In the first time taking the floor at Colonial Life Arena this season, South Carolina took down head coach Lamont Paris‘ alma mater, College of Wooster, by a score of 86-60 in an exhibition matchup on Wednesday evening.
The Gamecocks saw four players score in double figures and were led by forward Collin Murray-Boyles who tallied a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Guards Arden Conyers and Cam Scott finished with 16 points each while fellow guard Jacobi Wright chipped in 10 points.
As a team, South Carolina shot 48 percent from the field while making 11-of-36 from three. The Gamecocks only connected on 9-of-20 from the free throw line and turned it over 18 times against the Scots, who shot 46 percent from the floor and went 5-of-15 from behind the arc. The Gamecocks did force the Scots to turn the ball over 16 times which scored 21 points off of.
“What a productive game for us,” Paris said in his postgame press conference. “You get into these games and ultimately, here is what you would like to have happen. You get tested in this area or that area. You get a chance to see what some unknown commodities look like when they get out there. Some of them under the lights for the first time. You want to play a team that competes. You want to play someone that is good. They were good and they have a good team.”
In the first half, South Carolina held a 12-9 lead at the first media timeout. The Gamecocks got off to a 0-for-3 start from three, but Wright and Scott drained the next two as the Gamecocks had made 5-of-8 from the field to start the game.
From that point to the second media timeout with 11:59 left in the half, the Scots outscored the Gamecocks, 7-3, and held a one-point advantage at 16-15. The Scots made 6-of-12 from the floor to start the contest while the Gamecocks had turned it over six times.
With the score tied at up 23 with 9:14 left in the half, the Gamecocks went on a 10-0 run which included Scott sinking his third three of the game. With 6:39 remaining in the half, the Gamecocks led by seven at 30-23.
The Scots continued to hang around as they trailed by five at 33-28 with 3:51 remaining. The Gamecocks struggled to get their three-pointers to fall as at the final media timeout, they made just 4-of-16 from behind the arc with Scott being responsible for three.
“Definitely, I feel like there were some butterflies,” Scott said. “It is an exciting place to play. I was really amped up to play. I felt really good in warmups. Felt like this coaching staff and teammates put me in a good position where I didn’t really have any nerves when I stepped on the court. They told me to go out there and play with confidence and I feel like I did just that.”
To end the half, South Carolina made six of its last seven from the field and led 44-32 at the break. The Gamecocks shot 53 percent from the floor, but struggled from three as they found the bottom of the net on just 5-of-18 attempts.
Wooster started the second half on a 8-0 run which forced a timeout from Paris as the Scots brought the score to within four with 17:41 left. The start of the second half was not pretty for the Gamecocks as the Scots cut their deficit to two at 46-44 with 15:30 to play. The Gamecocks missed their first 10 shots from the floor which included six missed three pointers.
With 14:37 left to play, Conyers drained his second three of the game which was the start of an 11-0 run by the redshirt freshman himself as the Gamecocks led 60-48 with just over 11 minutes left.
“Just my jump shot,” Conyers said on what was working for him. “I am always going to be aggressive no matter what part of the game it is. I just play my game.”
South Carolina continued to extend its lead as with 8:27 left, the Gamecocks were in the middle of a 15-2 run and had held the Scots scoreless in the last 3:31. At the under eight timeout, the Gamecocks owned a 70-50 lead.
South Carolina wouldn’t let Wooster get within 20 points of its lead as Paris’ group secured the exhibition victory.
South Carolina will officially open the 2024-25 season on Monday as it welcomes North Florida to Colonial Life Arena. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be streamed on SEC Network+.
“I think it was really good for us. Really valuable for us,” Paris said on the exhibition matchup. “It’s going to be a really good film session on Friday. I am looking forward to some of the messages that we will be able to send. We had some young guys that really went in there and performed. That was really exciting to see them take that moment and grab the bull by the horns and go out there and perform well. Very, very successful exhibition game in that it provided everything that we could have hoped for.”
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