The South Carolina Gamecocks beat the 9th-ranked team in the nation, the Iowa State Cyclones 64-60 at Barclays Center on Saturday night.
South Carolina improved to 9-3 on the season, and they were led by guard Duane Notice, who had 15 points on 5-for-12 shooting, including 0-for-4 on threes, with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Guard Tyrone Johnson had 13 points (5-12 FG, 1-2 on threes), with 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Guard Sindarius Thornwell had 13 points (4-8 FG, 1-2 on threes), with 8 rebounds.
South Carolina came out firing in the first five minutes and led 15-4 on a three-point play by Tyrone Johnson at the 14:56 mark. They built that lead up to 12 on a tip-in by Demetrius Henry that made it 32-20 with 6:23 left in the first half. The Cyclones rallied and closed the half on a 15-4 run to trail by just a point, at 36-35.
At the start of the second half, South Carolina came out strong, taking a six-point lead, at 45-39, on a Michael Carrera three-point play at the 14:08 mark.Iowa State responded with a 9-2 run to take a 48-47 lead on a layup by Georges Niang with 8:28 left. The Cyclones led 51-49 with 6:29 remaining on a free throw by Dustin Hogue.
South Carolina responded with a 7-0 run, capped by a layup from Duane Notice that made it 56-51 with 4:34 left. They never relinquished the lead down the stretch, and were up as many as six, at 63-57, on a Thornwell layup with 1:03 left.
South Carolina Head Coach Frank Martin said of the game, “Extremely excited for these guys, I see the work that they put in every single day, and everything that we do and the belief that they continue to build within each other as to what we’re trying to build as a team, it’s a whole lot of fun to be around.
“Real good win for us, like I told them in the locker room, these are the moments that as a coach, you have to kind of be careful because it’s a heck of a win for our program, for our players and you want them to embrace it, but at the same time, we’ve got Florida on Wednesday, and we can’t get overjoyed and be celebrating in January because we’ve got 18 conference games, one right after the other. Hopefully, a moment like this continues to build confidence in them and as to what we’re doing united,” said Martin.
Iowa State fell to 10-2 on the season, and they were led by Dustin Hogue and Jameel McKay, who each had 15 points and 6 rebounds. Georges Niang and Monte Morris had 10 points each.