Offensive struggles continue as South Carolina falls in road loss at Clemson

South Carolina debuted a brand-new uniform against in-state rival Clemson on Tuesday in hopes that it would solve its troubles against quality competition.

But when it took the floor in their all-black “Palmetto Pride” uniforms, that didn’t do too much to change its misfortunes. After all, it’s just a new look, and this is still the same team that hasn’t gotten over the hump yet due to its own on-court struggles.

The Gamecocks will remain winless against high-major opponents after a 68-61 loss to the Tigers at Littlejohn Coliseum. They’re now 0-4 against Quad 1 and 2 teams and 7-0 against Quad 4 teams.

“You don’t have to play great. You don’t have to play perfectly by any stretch of the imagination,” head coach Lamont Paris said. “I do think you have to play hard. I think you have to play smart. I think you have to play halfway decent offense. I think you have to play halfway decent overall. And we did not achieve that.”

After Paris publicly admitted his players weren’t “ready to play” in a win over The Citadel last Saturday, the Gamecocks (7-4) came out playing fast against the Tigers. They jumped out to an early 12-5 lead within the opening five minutes while shooting over 50 percent.

“I thought our energy and effort were great tonight. Especially on the defensive end, we got stops,” said Kobe Knox, who finished with a team-high 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. “I was happy with our group’s effort and energy tonight. Definitely a great job responding.”

It was a strong start, one they desperately needed on the road. However, they went without a basket over the next five minutes as Clemson went on a 15-0 run to take the lead.

South Carolina shot 39.3 percent from the field and 13.3 percent from deep in the first half. Despite that rough stretch and the missed shots, it found itself very much in the game, only trailing by seven going into halftime.

“I feel like they had so many stretches in the game where they were hitting so many free throws. I really don’t know,” Meechie Johnson said. “I thought this was one of the best games we played physical-wise. But again, we just didn’t shoot well. I think if we shoot better, and we make some of those looks again, we win the game.”

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However, Clemson’s early run helped it go up by as much as 10 points. This forced the Gamecocks to play catch-up for the rest of the night. That was a battle they struggled to come back from as the Tigers continued to do just enough to stay in front.

South Carolina also didn’t do itself much good when it got sloppy coming out of the break. It committed six turnovers within the first six minutes, only helping Clemson pad its lead back to double figures. The game likely would’ve gotten out of hand a lot sooner, but the Tigers struggled at the free-throw line and only made 19-of-31 (61.3 percent) on their attempts.

The other issue, the one that has been persistent throughout all four of these non-conference losses, was the team’s shooting. Missed shots continued to plague the Gamecocks as they finished at a 37.3 percent clip on the night and were 4-of-26 (15.4 percent) from three-point range.

Johnson was arguably at the forefront of those struggles as he didn’t make his first shot until the eight-minute mark of the second half. The fifth-year guard scored eight points with six rebounds and four assists, but he shot 2-of-9 from the field and 0-of-4 from deep.

“Clemson did a good job of putting different guys on me throughout the night. … I’m not getting the looks I want. I want to get other people good looks,” he said. “I am a scoring guard, though, so I do realize when there are times where I gotta pick it up a little bit, but I don’t try to force it early. I try to take what the defense gives me. But yeah, just didn’t play well tonight.”

Up next: South Carolina will return home to take on SC State next Monday, Dec. 22. Tip-off is at 4 p.m. on SEC Network+ from Colonial Life Arena.

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