Unless they took a trip to Garnet and Black Madness last week, South Carolina basketball fans haven’t gotten to watch the Gamecocks play yet. Highlights and stat lines from a “secret” scrimmage against VCU and exhibitions in the Bahamas against 2nd-level professional teams are all that have been seen so far.
That changes on Wednesday.
In case you missed it, the South Carolina basketball program is hosting Wofford for an exhibition on Wednesday night at 7:00 at Colonial Life Arena. Tickets are $10, and all proceeds will be donated to the Maui Strong Foundation in support of the rebuilding efforts in Hawaii after the devastating Maui wildfires. Students will get in for free.
The new-look Gamecocks (7 new scholarship players and 2 new walk-ons) will begin year 2 of the Lamont Paris era by welcoming the Terriers for what is expected to be a full-length exhibition, similar in style to the one that Dawn Staley’s team played against Rutgers last week.
Fans will have their first opportunity to check out big-name transfers like BJ Mack, Myles Stute, Ta’Lon Cooper, and Stephen Clark and high-upside freshmen like Collin Murray-Boyles, Arden Conyers, and Morris Ugusuk.
For Mack, playing Wofford likely will be a strange endeavor as the big man transferred to the South Carolina basketball program from Wofford.
After an offseason knee issue, Mack played sparingly in the Garnet and Black Madness intrasquad scrimmage, so it is unclear how much he will play against his old team or how ready he will be for the Gamecocks’ first official contest against USC-Upstate on November 6th. Freshman Collin Murray-Boyles missed the intrasquad scrimmage with an illness.
Coach Paris and the Gamecocks were picked last in the SEC by both the SEC media and the SEC coaches. Last season, USC finished 12th in the league but should be a better and deeper roster this year.