South Carolina Basketball: 3 thumbs up, 3 thumbs down from Notre Dame win

Thumbs Down. For much of the Notre Dame game, South Carolina did not pass the basketball well. In fact, there were far too many possessions in which the Gamecocks barely passed the ball at all. A lot of deep jump shots (25 attempted 3-pointers despite poor shooting) and out-of-control isolation basketball kept the scoring total down for USC in this one. The Gamecocks weren’t moving particularly well without the basketball and weren’t finding open men. Despite having a really good turnover day (just 8 giveaways for the game), Carolina finished with just 11 assists and 65 total points.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. NO PASSING

Thumbs Down. No Gamecock other than Meechie Johnson had an efficient game on offense. Without Johnson’s 9-15 from the field, Carolina would have shot 10-35 for the game. Even with a great game from #5, the Gamecocks still shot under 40% from the field and under 30% from behind the arc. BJ Mack had good moments but wasn’t efficient, Myles Stute and Jacobi Wright weren’t good on offense, and Zach Davis and Morris Ugusuk went scoreless in 41 combined minutes. This needs to be better moving better.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. OFFENSIVE (LACK OF) EFFICIENCY

Thumbs Down. BJ Mack played 27 minutes. Other than that, none of the Carolina bigs played very much. Even with Myles Stute (a guy who sometimes bumps down to help out down low) playing just 17 minutes, the big man triumvirate of Stephen Clark, Josh Gray, and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk played only 18 total minutes. None of those three players performed well as they had the same number of fouls (5) as points and rebounds combined. With Collin Murray-Boyles still out with mononucleosis, there’s no one else with enough size to help out down low, so Clark, Gray, and BBV have to step up and play better.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. BIG MEN

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