South Carolina Basketball: Three thumbs up, three thumbs down from heartbreaking loss to Clemson

Thumbs Down. BJ Mack, Jacobi Wright, and Myles Stute are 3 of the Gamecocks’ top-6 offensive players. However, all three of them struggled mightily on that end of the floor against the Clemson Tigers. The three players combined for 4-26 for just 14 points, 4 assists, and 12 rebounds across 75 minutes. It’s a wonder the Gamecocks were able to score 67 points.. . South Carolina Gamecocks. POOR OFFENSIVE GAMES FROM 3 SCORERS

NON-MEECHIE OFFENSE . Thumbs Down. Yes, this is the second thumbs down for the South Carolina offense. Meechie Johnson was awesome on Wednesday, but the rest of the offense struggled. Other than Johnson, the Gamecocks shot 14-45/4-20/9-15 and tallied 9 assists, 8 offensive rebounds, and 2 steals. That type of statistical performance can’t continue if South Carolina basketball is going to win this season. 36% (31% sans Meechie Johnson) just is not good enough.. . South Carolina Gamecocks

South Carolina Gamecocks. FOULS AND SOFT DEFENSE . Thumbs Down. South Carolina basketball allowed Clemson to shoot 20 free throws. It’s hard to win like that. Lamont Paris’ team totaled 15 fouls (which isn’t an obscene number), but most of them seemed to be offensive fouls that turned the ball over or defensive fouls that sent the Tigers to the free throw line. Clemson forward PJ Hall and Ian Schieffelin both shot 5 free throws and drew at least one Carolina offensive foul. The Gamecocks shot 19 free throws of their own (a pretty good number), but they only made 13 of those shots.<br /> On the defensive end, the Gamecocks played soft in the 2nd half. Clemson got what they wanted in the paint, and they got too many easy looks from the perimeter. 49 points after halftime is not an acceptable number to surrender, and Coach Paris wasn’t happy about his team’s defensive effort after the game..

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