Five things we learned from South Carolina's win over Boston College

If only every South Carolina game was against the ACC. After defeating Virginia Tech in their last game, the Gamecocks handled Boston College on Tuesday night. The victory marked the first win of the SEC/ACC Challenge, with the SEC going up 1-0.

South Carolina, who had lost to North Florida, Xavier, and Indiana this season, is now on a two-game winning streak. The 73-51 win over the Eagles might be the most impressive all-around performance for Lamont Paris’s squad this year.

Collin Murray-Boyles posted his second double-double of the season and Morris Ugusuk was perfect from deep.

Here are five things we learned from watching the way the Gamecocks performed on Friday.

South Carolina showed a glimpse of perimeter potential

South Carolina shot over 50% from the three for just the third time since the start of the 2023-24 season. All three instances resulted in wins of 20+ points. Tuesday night, they were 10-19 from deep, with seven different Gamecocks hitting a three.

Morris Ugusuk was 3-3 from deep, hitting several key shots following a Boston College made basket. Myles Stute hit multiple threes in a solid second half performance. Zachary Davis chucked up a prayer with the shot clock running down to zero. The result? Nothing but net. The smooth-running offense (more on that later) was able to create good looks for the shooters.

In the second half, South Carolina shot 7-9 from three, good for a 77.8% clip. They came into Tuesday shooting just 32.0% from three.

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Spacing is important…

Spacing is one of those basketball concepts that seems easy until it’s not. All five players need space. Yes, that is true. But imagine the analogy of a row of five plants. They might start in the desired spot, but there’s a possibility one might grow into the path of another’s sunlight or block nutrients. Spacing isn’t just about starting a possession with all five players in the right spot, it’s about moving around accordingly during the possession to further increase efficiency from all players on the court and focus on a common goal.

On Tuesday night, spacing was arguably at the highest level of the Gamecocks’ season. Throughout the night, the offense moved with the ball in one motion. Shooters were able to create space. Distributors baited defenders onto the ball just to kick it out to open scorers. Overall, it was quite an efficient night.

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Drawing fouls and getting to the line? Easy.

South Carolina was the more physical team on Tuesday night. The rebounding margin was slight at just 37-35 in favor of the Gamecocks. But South Carolina attempted seven more free throws than the Eagles, and adding six points to the margin. The Gamecocks were able to get Boston College star Chad Venning into foul trouble, and he eventually fouled out.

Overall, the Gamecocks drew 21 fouls. Two other Eagles starters picked up 3+ fouls, and six different Eagles players finished the game with multiple fouls. Nick Pringle had an efficient day from the line, shooting 5-6 at the stripe. Though the team’s 17-25 (68.0%) mark from the line wasn’t perfect, the volume is certainly a good sign.

Interior efficiency might need work?

Ok, crazy stat here. Four Gamecocks shot at a higher clip from outside the arc than inside the arc. The team as a whole shot 52.6% from deep (fantastic!) but 41.9% from two-point range. Is that bad? Well, it would rank 345th out of 364 D-1 teams if that rate was extrapolated over the entire season.

The starters were 44.0% on 2PA. The bench? 33.3% on 2PA. Ok, perhaps that’s simply a casualty of small sample size (they were 2-6 from inside), but the bench was also 5-7 from deep!

Clearly, the solution is to only ever shoot from behind the arc. Maybe not, but clearly there is potential for this team to be quite good shooting the ball. (Even if the closer shots need to get figured out.)

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Gamecocks basketball eases the sting of a not-so-fun playoff selection show

The viewership in Columbia might have dipped Tuesday night. Not because of the on-court product of the Gamecocks but because of another very crucial programming at 7. For those that don’t know, South Carolina will not be participating in the College Football Playoff, almost certainly. So the vibes in Columbia were a bit low.

However, the basketball team did their best to put a smile on the faces of those that tuned in to watch hoops. South Carolina put together a great performance over 40 minutes, evident in the Insiders Forum Game Thread. (Shameless plug.)

South Carolina football likely has just one game remaining on their schedule. But Lamont Paris’s group still has almost an entire season to go, and Tuesday was a step in the right direction.

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