FAYETTEVILLE -- South Carolina played without rebounding ace and leading scorer Michael Carrera, but the Gamecocks still managed to butcher Arkansas on the backboards in Saturday's 76-61 victory at Walton Arena.
The Gamecocks won the board battle 41-26, including a 31-18 edge on defensive rebounds. Carrera, out with a gimpy hip, was leading the team with 14.5 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
"They took it right to us from the beginning, and we missed a lot of shots, so they had a lot of chances to get a lot of rebounds," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "But they also went on the offensive glass, and that sometimes comes down to effort."
Guard Sindarius Thornwell had a game-high 11 rebounds, while Laimonas Chatkevicius and Mindaugas Kacinas had six each.
"Mike is a big part of that defensive rebounding for us, and with him being out the whole team took it upon themselves to come together and get on the boards," Thornwell said. "I think it played a huge role with limiting their second-chance points, to keep those open threes that they get off of second chances from going up."
South Carolina held a 27-10 rebounding lead at halftime when it built a 36-24 lead, and the Razorbacks held a 16-14 edge in the second half.
Big three
Arkansas' top three scorers -- Anthlon Bell, Dusty Hannahs and Moses Kingsley -- will be separated by four points heading into the postseason.
Kingsley is leading the way with 498 points, followed by Hannahs' 496 points and Bell's 494.
One of the three has led the team in scoring in every game except one, when freshman Jimmy Whitt had a team-high 11 points in a 78-46 loss at Mississippi State.
Sticky D
Arkansas missed nine consecutive shots in the first half while trying to create good looks against South Carolina's ever-changing defensive sets. The Hogs shot 7 of 26 (26.9 percent) in the first half.
"A classic Frank Martin team," Arkansas guard Anthlon Bell said. "Pressure on the ball, denial on the wings. They made us work for everything we got. Even when we got easy shots, we still had to work coming off screens and setting screens, things we weren't doing in the first half.
"Anything that we did score, even the easy buckets, we still had to work for it."
The Razorbacks made 14 of 29 shots (48.3) in the second half and 21 of 55 (38.2) in the game.
Bad throws
Arkansas struggled from the free-throw line, hitting 11 of 21 for a season-low 52.4 percent. Moses Kingsley brought the team total down with a 3 of 10 performance. Dusty Hannahs (3 of 3) and Willy Kouassi (1 of 1) did not miss. Anthlon Bell, who brought a streak of 29 consecutive made free throws into the game, did not get to the line.
Kingsley shot 73.8 percent from the line through 18 games, but the 6-10 junior has gone 50 of 94 (53.2) in the past 13 games.
The Gamecocks were 14 of 18 (77.8) from the free-throw line.
3-point record
Arkansas made 8 of 22 three-point shots (36.4 percent), dropping its season average to 40.2 percent. The Razorbacks have a shot at eclipsing the school-record three-point shooting mark of 39.5 percent in the 1992-93 season.
No SEC team has made 40 percent or better from three-point range since Florida did it in 2006-07.
Arkansas has made a three-pointer in 905 consecutive games, dating back to an 0 of 2 performance against Texas on Jan. 7, 1989.
Mike's mark
The Hogs fell to 14-4 at Walton Arena with the loss to South Carolina, their worst season at home in five years under Mike Anderson.
In his previous four seasons, Arkansas went 17-3, 17-1, 17-2 and 16-2 at Walton Arena. Anderson's career mark at Walton Arena is 81-12 for a winning percentage of 87.1.
Old buddies
Arkansas' Mike Anderson and South Carolina's Frank Martin, once opponents in neighboring states in the Big 12, were complimentary of each other's programs Saturday.
"Mike might be the most underspoken-about, unbelievably successful head coach in the country," Martin said.
"Congratulations to Coach Frank Martin and his team," Anderson said. "I thought he had them prepared. They were the more aggressive team. I thought they were the more physical team."
Boom or bust
South Carolina either scored or turned the ball over on each of its first nine possessions. The Gamecocks had turnovers on their first four trips, but only fell behind 4-0 in that span.
Sindarius Thornwell, Laimonas Chatkevicius, Mindaugas Kacinas and Duane Notice hit consecutive baskets on South Carolina's next four possessions for a 9-7 lead. The Gamecocks committed one more turnover before finally missing a shot on their next sequence.
Sports on 03/06/2016