South Carolina Basketball: 3 thumbs up, 3 thumbs down in blowout win over GW

RAINING IN CLA . Thumbs Up. The Gamecocks shot the lights out on Friday night. In addition to shooting 50% from the field, they knocked down 51.4% of their shots from outside. Meechie Johnson, Ta’Lon Cooper, and BJ Mack combined for 13 of those makes. Morris Ugusuk added two longballs of his own, and Myles Stute, Jacobi Wright, and Zach Davis each added one. Even more encouraging is the fact that they got so many open 3s. That’s good offensive processing, and the work of Ta’Lon Cooper, Jacobi Wright, Zach Davis, Myles Stute, and BJ Mack created an endless supply of open looks for the Gamecocks.. . South Carolina Gamecocks

. South Carolina Gamecocks. PROTECTING THE BASKETBALL . Thumbs Up. The South Carolina basketball team had 17 turnovers against DePaul. Since then, they’ve had…17 turnovers. 8 giveaways against Grand Canyon, 6 against Notre Dame, and 3 on Friday against George Washington showed a collective Gamecock effort to do a better job holding on to the most valuable piece of the game: the basketball. The 3-turnover performance was ridiculous as USC had a 27-minute stretch without a turnover. Ta’Lon Cooper has upped his season assist-turnover ratio to a spectacular 39-6 mark.

Meechie Johnson, BJ Mack, Ta’Lon Cooper, and Myles Stute are the offensive leaders of the South Carolina basketball team. Sure, other players like Jacobi Wright and Zach Davis play really important roles when the Gamecocks have the ball, but those four players run the show. On Friday, they all were very aggressive. Johnson and Mack picked up where they left off in the last game, and Cooper had his best overall combination of scoring and setting up his teammates. Myles Stute shook off a tough game against Notre Dame and played pretty well, but he was aggressive and played with confidence.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. AGGRESSIVE LEADERS . Thumbs Up