South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Paris picked up his 100th career victory late Friday night as the Gamecocks beat the Mike Young-led Virginia Tech Hokies in Charlotte in the third leg of the Hall of Fame Series.
The Gamecocks were the better team the majority of the night, and outside of a quick start that saw Virginia Tech go up 15-10, South Carolina basketball held down a potent VT offense that is loaded with outside shooting and athletic bigs.
The CourtCocks got a red-hot shooting performance from Myles Stute (5-6 from 3-point range, 7-11 from the field), and several other Carolina veterans did their jobs perfectly. Ta’Lon Cooper scored efficiently and passed even more efficiently. Jacobi Wright provided an offensive spark. Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk rebounded and battled. BJ Mack provided scoring and some rebounding. Meechie Johnson stuffed the stat sheet.
A really poor stretch of defense in the second half made the game closer than it should have been, and a couple of statistical discrepancies (22-8 free throw deficit and 10-5 turnover deficit) almost cost USC the game.
However, in the end, South Carolina basketball is 2-0 after a hard-fought win over a good Virginia Tech team.