South Carolina Basketball: Three thumbs up, three thumbs down from Virginia Tech win

SHOT SELECTION/MYLES STUTE . Thumbs Up. Shot selection was a “thumbs up” from the USC-Upstate win, and it was a “thumbs up” against Virginia Tech, as well. It looked a little different in the win over Tech (there were more post-ups than in Game 1), but the Gamecocks took very few bad shots other than a few foul-hunting attempts from driving Carolina guards. Carolina shot just under 50% from 3 and made 56% of their shots from the floor.<br /> Myles Stute scored 21 points on 5-6 shooting from behind the arc. He also helped his team with some minutes at the 4 as Josh Gray’s injury kept him out of the frontcourt rotation.. . South Carolina Gamecocks

. South Carolina Gamecocks. BIGS REBOUNDING . Thumbs Up. Against USC-Upstate, the Gamecocks dominated the rebounding matchup, but the bigs were surprisingly unsuccessful on the boards. That changed on Friday night as Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk and BJ Mack were the top two rebounders for the team. Carolina outrebounded VT 30-23 despite having to play Myles Stute at the 4 for extended minutes due to the absence of Josh Gray from the game as he dealt with an undisclosed injury.

Thumbs Up. Ta’Lon Cooper was masterful on Friday night. A starting point guard going for 7 assists and 0 turnovers is brilliant already, but when that same player can add 12 points on 5-8 shooting (and 2-4 from outside), the offense is going to click. He found Myles Stute and BJ Mack over and over again for open looks, something that will be critical for this team moving forward. Cooper and his backcourt mates (especially Meechie Johnson) struggled at times to defend Hokies guard Sean Pendulla during his scorching-hot 2nd half, but Cooper was exactly what the Gamecocks needed on offense.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. TA'LON COOPER'S OFFENSIVE GAME