NEW YORK -- South Carolina coach Frank Martin reached back into his memory bank to figure out a way to break down Syracuse's vaunted 2-3 zone.

Martin watched tape of when his Kanas State team played Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament over four years ago and figured out a way to bust the Orangemen's zone on Saturday in the Brooklyn Holiday Hoops Invite at the Barclays Center.

His plan of playing over the zone worked as South Carolina (6-0) knocked off No. 18 Syracuse 64-50. The Orangemen (4-1) never led in the contest, committing 17 turnovers and shooting just 31 percent from the floor.

The Gamecocks, led by Sindarius Thornwell and Maik Kotsar with 16 points apiece, shot 50 percent from the floor and were able to slice through the zone, accumulating 30 points in the paint. P.J. Dozier added 15 points and 10 rebounds for South Carolina, which defeated No. 25 Michigan 61-46 on Wednesday.

"I went back and looked at the last game I coached at Kansas State against Syracuse," Martin said. "I thought I made a grave error then, because I tried to play behind the zone. I'd never seen that game on film and when I watched it, I walked away with they (Syracuse) want you to throw it in there because they're so big and you get swallowed up.

"I was watching it on the plane Wednesday night. I slept on it and I said we have to change what we did. We ran all our bigs to the elbows and lifted the zone instead of playing behind it. Once we lifted the zone, then we could find the cracks behind it so we could catch and shoot, and they executed."

Tyler Lydon led the Orangemen with 18 points and seven rebounds. Syracuse never got into a rhythm and was forced to foul late in the second half when the Gamecocks continually worked the ball down low in an inside-outside strategy.

The Gamecocks forced the Orangemen to the perimeter where they connected on 6-of-15 shots from beyond the arc. Syracuse was outrebounded 37-30 and scored only eight points in the paint.

"This was as good as a defense as we've seen in a long time," admitted Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. "The second half we had a good run, there was a time in the second half when we got back in it, but we missed five straight free throws and two layups and you can't do that.

"We have a long way to go. We had five new guys out there and they looked a little bit lost out there."

Syracuse got to 51-46 with 6:34 to play, but was outscored 13-4 the rest of the way. South Carolina took a 59-48 edge on two free throws from Thornwell with 2:15 to go.

A free throw from Thornwell and a lay-in from Kotsar moved South Carolina's lead to 57-46 at the 2:58 mark. The Orangemen pulled within 47-43 with 11:20 to play, but baskets from Dozier and Kotsar put South Carolina ahead 51-43 with 10:34 remaining.

Syracuse trailed the entire first half, shooting only 34.8 percent (8-of-23) from the floor. The Orangemen were shaky in transition, committing 11 turnovers.

The Gamecocks did a nice job of getting the ball into the post against a 2-3 zone, scoring 14 of their first-half points in the paint. Duane Notice's 3-pointer provided South Carolina with its largest lead of the half 37-24 with 1:03 left.

The Orangemen turned the ball over five times, committed four fouls and made only 1 of 4 shots in the first five minutes of the game.

NOTES: Syracuse defeated Colgate, Holy Cross, Monmouth and South Carolina State by an average of 33.8 points per game. ... Syracuse was making its first appearance at the Barclays Center, which will host the ACC Tournament this season. ... South Carolina ranks eighth in the nation in field goal percent defense. Syracuse is fourth. ... South Carolina G Sindarius Thornwell eclipsed 500 rebounds for his career. ... This was the fourth meeting between the two schools.