The South Carolina men’s basketball team began the 2023-24 campaign with an 82-53 win over USC Upstate Monday night in a large part due to the team's aggressive defense and ability to shoot efficiently from behind the 3-point line.
South Carolina's offense demonstrated an emphasis on 3-point shooting early in the game, as six of its 13 made field attempts in the first half were 3-pointers. The Gamecocks went 6-11 from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes of the game, limiting the Spartans to just 2-7 from 3-point range in that span.
The Gamecocks continued its 3-point shooting prowess into the second half with an identical 6-11 mark from behind the 3-point line, which was kickstarted by three made 3-pointers in the opening five minutes of the half. Two of those 3-pointers came from graduate student forward B.J. Mack, who would finish his first game in a South Carolina uniform with 13 points.
Overall, the team shot 54.55% from deep, with six different players making at least one 3-pointer.
“Putting in time, he tells us after practice a lot just to make sure you work on your game,” Mack said. “So I believe that with this offense, and with coach Paris having that belief in us, that if we feel like it's an open shot, then we're going to have a chance to make it at a high rate.”
On the other side of the ball, South Carolina’s defense shined, holding USC Upstate to a 25% shooting percentage from 3-point range. The Spartans' 53 points was 20 points below its season scoring average from last year.
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“We were really committed to the defensive side of the ball. That's been something that we’ve really emphasized and have spent a lot of time at practices on, on really trying to hone in on how we can improve defensively,” head coach Lamont Paris said.
Despite its strong team defensive effort, the Gamecocks got into turnover trouble throughout the game. South Carolina lost possession seven times in the first half, which prevented the team from increasing its lead into the double-digit range. The Gamecocks would finish with 15 turnovers compared to the 11 committed by the Spartans.
After a sluggish performance in South Carolina's preseason exhibition against Wofford, junior guard Meechie Johnson kicked off the regular season with a hot start, scoring 13 points on 3-3 shooting and a 5-6 clip from the free throw line in the first half. Johnson would finish up his strong opening night with 15 points and five rebounds.
“Leading up to this game, we just told Meechie just to be aggressive,” graduate student guard Ta’Lon Cooper said. “As you can see, he took that really to heart and just played really aggressive, and it was a really good game for him.”
Cooper also impressed in his first game as a Gamecock, scoring 15 points while shooting 5-7 from the field and going 3-5 from 3-point range. Cooper also tallied seven rebounds in what was an overall very strong performance by the transfer from Minnesota.
The Gamecocks (0-0 SEC, 1-0 overall) will travel to Charlotte on Friday to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies (0-0 ACC, 1-0 overall). The game will tip off at 9:30 p.m. and be broadcast on the ACC Network.