What to watch for: South Carolina plays for tournament championship versus Grand Canyon

Even after not playing its best game, South Carolina managed to hang on and defeat DePaul on Friday night. Now, the Gamecocks will play for a tournament championship out in Arizona on Sunday.

They’ll take on Grand Canyon in the Arizona Tip-Off Tournament in Glendale. If South Carolina wins, it will move to 5-0 on the year heading into Thanksgiving break.

Compared to a 12 a.m. tip-off last time out, this game should start earlier at 7 p.m. EST. Here are some things to watch for on Sunday. The game will be on CBS Sports Network. But it will also be available for streaming on fuboTV.

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Can Meechie Johnson stay hot?

Through the first three games of the year, Johnson had been on and off. He hadn’t really put together a great performance yet. But on Friday, he finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting.

However, he did only make one of his seven three-point shots and missed four free throws. So if he can get that figured out, he’ll be more than fine.

Free throws, free throws, free throws

There’s no doubt South Carolina wins that game on Friday no problem if it hit free throws consistently. But the Gamecocks went 20-for-34 (58.8 percent) at the charity strike, which is not good enough.

To put it into perspective, South Carolina was up by 14 points during the second half. It only managed to win by five. Make maybe half of those missed free throws and it’s a double-digit win.

DePaul gave the Gamecocks every chance to win and pull away. But they never really could, despite getting the win. That issue must be fixed fast.

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Is jet lag catching up?

In the first half, South Carolina didn’t seem impacted by the long flight. It played really well and held a nine-point lead going into the break.

Coming out of halftime, something changed. DePaul started to play a little better, while the Gamecocks struggled. It’s very possible playing a late night game had something to do with the second half problems.

South Carolina should look a little better with a day of rest and more time to acclimate itself to the area. But things could get ugly if the team plays sluggish for an entire game.

Limit the turnovers

Speaking of sloppy basketball, the Gamecocks turned the ball over 17 times. More than half of the players on the roster had multiple turnovers. They’re just lucky DePaul wasn’t a very good team to take advantage of those mistakes.

Coming into Sunday, those turnovers need to be cut down. Get back to playing a good brand of basketball. That’s what has helped South Carolina stay unbeaten this year. It’s probably been a little tough with a lot of travel and a week long break from games coming up. But finish the job and this team could be 5-0.

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

Scouting the opponent

Grand Canyon played in the game before South Carolina took the floor on Friday. The Lopes outlasted San Francisco, 76-72. These two teams will play in a championship bout before heading home.

The Lopes are off to a 3-0 start with wins over Southeast Missouri and Northern Arizona. Grand Canyon is ranked 72nd in the KenPom College Basketball Ratings. For comparison, South Carolina only sits five spots ahead in the rankings.

Grand Canyon is led by guard Tyon Grant-Foster, who is averaging 23 points per game. He had 28 points on 7-for-13 shooting in the win over San Francisco. He’s shooting 58.8 percent from the floor.

Guards Ray Harrison and Collin Moore are also averaging more than 10 points per game this year. Harrison is averaging 13 points, while Moore has 11.3 per game.

Game details

Who: South Carolina (4-0) vs. Grand Canyon (3-0)

When: Sunday, Nov. 19 at 7:00 p.m.

Where: Desert Diamond Arena (20,000)

How to watch/listen: CBS Sports Network/fuboTV/107.5 FM

ESPN gives South Carolina a 36.9 percent chance to win

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