How to watch and what to watch for: South Carolina faces George Washington

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South Carolina will look to continue its strong play when it faces George Washington on Friday. The two teams played last year in Washington, DC, with the Gamecocks getting blown out by 24 points.

But that was last year and this is a new year. South Carolina is off to a 6-0 start, while the Revolutionaries are 6-1 on the year.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Colonial Life Arena. The game can be seen on SEC Network Plus. But it will also be available for streaming on Fubo TV.

Here are some things to watch for.

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What type of encore does Gamecock defense have in store?

South Carolina only allowed 53 points against Notre Dame on Tuesday, which tied its lowest allowed so far this season. The Irish only shot 26.9 percent from the field and 9.1 percent from three-point range in the second half of that game.

So far this year, the Gamecocks are ranked top 50 in scoring defense, allowing 63.8 points per game. They’re forcing more than 11 turnovers per game. George Washington is averaging 84.7 points per game right now, albeit against mostly weaker opponents. But still, it presents a challenge for South Carolina who couldn’t stop this team a year ago.

Limiting turnovers

One of the struggles in the early going was the turnover rate for South Carolina. But on Tuesday, it only turned the ball over eight times compared to Notre Dame’s 12. Keeping it under 10 should always be the goal for this group.

Even when they have turned the ball over a lot, the Gamecocks have still found a way to win, which is a good thing. It shows this team can overcome their mistakes. But they can’t afford to get super sloppy and come out sluggish every time out. That’s kind of been a theme recently. Slow start and turning the ball over but comes through late to get the win.

Wins are wins at the end of the day. But as long as South Carolina doesn’t play careless, it should be fine on Friday.

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Is Myles Stute due?

No one on South Carolina had a worse game than Myles Stute did. The senior guard went 0-for-5 from the floor and 0-for-4 from three-point range. He finished with one measly point.

Well after the game was over, Stute was back out on the court and taking shots with what looked to be two of his coaches. He was shooting from different spots behind the arc and free-throw line.

Any time you see that happen, you have to at least respect the drive to be better. And when players are doing the extra things to be better, it usually works out well for them. So we’ll see how Stute plays on Friday, but he could be due to get out of his funk.

Are we slowly seeing a change in the usual lineup?

For every game this year, Lamont Paris has ran out the same starting five: Meechie Johnson, Ta’Lon Cooper, BJ Mack, Myles Stute and Stephen Clark. Four of those guys are solidified starters, no question about it. Clark might be the odd man out.

Against Notre Dame, he played a season-low five minutes and had one block. Meanwhile, Josh Gray came off the bench and only played three minutes in the second half. Those valuable minutes were being given to guys like Zachary Davis and Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk.

Maybe Paris will still stick with the same starting five. But it’s interesting how Clark is seeing such little time on the floor. It might point to an eventual change at some point if he’s not producing.

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Scouting the opponent

As previously mentioned, George Washington throttled South Carolina last year in our nation’s capital. The Revolutionaries finished 16-16 last year, losing in the second round of the A-10 Tournament.

The Revolutionaries have a quartet of scorers that can probably run some teams out of the gym. It starts with senior guard James Bishop IV, who is averaging 20.9 points per game this year. After only dropping five points in the season opener, he’s been hard to stop with four games of more than 20 points.

Sophomore guard Maximus Edwards has put up 16.7 points per game and taken a step forward in his game after averaging 10.5 points as a freshman last year.

Then, George Washington has a pair of freshmen bursting onto the scene in guard Garrett Johnson and forward Darren Buchanan Jr. Johnson is averaging 15 points per game, while Buchanan has 13.7 so far.

Edwards and Johnson have been lights out from three-point range, both shooting over 48 percent from that spot.

The key for South Carolina will be finding a way to neutralize most, if not all, of their shooters. Stopping Bishop will be the main priority. But keeping the others in check could go a long way, too.

Game details

Who: South Carolina (6-0) vs. George Washington (6-1)

When: Friday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.

Where: Colonial Life Arena (18,000)

How to watch/listen: SEC Network Plus/107.5 FM

ESPN gives South Carolina an 83 percent chance to win

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