Finally a missed three-point shot away from home went in favor of the University of Arkansas men's basketball team.
The Razorbacks held on to beat South Carolina 65-63 on Saturday at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C., when Gamecocks center Josh Gray's three-point attempt from about 25 feet hit the backboard at the buzzer without touching the rim.
Arkansas had lost three road games at LSU 60-57, at Missouri 79-76 and at Baylor 67-64 and to Creighton 90-87 in the Maui Invitational when a Razorback missed a last-second three-point attempt.
"Definitely good to see the roles reversed," Arkansas junior guard Ricky Council said. "[Gray's shot] actually looked good.
"It was scary watching it from half court where I was at. Definitely good to get a win."
The Razorbacks (16-7, 5-5 SEC) got their first road victory of the season after being 0-5 coming into Saturday's game.
"We're ecstatic," said senior forward Jalen Graham, who led the Razorbacks with 16 points in 21 minutes off the bench. "We needed this win."
Freshman Guard Anthony Black scored on a drive with 1:21 left to put Arkansas ahead 64-63 with the final of the game's 12 lead changes.
GG Jackson, the Gamecocks' star freshman forward, then was called for an offensive foul when he attempted to set a screen on Arkansas guard Davonte Davis.
Black missed on a driving attempt with 45 seconds left and Gray got the rebound.
Meechie Johnson, who hit 5 of his first 7 three-pointers for the Gamecocks, missed from beyond the arc with 35 seconds left and Black got the rebound.
Davis, a junior who scored 15 points, was fouled with 25.1 second left and missed the front end of the 1-and-1 opportunity.
Gray got the rebound and South Carolina called a timeout with 19.5 seconds left.
With Davis guarding Johnson tightly and Council on Jackson, South Carolina senior forward Hayden Brown got a step on Jordan Walsh and drove to the basket, but 6-10 senior Makhel Mitchell was there to contest the shot.
Brown missed a reverse layup with four seconds left. Black got the rebound and was fouled by Brown with 2.5 seconds left.
Black hit the first free throw to make it 65-63, but missed the second. Jackson got the rebound and South Carolina called timeout with 2.3 seconds left.
The Gamecocks had to inbound from under the Arkansas basket, and with the Razorbacks again doing a good job of denying the ball to Johnson and Jackson, Brown threw a long pass to Gray.
Gray, guarded by Mitchell, caught the ball and got off a shot, but it wasn't close to going in.
It was the first three-point attempt this season for Gray, a 7-0 junior transfer from LSU, and third of his career. He's 0 of 3.
"The one guy we wanted to catch the ball was Gray," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said of his team's defensive strategy. "We did not want, under any circumstances, Jackson or Johnson to catch the ball.
"Face-guard, double-team, triple-team if they did get a catch in the backcourt. So really proud of executing that."
South Carolina (8-15, 1-9) lost its seventh consecutive game since winning at Kentucky and fell to 0-6 in SEC home games.
But the Gamecocks didn't give up after Arkansas took a 43-30 lead with 17:42 left on Mitchell's rebound basket.
South Carolina, which shot 50% (14 of 28) in the second half, rallied and went ahead 59-58 on two free throws by Gray with 4:04 left.
The teams traded the lead five more times, including after a drive by Council when he hit a scoop shot to put the Razorbacks ahead 62-61.
"The key to this game was desperation," Council said. "We knew we couldn't lose this game.
"I mean, we had games that were must-win, but this was a must-win.
"They're still a good team, but they're one of the bottom teams in the league. We knew we couldn't lose this game because we were already on a hot streak."
The Razorbacks won their fourth consecutive SEC game after a 1-5 start.
"This was going to be a big game going into March as far as seeding or even making it [to the NCAA Tournament]," Council said. "We couldn't lose this game at all costs. That's been the conversation all week.
"I think we got lackadaisical for a little bit, but when that clicked back in our heads, we were good."
Black, Council and Davis played all 40 minutes. Black finished with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocked shots. Council had 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Walsh, a 6-7 freshman, had a team-high 10 rebounds off the bench, including 6 on the offensive end, and 4 points.
Gray had a career-high 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Gamecocks. Johnson, a sophomore transfer from Ohio State, had 20 points.
"That was a hard one to lose," said Lamont Paris, South Carolina's first-year coach. "We did a lot of good things.
"I think discipline caught up with us a little bit at the end, but we made the scouting report matter. Just didn't convert on a couple of chances."
The 6-9 Jackson, averaging 16.1 points, scored 9 on 3 of 8 shooting. He was guarded primarily by the 6-4 Davis, who switched to the hot-shooting Johnson late in the game.
"I thought defensively in the first half we were phenomenal," Musselman said of South Carolina shooting 10 of 30 in the first half. "And then for whatever reason in the second half, defensively we got away from what we were doing. We got away from the scouting report.
"Which is a great learning lesson. We started to go under screens, dribble hand-offs by Johnson, and he made us pay for it going 5 of 8 from three."
But when South Carolina needed a three-pointer to win the game, Davis and the Razorbacks made sure Johnson didn't get the ball.
The Razorbacks celebrated as a miss at the buzzer went their way,
"Yeah, man, it's good to be on the other side of that," Graham said. "We're just happy about the win no matter how we get it.
"As long as we get it, we don't care."
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