Season preview: South Carolina men's basketball looking to build off last year with improved roster

Welcome back, college basketball.

Year two of the Lamont Paris era has begun, and South Carolina will open the 2023-24 season against USC Upstate on Monday at 7 p.m.

The Gamecocks are looking to improve after finishing 11-21 (4-14 SEC) a year ago. Not many are expecting any drastic, though, with the team picked to finish last in the conference.

However, there’s still a lot of excitement about this year’s team with some new and old faces. Let’s take a look at this year’s squad and what’s ahead.

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New veteran leadership

If there’s one major difference between last year and this year, it’s who’s on the floor. South Carolina had a lot of young talent with only a few older guys. That’s changed this year.

Paris hit the transfer portal hard, bringing in BJ Mack from Wofford, Stephen Clark from The Citadel, Ta’Lon Cooper from Minnesota and Myles Stute from Vanderbilt.

All four transfers were in the starting lineup during the team’s exhibition game against Wofford last week.

But the thing Paris likes is the depth he has. If shots aren’t falling, he’s not afraid to pull the starters and give some guys off the bench a shot.

“Honestly, you sub a couple guys in there, they’re energized, they’ve been chomping at the bit, they’ve got drool hanging out of their mouths waiting to get in the game. And they come in and they play like gangbusters,” Paris said.

“It’s just a new life and a new energy. It gives another guy that’s maybe been struggling a little more time to let things settle down over on the bench and cheer his teammates on. Those are the kind of guys I want.”

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Returnees

It wasn’t a total surprise when GG Jackson chose to leave for the NBA. His only year in Columbia came with plenty of ups and downs. But other than that, there’s a lot of players coming back.

It starts with Meechie Johnson, who averaged 12.7 points and showed flashes of greatness last year. Also coming back are Jacobi Wright, Josh Gray, Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, Eli Sparkman and Zachary Davis.

With Davis, there’s a lot of upside. The 6-foot-7 guard shot 38.2 percent from the floor and 17.1 percent from three-point range. But in his first real action of the year, he showed out, finishing with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting.

Paris said Davis’ shot has improved a lot since last year. He could be a guy to play a lot of minutes coming off the bench as he provides a lot of energy and good play on the floor.

“I don’t want to sit here and give the perception that he’s going to be Klay Thompson this year. But he’s worked on his shot a lot — there’s no doubt about it,” Paris said. “He’s also still streaky at times. But it’s good you can be streaky bad and then streaky good versus long streaks of not so great and a splash here of something good…He spends a lot of time in the gym working on his shot.”

One returnee not mentioned was Ebrima Dibba. That’s because he didn’t play at all last year. Dibba missed the entire year with a ruptured achilles tendon. But he played four minutes last week and will be good to go for this year.

Dibba previously played at Coastal Carolina. He was a four-year starter, averaging 8.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game.

He might not see a ton of action, at least right now. But that could change over the course of the season.

South Carolina will be without incoming freshman forward Collin Murray-Boyles as he deals with a case of mono. There’s no timetable for his return, but he should be able to make an impact on the floor when he does get healthy.

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Scouting the opponent

South Carolina had a chance to face USC Upstate last year on Nov. 25 and won 68-53. But that was last year and a lot has changed.

The Spartans are coming off a 16-16 campaign under head coach Dave Dickerson. They lost their top shooter, Jordan Gainey, who averaged 15.2 points per game, in the transfer portal to Tennessee. But there is some talent that came back.

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Upstate brings back its next two highest returning scorers in guards Trae Broadnax and Justin Bailey. Both players earned Preseason All-Big South honors after averaging more than 10 points per game last year.

The Spartans are ranked 280th in the KenPom ratings. South Carolina sits at No. 66.

Game details

Who: USC Upstate (0-0) at South Carolina (0-0)

Where: Colonial Life Arena (18,000)

When: Monday, Nov. 6

How to watch/listen: SEC Network Plus/107.5 FM

ESPN gives South Carolina an 81 percent chance to win

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