College basketball: South Carolina remains unbeaten despite missing top player

With leading scorer and rebounder Sindarius Thornwell out indefinitely, No. 20 South Carolina turned to Duane Notice and P.J. Dozier to fill the void on Sunday.

Notice tied his career high with 27 points and Dozier added 20 as the Gamecocks beat Florida International, 70-54, in Columbia, S.C.

The Gamecocks (8-0) announced before the game that Thornwell had been suspended indefinitely for violating an athletic department policy.

“We found out (Saturday) after our practice,” Dozier said of Thornwell, adding, “At the end of the day, our team knew that the game was still going to go on with him or without him).

“We knew this team was going to be ready to come out and play. We had to continue to keep our same mindset as we had for the games we had already played.”

Eric Nottage scored 20 points for the Panthers (3-6), while Michael Kessens had 12 and Anthony Bowell added 10. The Panthers were playing without their leading scorer, Donte McGill, who is averaging 19.1 points per game, and never led.

at No. 3 North Carolina 95, Radford 50: Kenny Williams III had 14 of his career-high 19 points in the opening five minutes to rev up the Tar Heels in their victory.

North Carolina (8-1) was coming off a loss at No. 13 Indiana in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. They had no trouble in this one, though they lost guard Joel Berry II to a sprained left ankle in the second half.

Justin Cousin scored 14 points for the Highlanders (3-5).

at No. 13 Indiana 83, Southeast Missouri State 55: Robert Johnson had 17 points and seven rebounds and De’Ron Davis added 14 points for Indiana.

The Hoosiers (7-1) have won four straight, all in the last seven days. Denzel Mahoney led Southeast Missouri State (4-4) with 16 points.