South Carolina Basketball: 3 thumbs up, 3 thumbs down from Missouri win

South Carolina basketball is 17-3. The winning ways in Columbia continued on Saturday as Lamont Paris and the Gamecocks took down a Missouri squad that is winless in SEC play (with five losses by 8 points or fewer).

Perhaps most impressively about the win, the Gamecocks, as they have done many times this year, proved themselves to be good enough to win games even with a major contributor struggling. On Saturday, it was Meechie Johnson who couldn't get going (0 points on 0-9 shooting), but the Gamecocks overcame and won 72-64.

BJ Mack was the leading scorer as he put in 21 big points (the same total he scored against Missouri on the road), and three non-Johnson guards combined for 33 points as Ta'Lon Cooper (4-5), Jacobi Wright (3-5), and Morris Ugusuk (3-3) only missed three shots for the whole game. Cooper, Wright, Ugusuk, Mack, and Zach Davis all hit 2 3-pointers.

Freshman Collin Murray-Boyles continued to be a do-it-all freak for the Gamecocks, as well, logging 7 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals while being the best overall defender for Lamont Paris' group. Big Josh Gray also kept up his strong play in the SEC schedule with 5 points, 3 rebounds, and a block in just 13 minutes while also providing some needed physicality and length down low.

Carolina trailed for just 3 minutes during the game, but it was never out of reach. The offense wasn't brilliant, but they made their outside looks (over 50% from 3 if you remove Johnson's shots), and the defense played well outside of a quick Missouri 11-0 run to start the 2nd half.

The win helps secure the Gamecocks in the NCAA Tournament field. Barring a collapse down the stretch (@Tennessee, @Georgia, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, @Auburn, LSU, @Ole Miss, @Texas A&M, Florida, Tennessee, @Mississippi State), South Carolina basketball fans should be able to watch their team play meaningful basketball in March as five more SEC wins should put USC in the Big Dance.

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