How South Carolina MBB held off Winthrop for gritty home win
For the second-straight game, South Carolina relied on a different game plan. They couldn’t depend on long-distance shots, so they went inside, won the rebounding and turnover battle, and shot well in the paint.
It was successful, and the Gamecocks (10-1) came away Tuesday with a 72-62 win over Winthrop at Colonial Life Arena in their second of five straight home games.
Down in the paint
South Carolina has been a 3-point shooting team all season long. And while it’s become a large part of the team’s identity, it wasn’t a long distance kind of night Tuesday.
Instead, USC scored 36 points in the paint, including 17 bench points and 18 points off turnovers.
“The way we’ve got to get buckets is dropping down and driving in the paint,” Ta’Lon Cooper said, “getting to the free throw line, and getting points that way.”
The Gamecocks were getting deep, moving the ball well and sinking important shots. Myles Stute, Jacobi Wright, Cooper and Morris Ugusuk were the only players to score a 3-point shot against Winthrop, but all five USC starters scored at least four points in the paint.
“We know (BJ Mack) will kick it out if they put two on him, or somebody’s open,” Wright said of USC’s ability to use Mack in the paint. “So it definitely opens up the offense for some shooters to knock down some shots.”
The Gamecocks out-rebounded the Eagles 38-32.
Flashy plays lead the way
This wasn’t going to be a simple game. Winthrop was aggressive, plain and simple. South Carolina had to move the ball, a lot, to find an open shot. The Eagles battled their way through the paint. It might not always be clean basketball, but Winthrop threw whatever it could at the Gamecocks.
“I’ll tell you one thing,” head coach Lamont Paris said. “I don’t think our guys panic.”
Cooper made a clean block on an uncontested 3-pointer five minutes into the game. He fell on the court, got up and sprinted across the floor to grab a rebound a minute later. Cooper’s full-court efforts led him to 13 points, shooting 6-for-12 against Winthrop with three assists.
The point guard had a buzzer-beating jumper to end the first half, another highlight-reel moment. Cooper simply nodded his head as he walked off the court.
“It wasn’t finished. We still had a second half to play,” Cooper said. “So it’s nothing to be excited about. I mean, buzzer-beaters happen. You’re gonna hit those here and there, so it was just on to the next half.”
A little bit of flair here and there benefited USC, considering it was the second-straight game with no major first-half run. Their 6-0 run in the first half came over a four-minute stretch, but South Carolina hasn’t scored 10 unanswered since returning home.
Limiting Winthrop’s leaders
For the majority of Tuesday’s game, the Gamecocks held the opponent’s best players to minimal numbers. Kelton Talford and K.J. Doucet were the only two in double digits for Winthrop, until the final minutes when Alex Timmerman surpassed the marker. USC also had three players in double figures: Meechie Johnson, Stute and Cooper.
Three starting Eagles averaged at least 10 points per game, and Winthrop’s Kason Harrison, who came off the bench against USC, was limited to three points. Doucet fouled out of the game with 13 seconds to play.
Winthrop is known to get shooters the to free throw line. Paris knew it was coming.
“I wrote it up on the board: This is where all the magic happens ... don’t foul shooters,” Paris said. “That was one of the things, and so they only got 30 free throws tonight.”
The Gamecocks did their best to limit Talford and didn’t give him any opportunities to shoot from deep. Half of Talford’s 20 points came from free throws. Winthrop had four shot clock violations against it, two occurring with less than five minutes of both halves.
“We buckled down and got some good defense,” Paris said. “And the crowd, I don’t normally hear the crowd that much, but I did when we would get a shot clock violation.”
Ten down, one to tie it
South Carolina has 10 wins the season. There are two nonconference games left. Last year, USC had 11 wins all season.
“It’s significant in terms of, it’s a tangible way to measure growth,” Paris said.
The last three games have gone down the wire. The Gamecocks have found ways to win in different scenarios throughout their schedule this early in the year. But for Paris, reaching double-digit wins in December is a sign of big improvement.
“It’s a good feeling to start the season off this way,” Wright said. “And we’re going to try to keep it rolling.”
Paris set up the schedule for this USC team. He dabbled in the transfer portal for players who are adapting to his idea of basketball. There’s still an entire conference schedule ahead, but the difference from Year One is apparent.
Next four games
- Friday vs. Elon, 6 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Dec. 30 vs. Florida A&M, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Jan 6. vs. Mississippi State, Noon (CBS)
- Jan. 9 at Alabama, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
This story was originally published December 19, 2023 at 9:10 PM.
