South Carolina will try to put a recent string of losses behind it when it hosts Stetson on Saturday afternoon in Columbia, S.C.
After racing out of the gate with four straight victories, the Gamecocks (5-3) have dropped three of their past four games. All three were by single digits including a narrow one-possession, overtime defeat against Virginia Tech on Tuesday night in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
In the 86-83 setback, the Gamecocks struggled with long-range shooting and made just eight of 30 attempts (26.7%) from behind the arc.
They also lost for the first time in coach Lamont Paris’ four seasons when scoring at least 80 points, falling to 17-1 in those occurrences.
Rebounding has been a major concern for Paris and his staff. The Gamecocks are the only Southeastern Conference school currently with a negative rebounding margin (minus-1.2).
Getting better results off the glass will be key for the Gamecocks when conference play opens in the physical conference.
“We have to get that figured out, because if you don’t rebound, it’s just hard,” Paris said. “You put so much pressure on your offense. 82 (points) is not enough. You’ve got to have 93, right?”
Decision-making has to improve, too.
“If we can get better at making some decisions that lead up to that, forget the play. I think it’s these decisions,” Paris said. “I think we have to learn how to win a basketball game and what that means, and we have to learn that still.”
Meechie Johnson leads the Gamecocks with 14.9 points per game, while Mike Sharavjamts is at 11.6 points and pulls down 6.5 rebounds.
Stetson (3-7) arrives in the Palmetto State having dropped four straight contests and is 0-5 on the road. The Florida school’s last win was 99-80 over VMI the weekend before Thanksgiving.
In its most recent outing Tuesday, the Hatters lost 67-45 at Grand Canyon, producing a season-low in points, shooting 34% from the floor and hitting only 5 of its 20 attempts (25%) from long range.
Jamie Phillips Jr. tops the ASUN school with 14.9 points per game and 5.3 rebounds. Ethan Copeland adds 11.4 points. Calvin Sirmans III hands out a team-leading 4.1 assists.
