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 on 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."
T.B. foul trouble
Arkansas sophomore forward Trevon Brazile started off 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 six 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 down to 23-17 after going 0-2 this season. The Razorbacks are 6-2 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 on 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.
George at the mic
The Razorbacks and their fans heard a familiar voice in Bridgestone Arena.
John George, who has been the public address announcer for Arkansas' men's games since the 1980-81 season, is handling the same duties at the SEC Tournament for the 18th consecutive year.
"It's great to be back," George said. "It feels like riding a bicycle."
George's seat on the scorer's table is at mid-court.
"For me, this is like going to my Super Bowl," George said. "You get to see a lot of great basketball and you sit between the two coaches, and the two benches and the referees.
"You can hear and see everything. You feel like you're a part of the game."
Since becoming the SEC Tournament's public address announcer in 2007, George has missed only two games. His first year the SEC had another announcer call the second two of four games on the opening night after George worked the first two.
George was eating dinner at his hotel when he got a call from an SEC official. It turned out the other guy was making announcements during free throws and when officials were trying to communicate with the scorer's table.
"Somebody from the SEC asked, 'Can you work the rest of the games this week?' " George said. "I said, 'Sure.' "
George said the plan is for him to be on the public address system for all 13 games this week.
At 67, George said he feels great physically and hopes to continue to work at Arkansas and SEC Tournament games for several more years.
George said that by his count, he's worked 853 Arkansas games.
"I want to try to get to 1,000 games for the Razorbacks," he said. "Hitting that number would mean a lot."
Finale for Vanover
Missouri ended its season going 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."
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.
SEC Men’s Tournament
At Bridgestone Arena
Nashville, Tenn.
All times Central
FIRST ROUND
WEDNESDAY’S SCORES
Arkansas 90, Vanderbilt 85, OT
Georgia 64, Missouri 59
SECOND ROUND
THURSDAY’S SCORES
South Carolina 80, Arkansas 66
Mississippi State 70, LSU 60
Texas A&M 80, Mississippi 71
Florida 85, Georgia 80
QUARTERFINALS
TODAY’S GAMES
Tennessee vs. Mississippi State, noon
Auburn vs. South Carolina, 2:30 p.m.
Kentucky vs. Texas A&M, 6 p.m.
Alabama vs. Florida, 8:30 p.m.
SEMIFINALS
SATURDAY’S GAMES
TBD vs. TBD, noon
TBD vs. TBD, 2:30 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
SUNDAY’S GAME
Semifinal winners, noon