South Carolina rolls to blowout win over NC A&T in home opener

It was a year ago to the day that South Carolina suffered one of its worst losses in recent memory.

Nov. 4, 2024. The Gamecocks, fresh off an NCAA Tournament appearance the previous season, lost a Quad 4 game to North Florida at Colonial Life Arena. It was the opening to what turned out to be a disappointing year that ended with a last-place finish in the SEC.

But maybe things will be different now, at least with having a better start right out of the gate. South Carolina opened the 2025-26 campaign with a 91-72 win over North Carolina A&T in its home opener on Tuesday night.

“These early-season games, we fell victim to it last year in our opener,” head coach Lamont Paris said. “But there are a lot of teams today that whenever you open up, that were either breathing a sigh of relief that they escaped, even though they didn’t play great, or there were a lot of teams that were just questioning a lot of things, the way that I was at the time when you lose the opener. So I was glad the guys were able to play well overall.”

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Things were fairly nip and tuck between both sides throughout the early stages of the game. The Gamecocks (1-0), while shooting well overall, committed six first-half turnovers that kept the score close at times.

But after leading by three with under nine minutes to go, South Carolina then went on a 26-8 run going into halftime to take a commanding lead that they held onto the rest of the way.

“We were in the huddle just saying, ‘Don’t let up,'” Johnson said as the Gamecocks were up by 18 at the break. “The score is 0-0 to us. We’re gonna be in some situations, North Carolina State exhibition game, for example, up 15 and let a team come back. So right now, we’re just working on the little things, and we focus on us and what we do, and then we allow what we do to take care of itself on the court.”

The Gamecocks, who shot close to 60 percent in the first half, finished at a 49.2 percent clip on the night. Three-pointers, which are expected to be a focal point of the offense this year, came in bunches. They went 14-of-32 (43.8 percent) from behind the arc.

South Carolina also recorded 23 assists, a number that Paris was certainly pleased with.

“They seem to have fun, and they shared the ball a lot. The numbers would tell you that,” he said. “… You can encourage sharing the ball. You can practice sharing the ball. And then when the game happens, I’m standing on the sidelines, and they’re out there deciding whether they’re going to share the ball or not, and they shared the ball. So they deserve a ton of credit for that.”

In his first game back at South Carolina, Meechie Johnson led the team with 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting with a pair of threes. Johnson previously played for the Gamecocks from 2022-24 before transferring back to his original school, Ohio State, ahead of last season. But he’s now back in Columbia for one final season.

Three transfer newcomers, Nordin Kapic, Kobe Knox, and Elijah Strong, also finished in double figures in their Gamecock debuts.

Kapic had 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting with a trio of made threes. Knox finished with 12 on 4-of-8 shooting with two threes. Strong had 11 on 4-of-5 shooting.

In his much-anticipated college debut, Eli Ellis, a four-star freshman guard, had 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting in 26 minutes.

Because the score was in hand so early on, Paris was able to play a lot of players throughout the game. In total, 12 players saw floor time, and all but one of them, Eli Sparkman, scored at least one point.

“I’ve been around these guys for a long time, so I just kind of wanted to get the ball tossed up in the air and let the guys go out there and play,” Paris said. “… I just have always liked a lot of guys. I think you can play harder when you have more guys that can go in. I think you can sustain an injury better. I think you can sustain foul trouble. I think you can sustain floor play. I think you can sustain a lot more. I think you have better camaraderie when a lot of guys are going to go in the game.”

Up next: The Gamecocks will be back at home again on Sunday, Nov. 9, as they will host Southern Miss. Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network.

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