South Carolina MBB cruises past Stetson for bounce-back win. What we learned
Following South Carolina men’s basketball’s third loss of the season to Virginia Tech in overtime Tuesday, the Gamecocks needed a pick-me-up.
Saturday’s home matchup versus Stetson, a bottom-25 NET team, did just the trick.
“We’ve talked a lot about being growth-minded and focused on improvement,” said South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris. “There were some specific areas where I thought we did that.”
USC (6-3) cruised past the Hatters (3-8) 82-51 at Colonial Life Arena, and the Gamecocks made some strides to improve recent struggles with shooting and paint defense. Here are three things we learned from the win:
Shooting resurgence
USC has struggled with shooting the ball this season, particular early in games. In their three losses, the Gamecocks shot 27.7% on their first 10 3-point attempts. USC started 5 for 10 against Stetson on Saturday, and finished the first half with a 46.2% 3-point percentage.
“I think that game was perfect for us, just be able to see some go through,” freshman guard Eli Ellis said. “We’re a really good shooting team. I mean, if you watch practice and how much these guys work as a whole, it doesn’t make sense that we don’t make shots in the past few games, but I think that’s what we needed.”
The Gamecocks started 1 for 5 on 3-pointers in the second half Saturday, but the strong start early forced Stetson to guard the perimeter and open up driving lanes, which led to 18 paint points in the second half. USC finished 6 for 14 from 3-point range in the second half, shooting 54.5% from the floor overall and a season-high 44.4% on 3-pointers.
Seven different Gamecocks hit at least one 3-pointer Saturday. Freshman guard Grant Polk led the Gamecocks with 4 made 3-pointers on 6 attempts. Redshirt senior guard Meechie Johnson led the team with 17 points.
“Hopefully it does a lot for the team confidence,” Paris said. “So I went into the pregame, talking about, ‘Guys, you got to be loose. I mean, you got to believe in yourself. ... Don’t shoot it because I told you to shoot the shot, or you feel like you are supposed to shoot. Shoot the shot because you’re probably going to make the shot.’”
Paint defense
The Gamecocks’ biggest struggle on the other end of the floor has been interior defense.
USC has a smaller roster, with just two players over 6-foot-10, leading to some troubles keeping opponents from scoring inside. Paris slotted both of his 7-footers, Jordan Butler and Christ Essandoko, into the starting lineup Saturday and found success.
“We’re still trying to figure it out,” said Paris. “Consistency is the key to figuring out, ‘OK, this is my role.’ ... The day that Christ can become our most consistent guy at that position, that’s probably our best version of our team, probably to start the game anyway, just on mass, and the commitment that you have to make to defend his overall mass.”
USC outscored Stetson 34-20 in the paint and out-rebounded the Hatters 41-20. Gamecock senior guard Mike Sharavjamnts led the way on the glass with seven rebounds.
“I think it’s mindset; I think it’s being able to be physical enough with these teams. We’re really, I would say, undersized team with some bigs, and not looking at size and using our bodies being physical,” Ellis said.
Harder, better, faster, Strong-er
Saturday’s win was the fourth game in a string of solid scoring performances for Strong. He’s scored 15 or more points in the last three games and he put up 12 points against Stetson. Strong was third on the team with 11.1 points per game headed into Saturday’s contest.
Paris has experimented with a handful of lineups this season, but Strong has yet to crack the starting five. He’s averaging 17.6 minutes per game.
“There’s a lot of things that go into starting. I’m sure every guy wants to start, only five guys get to start, but he knows his role, and his role is important for us,” Paris said. “A lot of times it’s not as simple as just, ‘Hey, go out there and get a couple of buckets.’ There’s a little more method to the madness..”
South Carolina men’s basketball upcoming schedule
- Dec. 13: vs. The Citadel, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Dec. 16: at Clemson, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
- Dec. 22: vs. S.C. State, 4 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Dec. 30: vs. Albany, 6 p.m. (SEC Network)
This story was originally published December 6, 2025 at 3:47 PM.
