South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Paris has his Gamecock squad at 5-0 after USC knocked off Grand Canyon to win the Arizona Tipoff on Sunday. The game was tight, but Carolina was the much better team the whole night.
The driving force on offense for South Carolina was BJ Mack. Meechie Johnson, Jacobi Wright, Ta’Lon Cooper, and Myles Stute contributed on that end of the floor, but it was the Mack show on Sunday. The former Wofford Terrier scored 27 points as he dominated in the paint and as an outside shooter. He pitched in some on defense, as well, drawing three charges down low to regain possession for his offense.
A poor rebounding effort (partially due to Josh Gray and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk playing just 17 combined minutes) and a free throw margin that heavily favored Grand Canyon were the only reasons that this game was close.
The Gamecocks outshot the ‘Lopes 54%/41%/88% to 39%/31%/85%, won the turnover battle 13-10, and moved the ball much better, assisting on 18 baskets compared to just 7 for GCU.
In the end, though, South Carolina basketball is undefeated and will have another stiff test next week when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish make their way to Columbia as part of the first ACC/SEC Challenge.