How to watch/what to watch for: Road to March for South Carolina begins with North Florida

Last year was about proving everyone wrong. This year is still very much about proving everyone wrong again with the added challenge of getting back into “The Big Dance” and doing more.

South Carolina got a full season of what success looked like. The Gamecocks even got a taste of playing in the NCAA Tournament. After watching their season end in the Round of 64, they’re looking to not just get back to March Madness but go on a longer run this year.

But there will be a long road ahead of them to get to that point. And it all starts on Monday when the regular season begins. South Carolina will host North Florida in the season opener at Colonial Life Arena.

Tip-off is at 7 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.

Here are some things to watch for.

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Same starting five?

When South Carolina took the floor against Wooster in an exhibition game last Wednesday, Lamont Paris rolled out a starting lineup that consisted of Jamarii Thomas, Zachary Davis, Myles Stute, Collin Murray-Boyles and Nick Pringle.

It’s undoubtedly a veteran-led lineup with a lot of college basketball experience. Thomas and Pringle are the two newcomers who figured to be starters from the moment they transferred here. Murray-Boyles was the biggest lock to be starting again this year, albeit now at the four rather than the five where he was last year.

Davis felt like a safe bet to be starting again this year with how solid of a defender he is. He didn’t shoot well in the exhibition game but it’s one game and it should come over time with the work he’s put in.

The only one who might have been a surprise was Stute. Now, he did start in 17 games last year, but there are other options who could’ve filled that guard spot. It makes sense to start him, though. He’s one of the oldest guys on this team. He also didn’t have a great shooting night last week, but he will be a valuable piece of what the team does this year.

Things can always change but it would be surprising if there were any new faces in the lineup on Monday. Some of the players who came off the bench performed well last week. But it might feel like too soon to start some of them right away. Let them ease into their roles and go from there.

Free throw shooting must be better

This isn’t something new. South Carolina has been dealing with this issue for years now. For whatever reason, the Gamecocks haven’t been able to consistently hit their free throws, which has proven costly in some games (Home loss vs. Georgia last year).

As a team, they shot 71.1 percent from the charity strike, good for 225th-best in college basketball. Granted, that was a team with some faces who aren’t around anymore. But you can argue this year’s team could be worse from the line if things don’t improve.

It’s important to remember it was basically a glorified scrimmage, but South Carolina went 9-for-20 at the line against Wooster. That’s good for a 45 percent made free throw rate. Translation: not very good. It may not come back to bite the Gamecocks against lesser squads, but in bigger non-conference games and SEC play, those numbers need to be better.

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Jamarii Thomas will be fine

There was definitely some concern with Thomas’ performance in the exhibition. The transfer guard finished with one point on 0-of-4 shooting from the field and 0-of-3 from three-point range.

He only played 14 minutes in the game, part of it because of his performance. But it was also because Paris wanted to get in other players, again, in a glorified scrimmage. But Paris was happy with the energy and way he played on defense. He “set the tone defensively” for the Gamecocks, Paris went on to say.

So, the point is, don’t take too much stock into what happened last week. Thomas is going to be a key factor of this team’s success this season. The shots will come. The good news for him is that his defense has been good, which proves he’s much more than a scoring guard.

Expect to hear about Cam Scott and Arden Conyers a lot

Scott and Conyers might not start for the Gamecocks on Monday, but you can expect to see them on the floor a lot this season. In the exhibition game, they both scored 16 points apiece and showed a lot of promise.

When it comes to Conyers specifically, when he’s on, he’s on. He has the ability to take over a game with his shooting abilities. Paris said he believes the redshirt freshman guard is “ready, offensively” which bodes well for him.

Scott will also see a good chunk of minutes throughout each game this season. There’s always a chance one or both of them could crack the starting five at some point. But for now, having them come off the bench indicates just how deep this roster is.

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Scouting the opponent

Last season was an up and down year for North Florida to say the least. The Ospreys were just never consistent. They’d string together a few wins then lose the next batch of games. As a result, they finished 16-16 on the year as their season came to an end after a first round loss in the ASUN Conference Tournament.

The expectations haven’t changed all too much for the team this season. KenPom projects North Florida to finish 15-16, which would be one game worse than last season. The Ospreys return one full-time starter from last year’s squad in Nate Lliteras, who started in all 31 games. He was their third-leading scorer with 10.4 points per game. They lost Chaz Lanier, who averaged 19.7 PPG, and Ametri Moss, who had 10.7 PPG.

Otherwise, the team will have other players who started in games coming back, but none of them started as frequently as Lliteras did. Other key returners with starting experience include Jaylen Smith, Jasai Miles and Oscar Berry. Smith was a standout as he earned all-freshman honors from the conference.

North Florida’s roster features eight newcomers, four of which are true freshmen, and the other four are transfers.

The team is led by head coach Matthew Driscoll, who has been with the Ospreys since 2009. During that time, he’s gone 233-247 (.485). Despite the losing record, he’s actually above .500 as a head coach in conference play. North Florida has gone 135-109 since Driscoll originally took over the reins.

If there was any area this team was really good last year, shooting would have to be at the top of the list. As a group, the Ospreys shot 53.6 percent from the field, a top 50 finish in college basketball. They also shot pretty well from the outside at a 35.9 percent clip.

Defensively, things were much more of a mixed bag, hence why they finished with the record they did. They ranked 318th in adjusted defensive efficiency and were towards the bottom of the sport in a lot of defense-based categories.

South Carolina should be fine and won’t have many issues winning this game. But if there’s one worry, it would be starting off slow. The Gamecocks might not be able to afford to start sluggish if the Ospreys are going to come out swinging. But either way, they should be able to weather any storm and get the job done.

Game details

Who: South Carolina vs. North Florida

When: Monday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m.

Where: Colonial Life Arena (18,000)

How to watch/listen: SEC Network Plus/107.5 The Game

KenPom gives South Carolina a 93 percent chance to win

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