Five things we learned from South Carolina's solid showing against Towson

This is precisely what South Carolina needed. After getting off to a slow start, things finally looked like they came together in the team’s third game of the season.

The Gamecocks came away with an 80-54 win against Towson, a team picked to win the Colonial Athletic Association, on Tuesday at Colonial Life Arena. Between a rough loss in the opener to North Florida and some early struggles against SC State, South Carolina had to show it had a pulse. And it looks like this team has been revived, at least for now.

Here are five things we learned from watching the way the Gamecocks performed Tuesday night.

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Good things happen when you start fast

South Carolina did so many good things early in this game. It was a complete 180 showing compared to how it opened up in its first two games.

Rather than another sluggish start, this was a game where everything was clicking. It started on defense where the Gamecocks held Towson to 0-of-10 shooting from three-point range. The Tigers didn’t make their first three until the 6:41 mark in the first half. This allowed for the offense on the other end to hit shots and take an early lead.

In the first half, South Carolina shot 62.5 percent from the field and seemed a lot more comfortable on the floor. There seemed to be a better effort in general. Not just in playing with more energy but also looking to make an extra pass to find a better look.

The numbers dipped a little after halftime but no one is going to bat an eye to the team shooting at a 50 percent clip. It’s not a perfect product just yet. But it was refreshing to see a game where the Gamecocks played well right away.

This front court has a lot of potential

Collin Murray-Boyles hadn’t skipped a beat in these first three games after his stellar freshman campaign. The sophomore forward scored a season-high 27 points on 9-of-12 shooting and nearly had another double-double with nine rebounds.

There seemed to be a lot more aggression in the way Murray-Boyles played on Tuesday. He was physical around the basket and didn’t look afraid to take hits and make plays. That’s what this team needs out of him.

Now on the flip side, for how good Murray-Boyles is, he can’t do it all by himself. There was a reason why South Carolina poured its resources into bringing in better big men to help alongside him. It took two games but Nick Pringle looked much more like the player he was brought in to be.

The former Alabama forward finished with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting. He also had nine rebounds, one shy of a double-double. He, like Murray-Boyles, played with a great sense of urgency to make plays in the paint. If these two can play on the same accord like they did in this game, it’s going to help the offense out drastically.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Missouri football game]

Need to see the other guards come along

Jacobi Wright has been a splendid surprise for the Gamecocks so far this season. He’s quickly emerged into a starter for this team after coming off the bench in the opener. He played well again on Tuesday, finishing with 16 points and a trio of three-pointers.

It’s good to see how consistent Wright has been in the early going. You just know what to expect out of him at this point. He’s looked much more effective as a catch and shoot guard. He’s always been a solid player but this feels like his coming out season, for sure.

At the same time, there needs to be more production from the other guards on the floor. Jamarii Thomas wasn’t super impactful in the win over Towson as he only took one shot and scored six points, all of which from free throws. He was fine before Tuesday, but you’d probably like to see more out of him.

There wasn’t much to get excited about from the rest of the guards who played. No one else had a big night, but at the same time, none of them took a lot of shots. Zachary Davis had two points, Morris Ugusuk and Arden Conyers each had three, and Cam Scott was held scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting.

Very good night for the defense

When Lamont Paris does his scouting reports, he said about 90 percent of the focus is usually on his own team. The rest in this case was about the good shooters Towson would have at its disposal.

The plan in this game was to make a more “concerted effort” to create more uncertainty in the shots the Tigers tried to take. And it worked to near perfection. They shot a measly 29.6 percent on 16-of-54 shooting and 5-of-25 from deep. Had it not been for an absurd amount of free throw shots taken in the second half, the gap might have been wider than it was in this game.

One of the common trends as to what worked for the defense in this game was helping out a lot more. There were a lot of moments where they forced Towson into some mistakes by turning the ball over. For this being a game where the spread was only -7.5 in favor of the Gamecocks, you certainly wouldn’t have been able to tell based on the way things went.

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Still a little sloppy at times

It’s hard to find things to complain or nitpick about after a 26-point victory. However, it’s important to note that South Carolina turned the ball over 10 times in the second half. After having 15 on Tuesday, this is now three straight games where the team has coughed up the basketball more than 10 times.

It wasn’t really a big deal against Towson mainly because, let’s face it, it’s Towson we’re talking about. But those mistakes against a team like Indiana on Saturday could be the difference in a win and loss. The competition is going to start to tick up from here on out, with a few gimme games still to come. So, it’s critical to play clean basketball and limit the turnovers as best as possible.

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