South Carolina Basketball: Three thumbs up, three thumbs down from last night’s Wofford exhibition

Thumbs Up. There’s no getting around it: the Gamecocks’ first half against Wofford was awful (spoiler alert: there will be a “thumbs down” stemming from the poor start). South Carolina was bad defensively in the opening minutes, and even after that was corrected, they really couldn’t score to come back on the scoreboard. That changed in the second half as the Gamecocks lived up to their mascot’s name and showed a tremendous amount of fight. The team played with considerably more effort on the defensive end of the floor and scored more often (some stemming from smarter shot selection). A couple of high-effort plays, including a game-sealing steal from the struggling Meechie Johnson, highlighted the second-half charge.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. GAMECOCKS LIVING UP TO THEIR NAME

. South Carolina Gamecocks. HIGH EFFORT OFF THE BENCH . Thumbs Up. Starting with Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, the Gamecocks had some high-energy performances off the bench against Wofford. BBV was not part of the first group of subs, and he wasn’t the first big man to come into the game in relief of starters Stephen Clark and BJ Mack. However, despite scoring just two points, he made an impact with his rebounding effort and smart passing. Zachary Davis and Morris Ugusuk played hard off the bench, and Davis put up a well-balanced line of 13 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 steal on 4-7 (3-5) shooting in just 20 minutes. As a team, the Gamecocks had 24 of their 60 points off the bench.

Thumbs Up. Junior combo guard Meechie Johnson had a bad night shooting the basketball on Wednesday. 0-8 from the field (and 0-7 from 3-point land) is not the type of performance he or South Carolina basketball fans were hoping for, but he didn’t let his poor play keep him down. Johnson played hard the whole game, and even with his shooting misfortune, he managed to lead the team with 4 assists. His shooting put him on the bench for a long stretch in the second half, but Lamont Paris called his number at the end of the game for defensive purposes. Johnson rewarded his coach’s faith, stealing a Wofford pass in the closing seconds. He then hit two free throws (his only two points of the game) to ice the game.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. NO POUTING FROM MEECHIE JOHNSON