Jaydon Young and the Hokies had some bright moments against USC, but their inexperience also showed. (Virginia Tech athletics)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Virginia Tech men’s basketball fell to South Carolina 70-60 on Wednesday in the Fort Myers Tip-Off, the program’s fourth straight loss this season.

The Hokies (3-4), who entered the Thanksgiving-week event on a two-game losing streak after contests vs. Penn State and Jacksonville, lost to Michigan on Monday and the Gamecocks (4-3) two days later.

It’s the first time Tech’s dropped four consecutive non-conference games since 1952-53, when it was in the Southern Conference and lost to High Point, Elon, Marshall and Eastern Kentucky to open the year.

“I never really thought it would be a tough month, but … we do have a young team,” Tech point guard Brandon Rechsteiner said. “… I think [if] we kind of just string [together] some stuff we’re doing… we have good moments, we played hard vs. Michigan, in the second half [today] we shared the ball a little better. We’ve got to string it all together and I think we’ll be good. We’ve got to keep coming together as a young team.”

After trading baskets with USC to start the game, Tech’s offense froze for a brief period. A 10-9 Gamecocks lead evolved into a 20-10 game as they went on a 10-1 run and pushed the margin to double digits.

However, the Hokies found some rhythm out of the following media timeout and outscored the Gamecocks 10-5 over the next five minutes. Their offense finally started to click, and after starting 3-of-15 from the field, they made five of their 10 attempts to end the first half. South Carolina took a 33-25 lead into the break.

The second half was very even — USC outscored Tech just 37-35 — and the Hokies used an 8-0 run to cut the margin to 44-41 with 12:14 to play. It felt like they had a real shot to turn the tide.

However, they couldn’t climb completely out of the hole. Morris Ugusuk (12 points, 4-of-7 3FG) nailed a trey for the Gamecocks to make it a six-point game at the 11:57 mark. After that, Tech had 13 different possessions with an opportunity to cut the deficit to four or fewer points. Eleven of those resulted in a missed shot while two were turnovers.

Virginia Tech found a way to get stops vs. USC, but it couldn't get a bucket to fall on the other end. (Virginia Tech athletics)

Seven of those came in a row after Ugusuk’s triple. Tech couldn’t get anything to fall until Patrick Wessler grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it back up at the 9:36 mark, which made it 47-43.

The Hokies were in a similar position a few minutes later when Jaden Schutt knocked down a 3-pointer with 5:31 remaining, cutting it to 57-53. But they had six empty trips and didn’t score again until 54 seconds remained, missing five field goals in that span.

“How many possessions did we have, fellas, down [four] with the ball going down the stretch?” Young said. “Goddamn, you can’t get something in the hole. … Somebody’s got to step to the plate and get the ball in the can, and we had a couple of great cracks at it.”

Still, things seemed to flow better offensively Tech in the second half. It shot 41 percent (14-of-34) after just a 36 percent clip (9-of-25) in the first, and after recording just one assist in the first 20 minutes, it finished the game with 10.

Better ball movement and getting stops on the defensive end — Tech limited the Gamecocks to 42 percent (10-of-24) in the second, a drop from 46 percent (13-of-28) in the opening period — allowed the Hokies to pull within striking distance.

That was a slight improvement after shooting 29 percent in the second half and turning the ball over 19 total times vs. Michigan on Monday, a sign of incremental growth for one of the youngest and most inexperienced teams in Division I.

“We don’t have great individual players,” Young said. “I’ve had a lot of teams that didn’t have great individual players. Really good players, but they’re not three, four, five, six bounce guys; the ball’s got to move. The ball’s got to get to multiple sides, the ball’s got to get to different points of the defense.

“One pass, no pass, two pass possessions are not ideal for this team, they’re just not. The makeup of our team doesn’t lend itself to that kind of ball. It’s ugly ball. Consequently, you have one assist at the half. … They want to, they have the right stuff, but daggone, been hard, but we’ll figure it out.”

South Carolina made some fantastic plays Monday evening, like Ugusuk’s 3-pointer off a skip pass early in the first half after it looked like Tech had the Gamecocks trapped.

Yet, there were also some boneheaded plays where Tech’s naivety, lack of cohesiveness and inability to capitalize were on display. A Gamecocks defender appeared to flop when Mylyjael Poteat backed him down at one point in the first half, which occurred soon after Poteat was called for a charge, but the veteran was surprised that the defender was on the floor and turned around and left a floater short.

Ben Hammond and Virginia Tech have made too many tiny mistakes this season. (Virginia Tech athletics)

There was also the defensive possession in the second half where Rechsteiner seemed to think he had help on a baseline driver and sagged off — except no help came, leaving the USC player wide open for an easy bucket.

“When it rains, it pours a little bit, but we’ve got to find a way to make our own breaks,” Young said.

At the same time, South Carolina made some veteran plays. Defensively, it locked things down. On the other end, Collin Murray-Boyles, one of the key cogs in last year’s team that won 26 games and made the NCAA Tournament, grabbed a big offensive rebound and hit important free throws down the stretch, as did Jamarii Thomas, Zachary Davis and Jacobi Wright.

“That’s the real ultimate value of these games, that you get all of those situations that are going to come time and time again,” Gamecocks head coach Lamont Paris said. “… On the defensive end, I thought we were really, really good, especially late in the game, and I think it took away confidence from them that they could get a comfortable shot off. I felt like [Tech] felt like they needed to pull the trigger a little quicker or fly off that screen a little harder, which ultimately alters the quality of the shot.”

Four Tech players finished in double figures, led by Jaydon Young’s 12 points. Jaden Schutt had 11 while Rechsteiner chipped in 10 points and four assists. Tobi Lawal, an All-Tournament Team selection, finished with 10 points and six rebounds.

Ben Burnham came off the bench and scored eight points for the Hokies while Wessler and Tyler Johnson had four each. Poteat only had one point, but he corralled seven rebounds.

Tech returns home and has a few days to rest up before hosting Vanderbilt in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 9:15 p.m. ET on ACC Network — a homecoming for former Hokies guards MJ Collins and Tyler Nickel.

“I can’t think of a time in my career where I thought the month [of November] was going to be problematic,” Young said. “Where we are, nobody gives a damn, nobody feels sorry for you. We’ve got a patch of adversity. Get back to Blacksburg, practice better and prepare for the Commodores.”

Box Score: South Carolina 70, Virginia Tech 60