South Carolina MBB drops SEC opener to No. 11 Vanderbilt. What we learned

The new year brought a new season for South Carolina men’s basketball as the Gamecocks began their 2026 conference schedule Saturday against No. 11 Vanderbilt. The SEC’s highest-ranked team in The Associated Press Top 25 served as the starting point for a remaining USC schedule that’s ranked first in difficulty by ESPN.

If USC’s 83-71 loss to the Commodores (14-0, 1-0 SEC) was any indicator, it could be a long road ahead.

“I think that game for our guys, hopefully was a lesson in what aggression really looks like,” USC head coach Lamont Paris said.

Here are three key takeaways from the conference opener for the Gamecocks (9-5, 0-1 SEC):

Myles Stute’s spark

Sixth-year Gamecock Myles Stute had one of his best scoring performances of the season against his former team. He finished with 14 points on 5 of 10 shooting in 34 minutes. Stute was also USC’s best 3-point shooter with three makes on seven attempts.

Junior forward Elijah Strong led all USC players with 17 points Saturday.

It hasn’t been the best year so far for Stute scoring-wise, but he’s picking things up as of late. He entered Saturday’s contest averaging 7.4 points per game this season. He’s scored 10 or more points in the Gamecocks’ last three contests.

“He’s the barometer, it appears, as to what he does offensively and then what the outcome ends up turning out for us. So it’s not that we have to have him play well in order to win, but when he does play, well, we tend to win,” Paris said. “It would be great to see him go out with a bang in terms of the type of individual season that he wants to have, because he’s a great guy and a tremendously hard worker.”

Stute, who transferred to USC from Vanderbilt as a senior in 2023, is one of three returners for USC this season after his 2024-25 campaign was cut short after 14 games due to lower leg thrombosis. He was granted an extra year of eligibility for the 2025-26 season.

Detrimental defense

The Gamecocks struggled mightily on defense in the paint Saturday, but not how one might expect. USC, one of the SEC’s smallest teams with just two players 6-foot-10 or taller, is usually out-rebounded significantly and dominated with second-chance points.

Vanderbilt, who matches USC in total true big men on its roster, still outscored the Gamecocks at the rim. The Commodores outscored USC 32-28 in the paint. It was seemingly due to the Gamecocks’ inability to guard opposing players when driving to the rim, particularly coming off of a screen.

Five Vanderbilt players finished with double-digit points despite the Commodores missing leading scorer Duke Miles.

“I really thought their coverage was pretty good tonight. They were in a drop coverage. I thought they did a good job of kind of keeping us out of the paint, especially early,” Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington said. “But our guys kind of adjusted, and then they adjusted to the coverage, adjusted what they were going to do.”

Slow shooting starts

The Gamecocks finished with a 43.1% overall shooting percentage and 25% on 3-pointers, but struggled especially with slow starts in both halves offensively. The sluggish shooting created deficits as large as 12 and 18 points in the two halves, respectively. The Gamecocks began 0 for 8 on 3s in both halves.

Slow starts have been a trend for the Gamecocks in their five losses this season. USC began each half in the losses a combined 0 for 41 on 3-point attempts before its first make from long range.

“I feel like we do get good looks,” Stute said. “I feel like we generate good 3-point shots. We got guys that can really shoot the ball as well, so it’s tough when they don’t fall. Like I said, guys gotta go back to getting that ball in the paint and figuring out different ways to get holes in their defense.”

South Carolina men’s basketball schedule: Next four games

• Tuesday: at LSU, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
• Jan. 10: vs. Georgia, 2 p.m. (ESPN2)
• Jan. 14: at Arkansas, 9 p.m. (SEC Network)
• Jan. 17: at Auburn, 6 p.m. (SEC Network)

This story was originally published January 3, 2026 at 4:02 PM.