South Carolina Basketball: 3 thumbs up, 3 thumbs down vs. Grand Canyon

South Carolina Gamecocks. BJ MACK . Thumbs Up. BJ Mack was the man on Sunday. He was uber-efficient, scoring 27 points on just 12 shot attempts from the field (7-12/4-7/9-9). It felt like every time that Grand Canyon made a run to cut the lead (or even take the lead once), the big man answered with a bucket or two to return control to the Gamecocks. He is limited as a defender but had several huge moments on that end of the floor, drawing three different charges during the game..

Thumbs Up. South Carolina basketball had some offensive slogs at times on Sunday. The overall shooting was efficient, but it was streaky. The Gamecocks had some contributions from Meechie Johnson and Myles Stute, as well, but at the end of the game, another Gamecock stepped up. 6th man Jacobi Wright scored 6 of his 10 points in the 2nd half on perfect 3-3 shooting, including two very difficult jump shots and an impressive driving layup. Wright and Mack were the reason why USC kept the lead at the end of the game when the ‘Lopes were threatening.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. JACOBI WRIGHT

Thumbs Up. Coach Paris utilized a tighter rotation on Sunday. Only 6 Gamecocks played more than 12 minutes, and only 8 played more than 6. Three of the more lightly-used South Carolina basketball players in the game still managed to impact the game in big ways. Zach Davis, Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, and Josh Gray only played 29 total minutes but tallied 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. Davis hit a 3 to erase Grand Canyon’s only 2nd half lead, Bosmans-Verdonk held things together when BJ Mack and Myles Stute got in early foul trouble, and Josh Gray handled those same duties when Mack, Stute, and Stephen Clark were on the bench.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. LITTLE MINUTES, BIG EFFORT