South Carolina basketball: Takeaways from season opening win

South Carolina basketball struggled with jump shots.

Jump shooting

While the Gamecocks played fierce defensively, the offense was stagnant at times. Jump shooting, in particular, was an issue as the team shot just 21% from beyond the arc. When South Carolina wasn’t attacking the paint, the points were at a minimum. Luckily in this matchup, the Gamecocks could outsize the Spartans down low to land some easy buckets.

Erik Stevenson and Jermaine Couisnard struggled to go 2-of-11 on three pointers, but we’ll amount that to first game jitters. Stevenson hit his only three of the night late in the second half following an 0-for-6 start. Hopefully seeing the ball go through the basket will help moving forward as you could start to see his frustration building throughout the contest. The Gamecocks will need him as the season progresses.

Slow start

The Gamecocks got off to a rough start on Tuesday night, falling behind my as much as nine over the game’s first seven minutes. During that time, South Carolina converted on just 4-of-14 attempts, turned the ball over three times, and committed three fouls.

After falling behind 17-8, South Carolina would go on a 10-0 run to take the lead. They’d outscore the Spartans 70-43 the rest of the way, but the Gamecocks can’t afford to get behind by large deficits early too often.