FAYETTEVILLE - The smallest player on the court gave Arkansas its biggest headache.

South Carolina point guard Devan Downey attacked the basket, turned steals into easy layups and used as many tricks as he could to make up for his noticeable lack of size.

For much of Wednesday night, it was the 5-foot-9, 175-pound sophomore against Arkansas' much larger lineup. The little guy got the upper hand, though.

Downey scored 28 points, grabbed six steals and rattled in a pair of free throws with 9.5 seconds remaining to seal South Carolina's shocking 70-66 win over Arkansas in front of a crowd of 17,883 in Bud Walton Arena.

"(His performance) was OK," South Carolina coach Dave Odom said, pausing. "Of course, I'm kidding. He had a great game, he did.

"He's a young man that's got the lion's heart, the tiger's tail and the -- I don't know -- he's just smart as a whip."

Arkansas coach John Pelphrey said earlier in the week that it would take his entire team to contain Downey, but even that didn't seem to do much good.

The elusive point guard scored 12 of South Carolina's first 18 points, and he had no trouble getting to the basket despite being defended at times by Arkansas' Patrick Beverley, Gary Ervin and Marcus Britt.

"I just want my team to be able to feed off me, whether I'm passing it to them, whether I'm scoring," said Downey, who's playing his first season at South Carolina since transferring from Cincinnati. "We came out a little flat, so I took over the scoring role."

Downey's 28 points were two shy of his career high, and he got his hands on five of his six steals in the first half.

The sophomore scored 14 points in the first half, 14 in the second and sank 9-of-18 shots from the floor despite being the only individual to play all 40 minutes Wednesday night.

"I see it every day, and I've seen him for a long time," South Carolina guard Zam Fredrick said of Downey. "So anything he (does) doesn't surprise me. I expect that from him."

Odom decided to play small ball against Arkansas, going with an undersized lineup to attack the Razorbacks' big men. Downey led the charge, and the strategy worked particularly down the stretch.

With South Carolina clinging to a 66-64 lead in the final minute, Downey dribbled near halfcourt, letting time tick off the clock. He then drove past Beverley and pulled up for a jumper over 6-foot-8 Arkansas forward Charles Thomas.

Downey's basket extended the Gamecocks' lead to 68-64 with 23 seconds left, and he used a well-timed head-fake to get Thomas to foul him with 9.5 seconds left. He made both free throws.

"When you're a small guy, over the years you just find so many tricks," Downey said. "You know, like at the end I (saw Thomas) was leaning toward me like he wanted to jump.

"So I knew if I could pump-fake and get him in the air, I could get two shots and that's what I did."