Bynum comes off the bench with big shot

Gamecock mens basketball won a squeaker tonight over SEMO despite a poor shooting night. In an exciting finish that had the crowd on their feet, Oxford native Jeremy Bynum hit a game-winning 3-pointer. Bynum didn't start tonight after being sick with a bacterial infection and flu for the past couple of weeks. Although he's feeling a little better, Coach Green wanted to cut down on Bynum's minutes to help him recover. Jeremy looks like he has lost a little weight. In fact, Bynum said his chest began burning after running down the court right after he went in for the first time.

In the second half particularly, buckets seemed hard to come by. The Gamecocks shot 6 for 25, just 24%. It was a physical game, and you have to credit the defense of SEMO. While the Gamecocks held a 5 point lead at halftime, we lost the lead early, and stayed 2 to 6 points down for the entire half, right up to a huge shot from Bynum with 6 seconds left. After calling a timeout and down by 2 points, the Gamecocks wanted to spread out the offense and try to go down low. SEMO reacted by collapsing the defense, allowing a little room for Bynum. Bynum put the shot up quickly, and knew it felt good as soon as it left his hands. Up by one, with 6 seconds left, the tight Gamecock defense forced a turnover, and after two free throws, won the game by 3 points.

The win puts the Gamecocks at 5-5 in the OVC. There's still plenty of basketball left to play, but if the season ended today, we are in the OVC tournament, as the top 8 teams will make it.

The next game is at 4:30 on Saturday. Hope to see you there!