BATON ROUGE, La. -- South Carolina took advantage of a reeling LSU team and took control right away.
The No. 19 Gamecocks rolled to an 18-3 lead and coasted to an 88-63 victory over the Tigers in an SEC game Wednesday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Gamecocks (18-4, 8-1 SEC) kept pace with No. 8 Kentucky atop the standings at the halfway point of the conference schedule. The Tigers (9-12, 1-8) lost their eighth consecutive game, seven of which have been by at least 13 points, and their 10th in the past 11.
Duane Notice and P.J. Dozier led South Carolina with 17 points apiece, and Sindarius Thornwell and Chris Silva (tying a career high) each scored 16.
"I thought we started the game off well defensively, then when we went to our bench we slacked off defensively and we turned it over," Gamecocks coach Frank Martin said. "Then the starters went back out there and picked it up again.
"This was our fourth league road win. We still have a long way to go, but I'm real proud of my guys."
Brandon Sampson led LSU with 16 points, and Skylar Mays scored 11 off the bench.
LSU leading scorer Antonio Blakeney (16.4 points per game) was held to nine points 3-of-12 shooting.
The Tigers never got their offense going against the Gamecocks, who entered the game ranked sixth nationally in scoring defense (60.8 points per game), fifth in the nation in field-goal defense (37.2 percent), first in 3-point defense (25.4 percent) and eighth in turnovers forced (17.05 per game), all of which led the SEC.
South Carolina led by as many as 23 points in the first half and by 18 at halftime, but LSU crept within 12 twice early in the second half.
Thornwell scored five points during a 13-0 run as the Gamecocks quickly rebuilt the lead to 65-40 with 12 minutes remaining. The biggest lead was 26 in the final minute.
"We knew coming into tonight South Carolina would be a tough team," LSU coach Johnny Jones said. "They played exactly like we thought.
"When you are playing one of the toughest defensive teams in the country, you can't play back on your heels. We didn't come out on our toes. We didn't play with the toughness or urgency needed to upset these guys. You just can't match the intensity of a team like this. You have to surpass it. You may have an off night, but you still have to compete. I thought we had some guys who came out passive."
South Carolina made six of its first nine shots, including two of four 3-pointers, to jump to a 15-point lead in less than five minutes.
A tip-in by Wayde Sims and a 3-pointer by Mays gave the Tigers a brief lift before back-to-back layups by Thornwell pushed the Gamecocks to a 22-8 advantage.
A three-point play by Notice pushed the lead to 30-9.
Another three-point play by Dozier gave South Carolina its biggest first-half lead at 40-17.
Sampson's 3-pointer started an 8-0 run that got LSU within 15 points before the Gamecocks rebuilt it to 50-32 at halftime.
NOTES:
-- South Carolina held LSU to 40 percent shooting from the floor (24 of 60), including 30 percent on 3-pointers (6 of 20).
-- LSU committed a season-high 22 turnovers.
-- Gamecocks G Sindarius Thornwell set a school record with his 117th career start, and his 1,584 points are two short of the total of Mike Dunleavy, who is sixth on the Gamecocks' all-time scoring list.
-- Tigers freshman F Wayde Sims had his first double-digit rebound game, finishing with 11.
-- LSU gave up more than 80 points for the sixth time during its nine-game losing streak.
-- F Brandon Eddlestone, a senior who earned an LSU scholarship before the season, had career-highs in minutes (11), points (six) and rebounds (four).
-- The Gamecocks return home to play Georgia on Saturday.
-- LSU plays host to Texas A&M on Saturday.
