throws to notch 17 points on the afternoon. He also had three rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal in 24 minutes of action.

Four quotes

For the first time all year, we were absolutely embarrassing in practice the last two days. No energy and no desire to be here. That being said, if we score 92 on a day we’re no good … obviously scoring is something we’ve gotten better at but our defensive absolutely stinks right now. - South Carolina head coach Frank Martin

We just went cold, they put some scores together, and the game was over. They went zone towards the end, which doesn’t bother us at all, but changes the rhythm of what you’re trying to do. That was in the period we weren’t making shots. I thought the quality of our shots were perfectly fine, but it changes the pace and rhythm of the offense. - Lipscomb head coach Casey Alexander

I’m actually relieved it’s over and happy we figured out a way to win. - South Carolina head coach Frank Martin

If their bigs are going to play the way they did today, they’re going to be an effective team against the best. When you have skilled bigs that play hard, that’s going to be a tough matchup for anybody. - Lipscomb head coach Casey Alexander

Seven buzzer-beaters

-- While Chatkevicius was perfect from the field, Martin was not happy with the senior’s rebounding ability. Despite being the tallest Gamecock and second-tallest player on either team, the 6-foot-11, 245-pounder grabbed just three rebounds in 24 minutes of action. Six Gamecocks out-rebounded Chatkevicius in the game.

“That’s not very good; you have to rebound the basketball,” Martin said. “I’m tired of screaming at him, tired of making him run for not rebounding.”

-- South Carolina’s three-point defense improved midway through the second half. The Bison were able to hang around because of the triple for most of the game and converted 8-of-15 shots from distance from the beginning through a portion of the second half. The Gamecocks went to some zone defense though and it disrupted the rhythm of the visitors, who finished the game converting on 5 of their last 20 three-point attempts.

-- A total of 12 different players saw action in the game with nine playing 18 minutes or more. The Gamecocks forced 15 turnovers in the first half from Lipscomb, but the Bison took better care of the ball in the second half turning it over just three times.

-- South Carolina was able to put up 92 points but it was done without its best player scoring from the field. Junior Sindarius Thornwell was 0-for-5 from the field, including 0-for-3 from behind the three-point line. The last time Thornwell didn’t make a shot from the field was December 23, 2013 when he was 0-for-6 shooting against Boise State in the Diamond Head Classic his freshman season.

He did convert on 2-of-4 free throws and dished out six assists with five rebounds to help contribute to the victory.

-- Freshman Chris Silva left the game for several minutes after suffering a minor injury to his knee blocking a shot in transition. After several minutes though, Silva was back in the game and marked his return with a slam dunk, what was his second of the game. Silva was 3-for-4 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line to notch 12 points in the game. He had two blocks and seven rebounds in 18 total minutes of action.

-- Guards Duane Notice and Justin McKie both had a perfect assist-to-turnover day. Both players dished out five assists while not turning the ball over. Notice, who was only 5-for-16 from the field, also had five rebounds. McKie’s contributions came in 19 minutes of action.

-- South Carolina will take on Western Carolina on Monday, November 30 at 7 p.m. at the Colonial Life Arena. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network. The game against the Catamounts is the second of a four-game home stand. It will also be the last game before the exam break.

