Awful ten minutes kills Vanderbilt in 70-61 loss at South Carolina

For about thirty minutes, Vanderbilt seemed to be in control. Scotty Pippen Jr. bounced back from his awful performance at Florida on Saturday to lead the team to a 30-26 advantage after a back-and-forth first half, and the Commodores would extend the lead a few minutes into the second half.

But like a flurry of lightning, South Carolina came back. An 11-0 Gamecock run midway through the second half turned a 47-39 Vanderbilt lead into a 50-47 deficit. A deep three from Jordan Wright would tie the game back up, but South Carolina would score five straight after that. Trey Thomas tried to keep Vanderbilt in the game with a couple of threes, but Vanderbilt blew chances to close the gap late with poor rebounding, missed free throws, and missed layups.

The final was 70-61 in the Gamecocks’ favor and honestly that could have been worse if not for South Carolina going 9-for-20 at the foul line. Scotty Pippen Jr. led Vanderbilt with 24 points.