BATON ROUGE, La. — The South Carolina Gamecocks were on the brink. They trailed for nearly 33 minutes of Thursday’s marquee matchup against No. 9 LSU in front of an antagonistic crowd of 13,205 clad in white T-shirts, animal print and sequins, hoping to see their defending national champion Tigers hand the nation’s No. 1 team its first loss of the season.
But even with a new-look team following offseason graduation losses, South Carolina did what South Carolina has done time and time again. Capitalizing off 2023 Final Four Most Outstanding Player Angel Reese fouling out with 4:02 to play, the Gamecocks went on an 11-3 run to close the game and come away with a 76-70 victory, extending their undefeated season start.
South Carolina (18-0, the only remaining undefeated team in Division I) has now won 10 straight games when falling behind by double figures, the longest active streak in Division I and a run dating back to November 2021.
“It was a game of runs,”…
