On Saturday, Lamont Paris and his South Carolina basketball squad went on the road and smacked Arkansas for just the program's 6th win ever in Fayetteville. The Gamecocks never trailed and won by a much-more-lopsided-than-the-score final margin of 77-64.
Myles Stute will be out for at least two weeks after suffering a shoulder injury as the result of a dirty play against Georgia, so Zach Davis got the start and played well. Davis and guards Ta'Lon Cooper and Meechie Johnson were excellent defensively in the game, and the Gamecocks' post players had really nice showings in the game.
BJ Mack was the team's best overall player for the game, scoring an efficient 18 points and bringing down 9 rebounds. He also dished out 3 assists and had 0 turnovers. Collin Murray-Boyles continues to have good games in the starting lineup, posting an 11-point, 4-rebound, 2-assist, 1-block performance in which he improved upon his 4-10 free throw effort earlier in the week by going 3-3.
The frontcourt backups had really good efforts on Saturday as Josh Gray and Stephen Clark had 7 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists in just 22 combined minutes. They also physically pushed around the Arkansas frontline (along with Mack and Murray-Boyles).
The game was never particularly close as the Gamecocks shot out to a 10-4 early lead and never looked back. The scoring margin was never closer than 7 points after BJ Mack hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the 1st half, and USC led by double-digits almost the whole game from that point.
Meechie Johnson didn't have his best game as a scorer, but point guard Ta'Lon Cooper was excellent (11 points on 4-5 shooting, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and just 1 turnover). It was possibly the best overall team performance of the 2023-2024 season, and after Tuesday's loss to the Georgia Bulldogs, the impressive 13-point victory keeps Carolina in the current NCAA Tournament conversation.
South Carolina Basketball vs. Arkansas Razorbacks
Thumbs Up 1: BJ Mack's Bounce Back
BJ Mack has had an up-and-down experience in SEC play. He had a really nice game in the win over Missouri but wasn't good against Georgia. On Saturday, he bounced back from the poor showing against the Bulldogs with one of his best performances of the season, leading the Gamecocks in scoring and rebounding as they dominated Arkansas in both categories.
Mack scored an efficient 18 points, rebounded the ball 9 times, and dished out 3 assists in just 24 minutes. He was allowed to conserve energy on the bench some because of solid performances from bench post players like Josh Gray and Stephen Clark, and it seemed to pay dividends as he was able to play hard late in the game.
Perhaps most importantly, Mack shot 3-4 from behind the arc, marking the first game in over a month in which he made more than one shot from outside. He shot 14% from the perimeter during that stretch. If the Gamecocks get the good-shooting version of BJ Mack, their offense is good enough to compete for an NCAA Tournament bid.
South Carolina Basketball vs. Arkansas Razorbacks
Thumbs Up 2: Perimeter Defense
South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Paris has had his team performing at an elite level when defending the perimeter for most of this season, and that was true again on Saturday. Zach Davis, Ta'Lon Cooper, and Meechie Johnson made life miserable for the Arkansas guards, and other than a few very difficult makes from Tramon Marks, the Hogs had very little success when operating on the perimeter.
For the game, Arkansas made just 28% of their 3-point shots, and none of the seven players in the Razorbacks' rotation shot better than 50%. In fact, the Hogs' best offensive players shot just 14-41 for the entire game, and that included a hot stretch from Marks in which he made three shots in a row.
South Carolina Basketball vs. Arkansas Razorbacks
Thumbs Up 3: Balanced Productivity, Even from the Unexpected
BJ Mack might have been the player of the game, but he was not the only player who contributed to winning. Meechie Johnson was the only starter not to score in double figures (but he brought down 7 rebounds), and all four bench players had nice showings.
Josh Gray and Stephen Clark both had 4 rebounds and were physical presences down low. Jacobi Wright wasn't a big factor as a scorer but delivered 5 assists. Morris Ugusuk gave the Gamecocks a solid 9 minutes, scoring 5 points and running the offense in the few minutes Ta'Lon Cooper took a breather.
5 players had at least 8 points, 7 brought down at least 4 rebounds, and 6 had multiple assists.
South Carolina Basketball vs. Arkansas Razorbacks
Thumbs Down 1: Forcing Turnovers and Blocking Shots
South Carolina basketball only turned the ball over 10 times on Saturday. Yet, they lost the turnover battle. In fact, they got doubled up by the Razorbacks. Carolina only forced 5 takeaways for the entire game, and though they didn't need more to beat Arkansas on Saturday, it wasn't a good enough total. Compounding the issue, the Gamecocks only stole the ball once in the game.
USC only blocked one shot, as well. After having a nice night of rejections in the Georgia loss, Collin Murray-Boyles was the only Gamecocks to get a hand on a shot, a tip block that he just barely made contact with to alter.
South Carolina Basketball vs. Arkansas Razorbacks
Thumbs Down 2: Second Chance Defense
Overall, Saturday was really good for the Gamecocks. Because of that, finding three legitimate "thumbs downs" is difficult. Getting a little nitpicky, Carolina allowed Arkansas to score 14 second chance points on just 8 offensive rebounds. In some instances, the Gamecocks got boxed out in the pain, and in others, they struggled to reset their half court defense after the missed shot.
South Carolina Basketball vs. Arkansas Razorbacks
Thumbs Down 3: Letting Tramon Marks Get Lose
After Zach Davis, Meechie Johnson, and Ta'Lon Cooper put Tramon Marks in ballhandling prison in the 1st half, the Gamecocks just lost the dynamic scorer for about six minutes in the 2nd. Marks scored 10 of his 18 points in that stretch, including two 3-point jumpers. All things considered, this wasn't a big deal, especially since Carolina had a nice lead when Marks went off, but he did manage to cut the deficit to just 7 points during his outburst.
Letting a team get one guy hot is part of how they USC lost to Clemson and Georgia this season, so they will have to tighten that up a bit moving deeper into conference play.