What South Carolina learned during two-game road trip
Expectations were high for South Carolina coming into this week after starting the season 7-0. But the Gamecocks hadn’t faced a test like the one they were in for with two big road games coming up.
Now after completing the two-game road trip, they’ll be coming back home with a split. Despite losing a close one to Clemson, they managed to bounce back with a hard-fought win over East Carolina on Saturday.
“I learned that we can fight through adversity and weather the storm,” guard Ta’Lon Cooper said. “This is our first road win so for now we just build on it and it shows we can win away games.”
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Regardless of how well the team had been playing, going into two hostile environments was going to be a big challenge. And it definitely was.
Against Clemson, the Gamecocks were the better team for much of the night. They held the Tigers scoreless in the final seven minutes of the first half and owned an 11-point lead at one point in the second half.
However, Clemson went on an 11-0 run of its own to reclaim the lead. Now with the crowd back into it, the Tigers had the momentum and carried it the rest of the way to win by five points.
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Even on Saturday, South Carolina had multiple big leads over East Carolina, only for the Pirates to come from behind. But the difference over the two-game stretch was how the Gamecocks finished.
“We have a really good team. We were up 11 against Clemson with 14 minutes to go, and we were up today. And we know that we are a top 25 team, but our biggest thing right now is finding how to keep a lead and pull the game away, not letting teams comeback and fight their way back into the game,” guard Meechie Johnson said.
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“So that’s really it, man. We know anybody can score any given night and we can hold teams. We held Clemson to 23 points the other day in the first half. So we’re a good team, man. We have a lot of good things that we can do. But it’s about keeping that lead and being able to finish the game.”
When things got tough against East Carolina, the Gamecocks made the necessary adjustments to stay in the fight. During a late timeout, head coach Lamont Paris challenged his group to be more physical and attack the basket.
“We were getting good threes. It looked pretty in the first half because the ball was poppin and we were making them. In the second half, there wasn’t as much ball movement and wasn’t as much making, but some of them were just as open. We missed them, so my challenge offensively was, ‘Hey, we’re going to step up and make some,’ a la BJ (Mack) on the last one he made, which was a big one,” Paris said.
“Before that happened, we needed to attack, get in there and put the pressure on the officials to call some fouls on those guys as well. It was a one-sided affair that way. That’s not critical of the officials; they were being aggressive and attacking, and we were not. We started attacking some also. When you get in those scenarios, the whistle is more likely to blow. We got to the free throw line, made enough, missed a bunch, but made enough.”
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With the road trip complete, South Carolina will be back at home for the rest of the month. It will play five straight home games, starting with Charleston Southern on Saturday night.
“Oh yeah, I’m excited to go back to the CLA,” Johnson said. “Missed the fans. I can’t wait to get back in there and see the place packed out.”
