South Carolina tops Western Kentucky, snaps two-game skid

Lamont Paris, less than a week ago, spent his postgame press conference bemoaning South Carolina’s lack of aggression and competitive spirit in a loss.

So when Meechie Johnson jogged over to a huddle and said something Paris didn’t like, the Gamecocks’ head coach laid into him a little bit.

After the talking-to, Johnson absorbed it, patted Paris on the butt and went on his way to a 25-point performance as South Carolina beat Western Kentucky 65-58 to snap a two-game skid.

“I was really happy with that. I talked about that in the locker room. I said before the game I wanted a normal game,” Paris said. “I wanted a normal game from an emotional and competitive standpoint. Good things are going to happen. Bad things are going to happen. I’m going to make an ugly face at you when you do one thing you think is insignificant. It’s going to happen. How do you respond to that?”

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How it happened

Things didn’t look great for South Carolina (6-6) early on, with the slow starts that predicated the previous two games popping up again. 

Western Kentucky started things on an 11-2 run with South Carolina’s first points coming over three minutes into the game. But the Gamecocks flipped the switch after the first media timeout, going on a quick 9-0 run to tie things up. 

Led by Johnson and GG Jackson, the Gamecocks led by as many as six in the first half thanks to a few highlight plays. Johnson hit five threes in the first half while Jackson nearly ended the half with a monstrous alley-oop dunk. 

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But South Carolina led by just two at half in part because of the slow start and Western Kentucky’s eight free throws. 

The Gamecocks ballooned its lead back to six early in the second half, but it was short-lived. Western Kentucky used a 9-0 run and over a four-minute South Carolina scoring drought to take the lead. In that stretch, South Carolina missed eight straight field goals, including nine of 10.

But South Carolina responded with a fervent 7-0 run to take the lead back. The Gamecocks never trailed again, using a few big shots late from Johnson and others to hold onto the win. 

“They called timeout and guys felt really good because of the fact they earned it,” Paris said. “We were only up two but we took the lead and went forward with a couple more buckets after that.” 

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Johnson finished with a career-high 25 points on 16 shots while Jackson posted his second-career double-double: 12 points and 16 rebounds. Johnson had one of the bigger plays of the game, converting a three-point play with just over two minutes left to give South Carolina a double-digit lead.

It changes everything. That was with a couple of other guys who didn’t produce the way they normally do from an efficiency standpoint. It changes everything, particularly when he’s making the three, you know? He was able to get to the basket a couple of times. The nice and-one when we needed it,” Paris said.

“That’s something we’ve been trying to work on getting downhill so you can be the complete package so they can’t play you one way or another way. That’s very difficult…If he can really add a consistent rim attack–which opens up when you shoot the ball well from as deep as he can–changes everything for us offensively.”

South Carolina found a way to win and notch a quality win despite shooting just 12-for-25 from the free throw line. 

Two observations

Energy, got a lot of energy–After lamenting the lack of competitiveness and aggression against East Carolina, the Gamecocks responded with plenty nearly from the jump Thursday. They started slow but responded and put together probably the most energetic, hard-fought game of the season. Players were more aggressive getting to the paint and it tended to bode well. 

“That ECU game, there were a lot of ups and downs. Unfortunately, we ended up losing. We didn’t really come out competitive and have any type of energy. That second half showed what we could be if we came out fired up,” Jackson said. “We crawled back into the game and I defintely feel like that carried on to this game. Practice was chippy…We came out today and showed what Gamecock basketball can be.” 

Meechie Johnson stayed efficient–After a really bad efficiency day for South Carolina against East Carolina, the Gamecocks got efficient play from Meechie Johnson, who finished with a team-high 25 points. He hit six of his 11 three-pointers and hit a few tough, long threes. He was the catalyst for a South Carolina offense that showed positive spurts Thursday night.

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Key stat

13.6 percent–Western Kentucky came into the game top 25 in three-point percentage, hitting on almost 39 percent for the season. Thursday, Western Kentucky shot just 13.6 percent from three, going 3-for-22 from deep. South Carolina, meanwhile went 9-for-28 from the three-point line. 

“I feel like when we’re really at our best defensively we can be a really good defensive team,” Meechie Johnson said. “I feel like when we’re at our best defensively, communicating, talking and not in our own heads we can be really good defensively.” 

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Turning point

South Carolina’s 7-0 run after a nearly five-minute scoring drought really swung the tide and gave the Gamecocks enough momentum to pull off a big win.

Up next

South Carolina will take a little time off before resuming practice after Christmas. The Gamecocks’ next game is in eight days, a Dec. 30 tip-off against Eastern Michigan. That is scheduled for 7 p.m. on the SEC Network Plus. 

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