South Carolina struggles in the opener of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in Conway

South Carolina coach Frank Martin said in the preseason that he believed this year’s Gamecocks comprised the best shooting team he’s had in his six years in Columbia.

You would have had a hard time believing him Thursday.

The Gamecocks shot a dismal 30 percent from the field – and that percentage improved late – and suffered their first loss since losing to Gonzaga in the 2017 Final Four.

The Gamecocks (2-1) fell 69-65 to Illinois State in the opening game of the 12-team Puerto Rico Tip-Off, which was relocated to Coastal Carolina’s HTC Center because of the ongoing recovery efforts in the U.S. island territory from Hurricane Maria.

“We have a lot of guys who can shoot the ball and we just didn’t hit shots today, and we didn’t make our layups so we couldn’t score at all,” said junior guard Hassani Gravett, who was 3 of 13 from the field and 2 of 10 from three-point range.

The Gamecocks were whistled for 32 fouls compared to 20 for Illinois State and had three players foul out, including starting forwards Chris Silva and Maik Kotsar.

Illinois State (1-1) shot just 36 percent from the field, though it hit 28 of 39 free throws compared to 20 of 30 for USC and never trailed in the game.

“When your jump shot is not going in, you still have to figure out a way to win,” Martin said. “You win by defending and rebounding and making free throws. … All we did was foul.”

The Gamecocks (2-1) had recorded a pair of wins over Wofford and Western Michigan by at least 18 points to start the season. Illinois State (1-1) lost 98-87 to Florida Gulf Coast in its opener. While USC made its Final Four run, the Redbirds were considered by many to be an NCAA Tournament snub after going 17-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference and finishing the season 28-7.

“We gave up the first game not playing defense,” said ISU’s Milik Yarbrough, who along with fellow junior forward Phil Fayne was kept out of the starting lineup after being late to a team breakfast. “Last year we were one of the best defensive teams in the country and we felt we didn’t do what we were supposed to do and we wanted to come out here and bounce back really hard in this game.”

ISU coach Dan Muller said he planned to play both zone and man-to-man defenses Thursday, but the Redbirds started in a zone and it was working too well to switch.

“We never got inside the zone, and when we threw it to 5 feet our bigs couldn’t score,” Martin said. “We got the ball in there and our bigs couldn’t score. Our guards never drove the zone. They just kept passing it around the zone and that’s to their advantage. We never, never played off the dribble to get it inside the zone.

“Give them credit, they were tougher than us.”

The Gamecocks team that took the court at the HTC Center is vastly different from the team that made the NCAA run. South Carolina lost 73 percent of its scoring from last season.

It returned a pair of starters in the frontcourt in 6-9 junior forward Silva, who averaged 10.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last season, and 6-10 sophomore forward Kotsar of Estonia, who averaged 5.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in 2016-17.

Gravett was a consistent contributor off the bench last season with 3.2 points and 1.4 assists per game last year, and that trio was joined in the starting lineup by 6-5 true freshman forward Justin Minaya of New Jersey and 6-3 graduate transfer guard Frank Booker, who has previously played at Oklahoma and Florida Atlantic. The lone in-state player on the roster is freshman center Jason Cudd from Socastee High, who has played 3 minutes this year and did not play Thursday.

Gravett, Booker and Silva all had a team-high 10 points, with all of Silva’s points coming from the free throw line, and Minaya added nine points and eight rebounds.

Silva and Kotsar were limited to 22 and 17 minutes, largely because of foul trouble, and the Gamecocks are young behind them.

“It’s the same thing you saw against Virginia Tech, a bunch of young guys . . . that don’t know how to play at this level yet,” Martin said. “That’s part of our journey as a team. Those guys are going to have to learn and grow up and understand the sense of urgency, the disciplines, the strength, but it starts with them. They didn’t do a very good job for us early in the game, that’s why they were on the bench in foul trouble.”

The Redbirds worked a half-court offense effectively in the early going, earning a pair of dunks and an alley-oop layin while building a lead that reached 12 points in the first half and was nine at halftime.

Nine minutes into the game, the Gamecocks were 1 for 11 from the floor and 5 of 9 from the line with five turnovers, and with 6 minutes remaining in the first half, USC was just 3 of 23 (13 percent) from the field.

The Gamecocks got a momentum swing in the second half with a Silva block leading to a Minaya 3-pointer to come all the way back to tie the game with 11:30 remaining on a Booker 3-pointer.

But they couldn’t sustain the run and ISU soon regained the lead and built a six-point lead with 4 minutes remaining on a three-point play off a fake and baseline drive by Fayne.

A pair of Minaya free throws and Booker trey cut the deficit to one point, but an Evans 3-pointer off the glass pushed ISU’s lead to 61-56 with 2:20 left, and the Redbirds did enough from the free throw line down the stretch to hold off the Gamecocks.

USC practiced early Wednesday to become acclimated to Thursday’s morning start time, and it is in the 10:30 a.m. loser’s bracket game Friday against Texas-El Paso and coach Tim Floyd.

“We have to make sure guys get their rest. We play early again,” Gravett said. “I saw a couple guys with their eyes closed sleeping on the bus on the way here. I’m not going to let that happen again.”

The tournament features four games per day Thursday, Friday and Sunday, culminating with the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The tournament is an ESPN production and all games are being broadcast on the ESPN family of networks. Tickets are available at Primesport.com.

This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 3:02 PM with the headline "South Carolina struggles in the opener of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in Conway."