No. 25 South Carolina Upsets 8th-Ranked Aggies

Saturday, February 6

College Station

3:00 PM

Texas A&M

18-5, 7-3SEC

South Carolina

20-3, 7-3SEC

South Carolina

Texas A&M

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Feb 06, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Associated Press/Texas A&M Media Relations

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Sindarius Thornwell had 25 points and nine assists, helping No. 25 South Carolina beat No. 8 Texas A&M 81-78 on Saturday.

Michael Carrera scored 20 points on 6-for-6 shooting for the Gamecocks (20-3, 7-3 Southeastern Conference), who bounced back from a 69-56 loss at Georgia on Tuesday. Mindaugus Kacinas finished with 11 points.

Danuel House and Alex Caruso had 16 points apiece for Texas A&M (18-5, 7-3), which has lost two in a row and three of four. Jalen Jones scored 14 points in the Aggies' first home loss of the season.

South Carolina had an 80-78 lead when Carrera was fouled with 17 seconds remaining. He missed the first free throw and made the second, and House then missed a long 3-pointer from the left side with 8 seconds to go.

After the ball went out of bounds off A&M in a tussle for the rebound, South Carolina's Laimonas Chatkevicius threw the ball out of bounds on an attempted inbounds with 5 seconds remaining. But A&M turned it over and South Carolina held on for the road win.

The game was tied at 70 when South Carolina's PJ Dozier drove the right baseline and hit a soft jumper with 4:58 remaining.

Following a missed 3-point attempt by A&M point guard Anthony Collins, Carrera drilled a 3 to make it 75-70 at the 4:16 mark. Thornwell then scored four straight points to make it a nine-point lead with 2:24 remaining.

South Carolina went 12 of 21 from 3-point range, including 7 for 10 in the first half. South Carolina was shooting 33.9 percent (130 of 384) from the 3-point line coming into the day.

The Aggies also had a nice day from long range, going 12 for 25 from beyond the arc.

Texas A&M Basketball
Postgame Notes
No. 25 South Carolina 81, No. 8 Texas A&M 78
Feb. 6, 2016 ? Reed Arena (College Station, Texas)

RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
? No 8 Texas A&M dropped an 81-78 decision to No. 25 South Carolina on Saturday inside Reed Arena, dropping the Aggies' record this season to 18-5 with a 7-3 mark in SEC play.
? The loss also snapped Texas A&M's 13-game home winning streak, leaving the team 13-1 at Reed Arena this season.
? Despite the setback, A&M still owns a 3-2 lead in the all-time series between the schools.

TEAM NOTES
? The Gamecocks were hot from the field Saturday, shooting 52.6 percent from the field (30-of-57) and a blistering 57.1 percent (12-of-21) from 3-point range.
? The game was a contest the featured several runs with Texas A&M starting the game on an 8-0 spurt … South Carolina, however, used an 11-0 run from the 7:04 mark to 2:24 left in the second half to turn a two-point A&M lead into a nine-point USC advantage.
? The game featured 23 lead changes and five ties.
? Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of Anthony Collins, Alex Caruso, Danuel House, Jalen Jones and Tyler Davis for the 10^th time this season (7-3).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
? Senior Alex Caruso approached his second career double-double finishing with 16 points and eight assists … The College Station native was 5-of-7 from the floor, including a perfect 2-of-2 leger from 3-point range.
? Senior Danuel House led the Aggies in scoring for the 10^th time this season by also contributing 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting (4-of-10 from 3-point range).
? Freshman D.J. Hogg enjoyed a solid outing, scoring seven points on 3-of-5 shooting while adding a team-high seven boards.
? Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy is now 89-66 in his fifth season at Texas A&M and 300-245 in 18 seasons as head coach.

UP NEXT
? Texas A&M hits the road for two games next week, facing Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday before traveling to Baton Rouge to battle LSU on Saturday.