South Carolina looks to shore up offense vs. S.C. State

When South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris put together his roster for the 2025-26 season, he expected his club to be an improved 3-point shooting team.

So far, however, the Gamecocks (7-4) have really struggled from beyond the arc, shooting just 29.9 percent in their first 11 games, including going 4-for-26 from long distance in a 68-61 road loss to Clemson on Tuesday.

Their Monday game against South Carolina State (1-12) in Columbia won't light up any postseason resume, but the Gamecocks are hoping it can help them get back on track.

"We'll try to get to the bottom of it," Paris said of the 3-point woes. "Our team was constructed in a way we thought we would be able to withstand off-shooting nights just on the volume of guys that are capable of shooting. Just trying to get to the root of why on the days we shoot well, it feels like everyone shoots a high percentage and the days that we don't, it seems like nobody is able to shoot on those days."

The lack of consistent 3-point shooting is one of the reasons South Carolina doesn't have a quality win so far this season. Though the Gamecocks were competitive in every game, they failed to beat Butler, Northwestern, Virginia Tech and Clemson in nonconference action.

"Just have to figure it out at the end of the day," Paris said. "Guys have to figure it out. They have to have a good relationship with their shot and know if they need to tweak anything. Some guys are overdoing it in terms of how many shots they get up [in practice], that's a real thing. ... We're still working on that."

Mike Sharavjamts and Kobe Knox each scored 13 points in the loss to Clemson. Meechie Johnson, the team's leading scorer at 14.8 points per game, was held to just eight points on 2-for-9 shooting.

"We played hard. I think we at least checked that box," Paris said following the Clemson loss. "I only acknowledged that to our team because I think we played harder than we had been playing in particular in terms of physicality on the defensive side. But then you have to combine that with playing a little better also and we didn't do that."

Eli Ellis was sidelined against the Tigers with an ankle injury and his status for Monday's game is also in doubt.

As for South Carolina State, the Bulldogs are coming off a 68-54 win over NAIA member Brewton-Parker College. SC State is 0-11 against Division 1 competition this season, including losses to No. 11 Louisville, Missouri and Charleston Southern.

-Field Level Media