“SC was a state tailor-made for Cruz with an overwhelmingly evangelical conservative electorate.”
Wrong. Open primaries means liberals who hate Cruz with a passion can participate in Republican primaries. The evangelical vote was divided between Trump, Cruz, Rubio, and Carson, with maybe a little bit elsewhere.
The strategy for GOPe right now is to take out Cruz so Rubio can go head to head with Trump. Doubt that will work, but it is what’s happening. Also, GOPe prefers Trump over Cruz. They hate Cruz the most. Their goal is to split evangelical votes until the primaries in the north. That is when you will see the “Christian” candidates have their support dry up and they drop out.
If Carson and others had dropped out sooner, the race would have been tighter. And the media is helping Rubio. He sent the same message out in Iowa that he, Carson, Trump, and the media used to slime his campaign with the lying meme. Carson was played. Probably told to stay in by Trump and / or Rubio campaign with suggestions he may get VP. (He won’t.)
The Media groups don't want Trump, hate Cruz, and promote Rubio.