FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas had too many turnovers to turn back South Carolina on Wednesday night.

The Gamecocks scored 20 points off of 19 Arkansas turnovers and beat the Razorbacks 70-66 before a crowd of 17, 883 fans at Walton Arena.

“I don’t think they were forcing us [into turnovers ],” said Arkansas senior forward Sonny Weems, who had a career-high 28 points and 9 rebounds but also 4 turnovers. “It was all on us. We were throwing passes that weren’t there. We weren’t concentrating.”

Gamecocks 5-9 sophomore guard Devan Downey matched Weems’ 28 points and had 6 steals and 4 assists while playing all 40 minutes.

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“This may sound funny, but I think the crowd moved us,” said Downey, who redshirted last season after transferring from Cincinnati. “They were all into the game. They were into it for 40 minutes.

“ There was something about it. We seem like a better team on the road right now.”

The Razorbacks (13-4, 2-1 SEC ) had their most turnovers in six games, since having 19 in a 90-59 victory over Northwestern (La. ) State on Dec. 19. They had averaged 13. 3 turnovers the previous five games.

“You get one point off each turnover you’re doing well, and we did a little better than that,” South Carolina Coach Dave Odom said. “Turnovers were a big key for us because it’s tough to score in the half court with our size.”

The Gamecocks (9-8, 1-2 ) didn’t start a player taller than 6-7, but was able to beat the smaller Razorbacks by hitting 8 of 21 threepoint baskets — compared with 3 of 12 by Arkansas — and handling Arkansas’ pressure defense.

The Gamecocks had only two turnovers in the second half and finished with 10 for the game in contrast to the Razorbacks’ ballhandling problems against a team that didn’t press full court.

“The [turnovers ] that lead to baskets — where you don’t have a chance to defend — kill you,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said. “It’s those scramble plays that usually win the game.

“ We really put ourselves in harm’s way of winning.”

Arkansas blew a chance for its first 3-0 SEC start since 1998 and could have tied Mississippi State for the West lead after the Bulldogs beat Kentucky on Tuesday night to go 3-0.

“We didn’t operate at a high level consistently,” Pelphrey said. “That’s disappointing considering what we had at stake.

“ It’s bad losing, it’s bad losing at home, and I thought we had a lot at stake that we let get away from us.

“ I’m not faulting effort, but our performance wasn’t good enough to win.”

Arkansas outscored South Carolina 13-5 over a 4: 14 span, including eight consecutive points by 7-0 senior center Steven Hill, to take a 30-23 lead at the 3: 55 mark of the first half.

South Carolina outscored Arkansas 10-2 the rest of the half, with junior guard Zam Fredrick hitting back-to-back three-pointers and the Razorbacks having three turnovers, to take a 33-32 halftime lead.

“That was big,” Odom said. “It gave our team a little confidence.”

Pelphrey lamented the fact that Arkansas so quickly lost what turned out to be its largest lead of the game.

“That just completely wiped out all of our hard work,” Pelphrey said. “To work that hard to get a [seven-point ] lead is a big deal. You don’t want to give that away, but with a couple of shots and couple of turnovers, it can happen.”

Weems scored Arkansas’ first eight points of the second half to put the Razorbacks ahead 40-37 with 16: 43 left.

South Carolina then went on a 16-6 run to take a 54-46 lead at the 11: 23 mark and stayed ahead the rest of the game.

Arkansas pulled within two points twice in the final 50 seconds after baskets by Weems, but the Gamecocks held on with Downey hitting a 10-foot jumper with 23 seconds left and making two free throws with 9. 5 seconds left for the final margin.

“If you want to be the leader and the goto guy, that’s your job,” Downey said. “When it’s in the crunch and the ball’s in your hand, you’ve got to make a play, you’ve got to make free throws down the stretch.”

The Razorbacks had hoped to wear out Downey and force him into mistakes, but he seemed to play stronger late in the game despite never going to the bench.

“He was the engine of their team,” Weems said. “Once he gets going, he gets his team involved. He makes other players look good.”

Hill had a season-high 15 points for the Razorbacks and 6-1 sophomore guard Patrick Beverley had a game-high 12 rebounds but was 2 of 6 from the field and finished with 5 points.

Fredrick added 14 points for the Gamecocks in a game that featured 13 lead changes and five ties.

“We just didn’t play the right way,” Arkansas senior forward Charles Thomas said. “South Carolina came in and took care of business and deserved to win.”

It was a sweet road victory for the Gamecocks after they heard some boos from the home crowd in an 80-56 loss to No. 6 Tennessee last Saturday.

“It was a great win for our team,” Odom said. “We gave everything possible to prepare for Arkansas.

“ I think we did that because we were desperate to win a game. This meant a lot to us.”