South Carolina upends No. 3 Baylor in NCAA play
NEW YORK - For the second straight game in this wildly unpredictable NCAA tournament, not-so-big but ultra-quick South Carolina turned giant-killer.
NEW YORK - For the second straight game in this wildly unpredictable NCAA tournament, not-so-big but ultra-quick South Carolina turned giant-killer.
After dispatching No. 2- seeded Duke in the second round of the East Regional, the No. 7 Gamecocks took down No. 3 Baylor, 70-50, in the Sweet 16 on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
A South Carolina team that won four NCAA games before this year is now 3-0 and will make the first Elite Eight appearance in school history.
South Carolina (25-10) will meet the winner of Friday's second game between Florida and Wisconsin in the regional final Sunday. The Gamecocks also tied a single-season school record for wins.
Baylor, making its fourth consecutive NCAA appearance, ended its season 27-8.
Sindarius Thornwell, South Carolina's 6-foot-5 senior who was the SEC player of the year, scored a game-high 24 points. He is averaging 25.6 points in this tournament.
Baylor's 6-10 junior, Johnathan Motley, had 18 points and nine rebounds to lead the Bears in both categories.
"We knew they were big and long and we tried our best to attack them and play hard," Thornwell said.
Even with Motley and 7-foot Jo Lual-Acuil, Baylor was outrebounded, 40-37.
South Carolina had outscored Duke, 65-51, in the second half of its 89-81 win.
The momentum continued in the first half against Baylor, when South Carolina took a 37-22 lead at intermission.
The Gamecocks went on an 18-0 run that gave them a 31-15 lead. In that span, Baylor went 0 for 11 from the field.
Baylor, which was cheered on by new football coach Matt Rhule, the former Temple coach, shot just 8 for 23 in the first half, including 1 for 4 from beyond the arc.
The taller Bears, who entered the game with a 9.1 rebounding advantage, were outrebounded in the first half, 22-18.
That first-half performance and a 65-51 advantage over Duke in the second half gave the Gamecocks a 102-73 advantage over those two halves.
Trailing by 21 in the second half, Baylor went on a 10-0 run that ended with two free throws by Al Freeman, cutting the margin to 49-38 with 10:39 left.
The Gamecocks then put the game away on consecutive threes by Thornwell and Duane Notice to boost the lead back to 17 and end any suspense.
"They made it tough for us to score, 25 percent in the first half and a little better in the second half," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team earlier in the year was ranked No. 1 for the first time in school history. "In the second half we cut it to 11 and their two seniors hit two big threes."
Besides Thornwell, South Carolina received 12 points each from 6-6 sophomore P.J. Dozier and 6-9 sophomore Chris Silva, who also had a team-high seven rebounds. Notice, a 6-2 senior, added 11 points and four assists.
Yet it was the defense that was most impressive. South Carolina held Baylor to a season low in points and limited the Bears to 3 for 13 from three-point range, while hitting 8 of 20 from behind the arc.
"We're not done yet," Silva said. "We don't want to just be here, we are hungry and want to keep winning."
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