South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks survive physical road test to beat ECU, move to 8-1

South Carolina Basketball vs. East Carolina:
Statistics, Scoring, and Observations

After a heartbreaking loss against Clemson ruined South Carolina basketball’s perfect record, the Gamecocks had another tough test on the road against East Carolina. In a physical showdown, USC survived and won a highly-contested game 68-62.

Here are the stats from the game:

STATS

East Carolina

Points

Leader: RJ Felton with 15

Rebounds

Leader: Brandon Johnson with 8

Assists

Leader: Jaden Walker with 3

Steals

Leader: Brandon Johnson with 2

Blocks

Leader: Ezra Ausar and Bobby Pettiford with 1 each

Other

ECU shot 23 free throws and had just 8 turnovers; Ezra Ausar shot 11 free throws in the 2nd half

South Carolina

Points

Leader: Myles Stute and Meechie Johnson with 15 each

Rebounds

Leader: BJ Mack with 8

Assists

Leader: Ta’Lon Cooper and Jacobi Wright with 3 each

Steals

Leader: Zach Davis and Meechie Johnson with 1 each

Blocks

Leader: Stephen Clark with 3

Other

The Gamecocks forced just 8 turnovers and gave up 23 free throw attempts but managed to win anyway

BOX SCORE

OBSERVATIONS

• Starters: Ta’Lon Cooper-Meechie Johnson-Myles Stute-BJ Mack-Stephen Clark
  • Clark tweaked his ankle against Clemson last game but started on Saturday.
  • Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk did not play.
  • Morris Ugusuk did not play against Clemson with an ankle issue and then left the East Carolina contest with what looked like a re-aggravation of the injury in the 2nd half.
  • Collin Murray-Boyles was available but only played 9 minutes as he struggled on defense to keep up with an athletic ECU frontcourt. He likely needs more time to get back to full speed after dealing with mono.
• In the 1st half, no one stood out for the Gamecocks, but each unit that played did well to keep a lead until a late run from the Pirates.
  • Jacobi Wright continued to struggle shooting the ball, going 0-4 in the 1st half.
• Meechie Johnson only scored 2 points in the first 20 minutes as he had to sit with 2 early fouls. He found himself in the 2nd half, scoring 13 points and finishing with 15.
• Myles Stute had a good start to the game, but after he had a bucket taken away from him due to a bad call from the officials, he disappeared for a bit until he got back into the groove late, making two shots in a row in the closing minutes of the 1st half. He added his 3rd 3-pointer of the game in the 2nd.
• A bad start to the 2nd half (1-6 from the field and giving up 5-7 from the floor) saw ECU take a brief lead 40-38.
• The Gamecocks weren’t helped out by the officials at all, as the whistles were much tighter against the visitors, while the home team got away with very physical play.
• After starting the game 5-10 from behind the arc, South Carolina basketball went 2-19 on their next 19 deep attempts. They made their final 2 down the stretch, however.
• Stephen Clark continues to be better. He only scored 1 point, but his 3 blocks (and several other altered shots) were huge for a Gamecock team that was fouling a lot in the paint when he wasn’t in the game.
• Jacobi Wright and Josh Gray really struggled (0 points in 29 combined minutes). However, Wright at least worked to move the ball on offense, picking up 3 assists.
• Zach Davis started the game poorly but bounced back with a nice finish, ending the game with 9 points and 5 rebounds while causing problems on defense.
• BJ Mack didn’t have a very good game offensively, but he hit a clutch 3-pointer down the stretch and had a nice day rebounding, pulling down 8 boards.