Bulldogs outlast Lamont Paris’ Gamecocks in close road battle. What we learned
The season is drawing to a close, and South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris is looking to see signs of growth from his Gamecocks to carry into next year.
Coming off a 40-point drubbing at Tennessee, the Gamecocks (10-20, 3-14 SEC) played like a much tighter, cohesive unit Tuesday against the Bulldogs at Mississippi State (20-10, 8-9) — a projected NCAA tournament team. The lead changed hands 10 times in a back-and-forth battle before the Gamecocks fell 74-68.
Outside of Saturday’s blowout against the Volunteers, USC has played some of its best basketball of the season over the last four games, defeating LSU on the road, taking No. 2 Alabama to overtime and playing down to the wire against the Bulldogs.
Here’s what we learned from Tuesday’s game.
Ball movement
Improved ball movement on the offensive end is a key reason for USC’s recent surge. The Gamecocks are gelling much more than they did at the start of the season, passing the ball more often and settling less for contested jumpers early in the shot clock.
The USC offense looked sharp out of the chute in Starkville. The Gamecocks made eight of their first nine field-goal attempts — with seven of those buckets coming off of assists.
The Gamecocks finished with 14 assists, with point guard Meechie Johnson leading the way with four. Johnson had a quieter game shooting the ball but made up for it by finding open teammates.
Battle in the paint
The Bulldogs ultimately won Tuesday’s game by besting the Gamecocks in the paint.
Forwards Tolu Smith, D.J. Jeffries and Cameron Matthews combined for 18 rebounds and were imposing forces near the rim. The Bulldogs outscored USC in the paint by a whopping 40-26 margin.
However, USC narrowly out-rebounded the Bulldogs 29-28, and both GG Jackson and center Josh Gray were pivotal in keeping USC competitive in that regard. Jackson pulled down eight rebounds, and Gray had six.
Jackson scored a game-high 22 points on 5-of-11 shooting, and Gray added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
A spark off the bench
With injuries to starting guard Chico Carter Jr. and backup Ford Cooper, Paris has turned to walk-on freshman Eli Sparkman more often in recent games.
Though not an imposing figure on the court, the 6-foot, 153-pound Sparkman has produced when called upon, making his first career 3-pointer against Alabama, another 3-pointer at Tennessee and striking again twice against the Bulldogs on Tuesday.
Sparkman made a go-ahead 3-pointer late in the first half Tuesday. In the second half, the Gamecocks found him again, and Sparkman drained a deep shot to tie the game at 46-46.
Remaining USC MBB schedule
Saturday: Georgia, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)
March 8: SEC tournament (SEC Network)
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 11:01 PM.
