Alabama hands No. 19 South Carolina 1st loss of the season

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Riley Norris hit his first seven 3-point attempts and scored a career-high 27 points to lead Alabama to a 73-50 upset of previously unbeaten No. 19 South Carolina on Wednesday night.

The Crimson Tide (10-5, 1-2 Southeastern Conference) got the first league win of Avery Johnson's debut season in stunningly easy fashion. The upset leaves No. 10 SMU as the nation's only unbeaten major college team.

The Gamecocks (15-1, 2-1) missed their first 12 shots of the second half and went more than 11 minutes without a field goal starting before the break. They ended an 8-minute scoring drought after halftime down 48-22.

South Carolina never cut it below 18 after that.

Norris made the most of his first start of the season, shooting 8 of 11 on 3s. He also grabbed seven rebounds. Justin Coleman added 14 points.

Michael Carrera led the Gamecocks with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

The Gamecocks didn't come close to their previous scoring low of 65 points.

Norris hit a 3-pointer from a couple of feet beyond the arc to punctuate a 13-0 Alabama run to open the second half. It forced coach Frank Martin to call time out, but the South Carolina shots never started falling.

Norris had led the Tide to a 35-22 halftime lead after hitting five consecutive 3-pointers in the first nine minutes.

Alabama didn't need a big game from leading scorer Retin Obasohan, who had just four points.

South Carolina's top scorer, Sindarius Thornwell, also struggled. He scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting.