Fresh off Top 25 ranking, USC Gamecocks earn home SEC win over Ole Miss
South Carolina was ranked in the Top 25 for the first time in seven years. The game was a sellout, a marquee matchup.
The Gamecocks’ 2024 debut as a ranked team was against Ole Miss — the team that ended USC’s season last year.
Revenge was sweet as South Carolina never dropped a lead it took 32 seconds into the game.
The Gamecocks (20-3, 8-2 SEC) secured their sixth-straight conference win with a 68-65 victory over Ole Miss on Tuesday night at Colonial Life Arena. It’s the first 20-win season for USC since 2016-17 and Lamont Paris’ third career 20-win season as a head coach.
Every Gamecock included
For the second time in SEC play, all South Carolina players who played scored at least one point. It was the first time this year that every player had made one field goal.
“It’s tremendous asset to have the kind of group that has that kind of depth and versatility,” Paris said. “They can make shots, they can execute our plays, they know our defensive philosophy, they compete. They’re competitive guys, and you’re not going to skip a beat with any of those things.”
Ole Miss struggled with its offensive depth the entire game, not having a single bench point until the second half. Meanwhile, South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles, Ta’Lon Cooper and Myles Stute were all one score away from double figures in the first half.
Murray-Boyles and Cooper surpassed the marker about two minutes into the second half. South Carolina finished with all three reaching double-digits.
Murray-Boyles, a freshman, led the Gamecocks with 16 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. His second block of the game, and likely the game-winning play, brought Colonial Life Arena to their feet when Murray-Boyles batted away a shot that would’ve made it a one-score game with 1:22 to play.
“It gives me a lot of confidence,” Murray-Boyles said, “especially going out throughout the rest of the game.”
USC’s nine 3-pointers, 32 points in the paint and 23 bench points put it up by 17 points in the second half.
“That’s a hard offense to guard,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said, “because they play with patience, and they’ll work that clock all the way to the end. And again, they’re set up nicely, (with) their contributions from inside play and outside play.”
Strong shooting
Both teams were draining their shots. It was a high-flying kind of night inside Colonial Life Arena, even if Ole Miss’ scoring mostly came from two players: Matthew Murrell (17) and Allen Flanigan (26 points).
The duo combined for 43 of the Rebels’ points. Jaylen Murray was the only other Ole Miss player to score double figures (10 points), but no other player was close. In fact, the other six players who saw played combined for 12 points.
South Carolina and Ole Miss both shot above 47% from the field, and neither team dipped below 33% from 3-point range the entire game. The Gamecocks’ worst statistical category was their free throws, shooting 43% by the end of the game. Ole Miss was 71% from the foul line.
The Rebels’ 24-9 run in the second half was South Carolina’s weakest point of the night. Paris described the spurt as “uncharacteristic,” noting how USC wasn’t taking shots it normally does.
“We didn’t have the matchups in transition,” Paris explained, “a couple of offensive things even combined in that, a couple of shots that I just didn’t recognize. I’m not even mad at them, I’d just never seen that shot by guys.”
While the Rebels got it to a one-possession game in the final five minutes, the Gamecocks never relinquished their lead from that opening possession.
Meechie Johnson dishes it out
He might not be a natural point guard, but Johnson has shown off his offensive vision quite a bit the last few games. Against the Gamecocks’ leading scorer had six in the first half, tying his season-high from defeating Tennessee just last week.
Johnson reached a new season-high, eight assists by the end of the game.
South Carolina’s ball movement throughout the first half was exceptionally clean, playing just like it did last week against the Volunteers in Knoxville and the Bulldogs in Athens. The Gamecocks forced eight turnovers Tuesday, gaining 13 points off them, and finished the game with 16 assists.
“The beginning of the game, we had really good ball movement,” Cooper said.
Johnson’s averaging 2.7 assists per game, second on the team behind Cooper (4.4 per game). However, Tuesday’s game was the second time in SEC play in which Johnson had more assists than Cooper, USC’s starting point guard.
Paris has said those assists are what keep USC’s offense so dangerous. The Gamecocks proved how dangerous they can be, and it just so happened that Johnson led the category.
Other notable stats
- It’s the first time since 1996 that South Carolina has won six-straight SEC games.
- It was Ole Miss’ Flanigan’s sixth time this season scoring at least 20 points, and the third time in SEC play.
- Cooper has scored at least 10 points in every game since facing Georgia on Jan. 16. He’s reached double figures in all but two SEC games this season.
- Stute’s 4-for-5 mark from the arc was the second time in conference play he’s shot 75% or better in a game.
Next four games
- Saturday vs. Vanderbilt, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Feb. 14 at Auburn, 8:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Feb. 17 vs. LSU, 3:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Feb. 24 at Ole Miss, 3:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
This story was originally published February 6, 2024 at 8:21 PM.
