South Carolina staves off Grand Canyon to win Arizona Tip-Off Tournament

It’s safe to say it’s going to be a happy flight home for South Carolina.

The Gamecocks defeated Grand Canyon 75-68 to win the inaugural Arizona Tip-Off Tournament title on Sunday evening. Don’t look now, but they’re 5-0 to start this year.

How it happened

After falling behind 4-0, the Gamecocks got going and went on a 14-3 run. They would be in control for much of the first half.

Team shooting looked much better from the start as it wasn’t just one guy doing all the work. Meechie Johnson led the way with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting. But BJ Mack and Myles Stute both hit threes to get the offense rolling.

RELATED: South Carolina-Grand Canyon box score

As the half wore on, Grand Canyon slowly regained its footing. The Lopes erased a seven-point deficit in the last four minutes to take the lead for the first time since the beginning of the game. They led for all of two minutes and 11 seconds in the first half.

A lot of the struggles from the Gamecocks had to do with playing careless at times. They finished with nine turnovers by the break. Plus, both sides went through some cold stretches without a made basket for a few minutes at the time.

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Both teams would trade some shots in the final minute before Johnson hit a mid-range jumper with three seconds left on the clock to give South Carolina a one-point lead at halftime.

For it only being a one-point game, the Gamecocks seemed to play much better than Grand Canyon did. They shot 50 percent from the floor and 44.4 percent from three-point range. The Lopes, meanwhile, hit 33.3 percent of their shots and yet remained in it.

Right out of the gate, Grand Canyon retook the lead again with a pair of free throws. Then, the Gamecocks answered back, as Mack put up seven of their next 11 points to widen the lead.

The Lopes would cut the lead down to four, but South Carolina followed with another string of baskets. After missing an alley top dunk early in the first half, Zachary Davis made up for it with a big three-pointer to give the Gamecocks a nine-point lead, their largest at that point.

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South Carolina’s lead would get as big as 11 points in the second half. But Grand Canyon worked its way back into it with a handful of free throws to cut the deficit in half.

Thanks to some favorable foul calls, the Lopes were able to get within two points. But just when it seemed they were bound to take control back, Mack faked and hit a three at the top of the key to make it a two-possession game with just over five minutes to go.

Even when it looked like South Carolina would keep it up, the Lopes continued to fight back. But in the end, the Gamecocks hit a few key shots to stay in front til the end and get the win.

Two observations

BJ Mack has such an offensive advantage—Most guys standing 6-foot-8, 270 pounds probably aren’t great shooters and mainly just paint players. Mack says otherwise, though. After only having four points on Friday, the veteran forward bounced back with a season-high 27-point effort. He’s not only a good shooter, but he can use his size and bully defenders in the paint.

Free throw shooting was better—Even with how one-sided the foul calls were at times, when the Gamecocks went to the foul line, they did a good job making their free throws. They finished 12-for-14 at the line. It was a drastic improvement from making 58.8 percent of their free throws on Friday.

Key stat

54 percent—What a night it was for South Carolina shooting. The Gamecocks finished 27-for-50 from the floor. They went 7-for-17 from three-point range.

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

Turning point

With Grand Canyon trailing by three, Jacobi Wright blew by a defender to get to the rim and hit a clutch layup with under a minute to go. Wright finished with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.

Up next

With Thanksgiving coming up, South Carolina (5-0) will have a week-long break and won’t play again until Nov. 28. The Gamecocks will take on Notre Dame in the SEC-ACC Challenge at Colonial Life Arena. Tip-off will be at 7 p.m. on SEC Network.

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