NASHVILLE, Tenn. — South Carolina shut down Tramon Mark, the leading scorer for the University of Arkansas men’s basketball team.
Mark, a junior guard, was held to a season-low two points Thursday when the No. 15 Gamecocks beat the Razorbacks 80-66 in a second-round SEC Tournament game at Bridgestone Arena.
“They were trapping me in the ball screens and I had to get off of that,” said Mark, who played 35 minutes. “I tried to be aggressive, but they played great defense.”
Mark, who came into the game averaging 16.7 points, shot 1 of 4 from the field and didn’t attempt a free throw. His previous scoring low this season was six points at Mississippi State.
All of Mark’s three assists came in the first half.
When South Carolina beat Arkansas 77-64 on Jan. 20, Mark led the Razorbacks with 18 points, including 13 in the final 13:32.
“I think we did a decent job the first time we played them at their place, then he cut loose late in the game,” Gamecocks Coach Lamont Paris said. “The main goal — this is going to sound elementary — we were really trying to stay between him and the basket.
“Sometimes that means there’s a tasty morsel, I call it, to our guys. You want to reach for that thing, you think you’re going to steal it. You have to lay off that thing, be focused on staying in front of him.
“If you’re focused on staying in front of him, he’s an aggressive guy, some of the shots he’s going to take are difficult. He’s such a good player, he can make hard shots and he does make hard shots. The percentages are in your favor.”
Paris said South Carolina 6-7 sophomore guard Zachary Davis was the primary defender on the 6-6 Mark, but that he got plenty of help from his teammates.
“Where [Mark] really gets cooking is if you get out of position, you reach and gamble,” Paris said. “I think he’s impossible to stop if you do that.
“I think we did a good job of being really solid defensively with him. We showed some help when we could to try to get him slowed down. We tried really hard. We tried really, really hard.”
Foul trouble for T.B.
Arkansas sophomore forward Trevon Brazile started hot against South Carolina, hitting back-to-back three-pointers the first 1:04 of the game.
Then Brazile picked up his second foul with 15:44 left and went to the bench for the rest of the first half.
“That’s just how it is with Coach [Eric Musselman]. If you get two fouls, you’re coming out, regardless of who it is,” Brazile said. “I fell under that category.
“It definitely takes you out of a groove to play the first three or four minutes and then have to sit out the rest of the half.
“It’s tough, but you don’t have a choice. It was frustrating not being on the court, because that’s how you get in a groove.”
Brazile’s only points in the second half came on two free throws. He finished with 6 points in 20 minutes on 2-of-5 shooting.
“Certainly his two fouls affected the flow of the game for us, for sure,” Musselman said. “But credit to South Carolina for attacking the paint and putting pressure on the rim.”
Technically speaking
Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman was hit with a technical foul with 7:08 left for arguing with officials.
B.J. Mack hit both free throws resulting from the technical to give South Carolina a 64-49 lead.
It was Musselman’s seventh technical of the season and 22nd in his five seasons at Arkansas.
Carolina sweep
South Carolina beat Arkansas twice in a season for the first time since both teams began playing when they were added to the SEC for the 1991-92 season.
The Gamecocks beat the Razorbacks 77-64 at Walton Arena in the regular-season matchup.
Arkansas has swept two games from South Carolina three times — in 1996, 2014 and 2015.
The teams split two games in 2007.
Arkansas’ lead in the series is 23-17 after going 0-2 this season. The Razorbacks are 3-3 against the Gamecocks in SEC Tournament games.
Arkansas is 31-31 in SEC Tournament games.
Stackhouse fired
Arkansas’ 90-85 overtime victory against Vanderbilt on Wednesday night in the SEC Tournament opener turned out to be Jerry Stackhouse’s last game as the Commodores’ coach.
Stackhouse was fired Thursday after the Commodores finished the season with a 9-23 record, including 4-15 against SEC teams. His overall record in five seasons was 70-92 without making the NCAA Tournament and with two NIT appearances. He had a 28-60 record in SEC games.
“All that matters is the results, and the results weren’t what they were supposed to be,” Stackhouse said after Wednesday night’s game. “The NCAA Tournament is the ultimate goal, and we haven’t done that. I haven’t done that. No matter what, those results are those results.”
Rankled
Arkansas’ loss to No. 15 South Carolina dropped the Razorbacks to 1-8 this season against teams in the current Associated Press poll.
The Razorbacks’ lone victory over a team ranked in this week’s poll was 80-75 over No. 11 Duke at Walton Arena in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
Arkansas lost twice to South Carolina, twice to No. 9 Kentucky and once to No. 4 North Carolina, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 12 Auburn and No. 19 Alabama.
Finale for Vanover
Missouri ended its season 0-19 against SEC teams with its 64-59 loss to Georgia on Wednesday night, but Tigers 7-5 center Connor Vanover played well in his last college game.
Vanover, a sixth-year senior who is from Little Rock and spent three seasons at Arkansas, had 10 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 assists in a season-high 34 minutes against the Bulldogs. He had missed the previous three games after sustaining a concussion at Florida on Feb. 24.
“I just tried to fight as much as I could,” Vanover said of his final college game.
Vanover transferred to Missouri this year from Oral Roberts — which he helped make the NCAA Tournament last season — and he become emotional in the postgame press conference when talking about Tigers Coach Dennis Gates.
“I’d just say Coach has been a great role model,” Vanover said. “He always preaches about consistency.
“So just taking everything one day at a time. We just take it one day at a time and cherish each moment.“
Extension for Paris
South Carolina announced Thursday that Coach Lamont Paris has agreed to a contract extension.
The Gamecocks are 26-6 this season after going 11-21 last season in Paris’ debut. Contract details weren’t announced, but The Associated Press reported the extension is expected to run through the 2029-30 season with an annual salary of more than $4 million.
“This is where I’m supposed to be,” Paris said after the Gamecocks beat Arkansas 80-66. “I had a great conversation with our athletics director, Ray Tanner, and we’re really happy with where the program is.”
Paris has been mentioned as a possible target for openings at Ohio State and Louisville.
“I didn’t float my name around,” Paris said. “A lot of people were floating my name around. I guess that’s what happens this time of year.
“It’s fun, exciting, a lot of things that are going on. It makes the number of text messages I get out of control.
“We’ve been so focused on a mission that we have here with this team, so enthralled in trying to get better, to get to the next thing, that’s what we were really focused on.”
Nice finish
Arkansas senior forward Jalen Graham hadn’t played in the previous seven games, but he didn’t look rusty against South Carolina.
Graham finished with 11 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench. He hit 5 of 6 shots.
“He was big-time,” Arkansas senior guard El Ellis said. “He scored and rebounded and played hard.”
Graham missed three games after he suffered a shoulder injury against Tennessee. Then he didn’t make the trip for Arkansas’ game at Kentucky because he needed to work on academic issues and didn’t play in the next three games despite being dressed out.