Unsurprisingly, as it turns out, things are a lot better when you’re winning. That’s something South Carolina hasn’t experienced much of over the last year or so. 



After making the NCAA Tournament in 2024, the Gamecocks won just two games in SEC play last season. For context, they went nearly two months without a win before they got their first conference victory in late February with five games left in the regular season. 



So when South Carolina went to Baton Rouge and beat LSU by double digits on Tuesday, it was a new feeling. A game where everything went right? That hasn’t been the case for this season’s team.



Unlike last year, the Gamecocks aren’t one of the five teams that are winless through two SEC games. Instead, they’re sitting right at .500 with a 1-1 record after bouncing back nicely from an opening loss at home to unbeaten Vanderbilt last Saturday. 



“For some of these guys, they didn’t win a single road game last year in conference,” head coach <a href="https://www.on3.com/rivals/coach/lamont-paris-132319/">Lamont Paris</a> said. “… So the vibe was good. It was positive. We were actually off the next day, but the practice after that was pretty light-hearted, and the guys were in a good mood. So if mood is an indication of confidence, then, yeah, the confidence was certainly higher.”



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Aside from the tournament season, Paris himself hasn’t seen a lot of SEC wins in Columbia. Excluding the 13-5 record from two years ago, he’s only won seven games in his other seasons. Even with that record factored in, the Gamecocks are only 20-36 (.357) in conference games during his tenure. 



But Tuesday at LSU was the exact formula for what it takes to win. South Carolina played its best half of the season when it scored 50 first-half points and made 10 three-pointers. Defensively, it held the Tigers to 28.6 percent shooting. It directly led to a 25-point lead by halftime. 



“That first half of the LSU game was our best defensive performance of the year, I would say, by far,” Paris said. “Why did it all happen on the same day that you also executed offensively and made shots? I don’t know, but hopefully it represented growth defensively. I’ll take it either way, whether it was an increased level of focus or if it was real growth that took place.”



The second half was a different story as the Gamecocks played a lot more like the team they had been for the better part of this year. However, the next real difference came after LSU cut the lead down to as low as six points when they started to make some timely shots and held on to win comfortably in the end. 



Keep in mind, last year’s team couldn’t close out a game to save its life. They lost seven different games in SEC play by single digits. So to say this past game was an improvement from that standpoint would be an understatement. 



“(LSU) did make a run, but that was very impressive, I think, for us to close that game,” <a href="https://www.on3.com/rivals/meechie-johnson-143837/">Meechie Johnson</a> said. “It just showed our growth. So I was happy with how it ended for sure.”



<a href="https://www.on3.com/teams/south-carolina-gamecocks/news/three-things-to-watch-for-as-south-carolina-looks-to-keep-rolling-vs-georgia/">READ HERE: Three things to watch for as South Carolina looks to keep rolling vs. Georgia</a>



Now that the first conference win is in the books, South Carolina still has a ways to go in hopes of reaching its loftier goals. The Gamecocks are back at home on Saturday, going up against a ranked Georgia team that plays fast and averages more points than any team in the country. 



For a team like South Carolina, which plays slower and doesn’t score nearly as much, that could be a challenge. But there are ways to work around that problem against a team like the Bulldogs.



“You’ve got to take care of the ball. I think you have to make good decisions on the offensive end,” Paris said. “… You have to be cognizant about getting back in transition, and then you’ve got to just locate your man really early. They’re going to get some in transition. It’s how they play. But a lot of teams that play like that, if you can get back, they’ll also take some shots maybe that aren’t great shots if you can rebound the ball effectively. So just got to be prepared and understand what’s coming at us. I think the urgency would be a big part of it.” 



And if the Gamecocks find a way to win, they would match their SEC win total from last season, only now, just three games into the conference slate. They’re hopeful that win against LSU was what they needed to pick up the pace and play better. 



“Only (the players) are themselves,” Paris said. “So hopefully something inside is just really triggered to say that they really have some belief in what this unit could do and then how they could perform individually as well.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-insiders-forum-discuss-south-carolina-basketball">The Insiders Forum: <a href="https://gcon3.com/PxLAJ8">Discuss South Carolina basketball</a>!</h2>

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South Carolina now knows what it takes to win. Can that lead to more going forward?

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