What to watch for: South Carolina closes out home stand with Towson before big weekend matchup

In just a few days, South Carolina will learn a lot about the type of team it is while the season is still young. But first, one last tune-up game to round out an up-and-down home stand.

Before playing No. 16 Indiana in Assembly Hall on Saturday, the Gamecocks will host Towson on Tuesday at Colonial Life Arena.

It hasn’t been an ideal start to the year for South Carolina after losing its season opener to North Florida. But the team responded well with a 22-point win over SC State last Friday.

With another mid-major program coming into town, the Gamecocks are a 7.5-point favorite against Towson, according to FanDuel. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. on ESPN+/SEC Network Plus.

Here are some things to watch for.

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Are more changes coming?

After just one game, head coach Lamont Paris showed he wasn’t afraid to make tweaks, even if it meant running out a different starting lineup. The starting five in the second game of the season was almost identical to the first, with the exception of Jacobi Wright starting over Zachary Davis.

Even though the move wasn’t a big gamble, it worked out well for Paris and the team. In last Friday’s win, Wright had a career night as he finished with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting. He knocked down half of the team’s three-pointers and went 4-of-7 from deep. Davis still played 28 minutes and reached double digits for the second straight game with 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting. But his production wasn’t nearly the same as Wright’s.

It would be surprising if Wright didn’t start on Tuesday after playing so well. But with how quick Paris was to pull the trigger on making a lineup switch, could he do it again?

While it’s early in the season, you could argue Myles Stute hasn’t been performing to the level of his starting status so far. In a small sample size, he’s averaging 4.5 points per game on 23.1 percent shooting. His latest effort was a 1-of-8 shooting night where he only scored three points against SC State.

Stute adds a nice element of being a player with lots of experience. But he only played 18 minutes last time out. And if he’s not performing right now, what’s the harm in inserting Davis back into the starting lineup while Stute tries to get back on track?

Play like they did in Friday’s second half

In these early games, South Carolina has been prone to starting slow and not playing its best. That was certainly the case against North Florida, but the Gamecocks seemingly broke through in the second half against SC State.

Already up by double digits at halftime, South Carolina came out swinging and shot 57.1 percent from the field in the second half to roll to victory. This came after shooting at a 38.9 percent clip in the first half.

Likewise, the Bulldogs were more efficient in the second half, as well, where they saw a nearly 15 percent increase in their overall shooting. The key difference in the game was the turnovers, which they coughed up 10 of them after halftime. This allowed the Gamecocks to remain in control and 12 points off those miscues.

Even though the point spread is tight for this next game, South Carolina should be able to handle business as long as it plays to the level it did in the final 20 minutes last Friday. That’s the way it needs to be. Anything less and this might be a close finish that could go either way.

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Cam Scott’s first chance to bounce back

It was going to happen at some point. And it’s probably better it happened so early in the season. After a respectable college debut, Scott went 2-for-12 from the field and 1-for-7 from deep in 18 minutes last Friday.

While it wasn’t a good performance for him, he’s only two games into his college career. He’s going to be just fine and do a lot of great things as a freshman. There might be some bumps in the road along the way, and this is one of those cases where he encountered a small one.

Scott will now have a chance to get right and shake off what he hopes will be a one-off outing where the ball didn’t find the net. The good thing for him is that he doesn’t have the pressure of starting right away. He’s been coming off the bench and still played a handful of minutes. The more experience he gets, the better he should be down the road.

Need to see more emphasis on front-court play

Things will eventually start to mesh together for South Carolina to where everyone will be in sync with each other. For now, there will be some growing pains, as is the case with every other team.

Collin Murray-Boyles had a fantastic game last time out, where he finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds to earn a double-double. When you think of his talent, this is what you expect out of him night in, night out. The same should be said for the others in the front court, but that hasn’t been the case so far.

Nick Pringle looked better as he scored eight points, but he also had more personal fouls than rebounds in 23 minutes. Jordan Butler did next to nothing (two rebounds) in only four minutes of action against SC State. And Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk played seven minutes with two rebounds.

The point is that Murray-Boyles cannot do it by himself in the front court. That was proven to be evident against stronger teams last year. For the Gamecocks to have success, someone else needs to step up alongside him. That’s what improving the front court in the offseason was meant for.

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Scouting the opponent

Without any insight, this might seem like an easy win for the Gamecocks. But it’s going to be far from that. Towson (1-1) is a team that will give you its best shot, even in games as an underdog.

That was proven true right away when the Tigers lost to Saint Mary’s on Nov. 4, 76-69. After trailing for most of the game, they slowly chipped away into the Gaels’ lead and cut it down to four points with four minutes to go. Ultimately, Saint Mary’s pulled away late to win that game, but Towson showed it can play well against stronger competition.

The Tigers bounced back with an 89-34 win over Penn State … No, not that Penn State. Penn State Wilkes-Barre. They shot 51.6 percent from the field and knocked down 14 threes to win that game by as much as they did.

After playing two Quad 4 teams to open the season, this game should be categorized as Q3 for South Carolina since Towson is ranked 122nd, according to KenPom. KenPom gives the Tigers a 25 percent chance to get a win on Tuesday.

Towson should be able to match up well with the Gamecocks in terms of size with 11 players listed at 6-foot-4 or taller. But height isn’t everything. And it won’t be enough to win a game like this, especially on the road.

The good news for the Tigers is that they have some solid scorers. Currently, three of their starters are averaging more than 10 points per game, with 6-foot-9 guard Tyler Tejada leading the team with 16.5 points. Tomiwa Sulaiman has come off the bench through two games but averaged right at 10 points in 20 minutes per game.

Their leading rebounder at the moment is 6-foot-5 guard Christian May. He is averaging seven rebounds per game, but that number is misleading since he has only played in one game this year. South Carolina pulled in 51 rebounds last game after losing that battle in the opener. Against a team like Towson, who is only averaging 35 boards per game, there’s no excuse for the Gamecocks to not play well in the paint.

Game details

Who: South Carolina (1-1) vs. Towson (1-1)

When: Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.

Where: Colonial Life Arena (18,000)

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

ESPN gives South Carolina an 80.3 percent chance to win

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