That South Carolina lost to UConn last weekend isn't shocking. The Huskies are a good team that can beat anyone, even if they'd had a couple of stumbles this season when facing top opponents.
No, the surprise is how UConn did it. The Huskies dominated from the tip in an 87-58 victory. Not only was it the fewest points scored and most allowed in any game this year for South Carolina, it was the fewest points the team had scored since Jan. 8, 2023 in a 58-51 win over Mississippi State and the most that the Gamecocks had allowed since Jan. 18, 2021 when the team gave up 82 points to Arkansas.
The difference was in those two previous games, South Carolina found a way to win when one part of its game was off. Against UConn, both parts were off.
Let's take a look at some news items surrounding Sunday's loss.
The home win streak is over
Coming into Sunday's game against the Huskies, South Carolina had won 71 consecutive home games.
The last time the team lost at home prior to Sunday's game had come on Dec. 3, 2020, against NC State. Like the UConn game, the Gamecocks couldn't buy a bucket in that one, scoring just 46 points. The defense held up enough to get the win as the Wolfpack only scored 54, but the team shot 27.0 percent from the floor and 16.7 percent from 3, as well as only 4-for-11 from the free throw line.
It was a real low point for the Gamecocks, but the team went on to win 12 straight overall following the defeat and, of course, started this long home win streak. The first win of the streak came on Dec. 17, 2020 when the Gamecocks dismantled Temple, winning by 62.
The final win in the streak was on Feb. 13 against Florida. The Gamecocks were coming in off a close loss to Texas and needed a big win to rebound, which is exactly what happened. The team beat the Gators by 38.
While the home win streak is over, this loss doesn't hurt South Carolina too much in the grand scheme of things. It wasn't a conference loss, so it won't impact the SEC, and South Carolina still essentially controls its destiny as far as the race for a No. 1 seed goes. Win out in the regular season and then win the SEC Tournament and the team should grab one of those top seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
South Carolina falls out of the top 5
When the AP poll came out on Monday, South Carolina sat at No. 6 in the country. It was the first time this season that the team had fallen out of the top five.
In fact, it was the first time since the 2023-24 preseason poll that the Gamecocks weren't in the top five. Considering South Carolina quickly vaulted up to No. 1 in the first in-season poll that year, the No. 6 ranking that year should barely count.
If we want to see the last time the Gamecocks weren't top five in an in-season poll, we have to go all the way back to the final poll before the 2020-21 NCAA Tournament, where the team was ranked No. 6.
Dropping out of the top five isn't something that happens much in Columbia.
The Gamecocks are no longer title favorites
Even though the team wasn't ranked No. 1 in the nation entering the game against UConn, the Gamecocks were the title favorites. The team's experience and coaching edge made it the betting favorite to win the title.
Not so anymore. South Carolina's title odds at BetMGM have fallen to +325, putting the team second in the odds.
So, who's now ahead of the Gamecocks?
No surprise here, as UConn has overtaken South Carolina as favorites at +200.
UCLA, Notre Dame and USC round out the current top five in betting odds.
Texas, which defeated South Carolina two weeks ago, is sixth, followed by LSU, Tennessee, Duke and Ohio State.
Do these odds mean anything? We'll see. The title race this season feels wide open between the top six or seven teams, and everyone has had a stumble at some point. UConn might have dominated against South Carolina this week, but the Huskies have losses to Notre Dame, USC and Tennessee on their resume, so it's not quite as simple as the odds might imply.