Southeastern 16 analyst views South Carolina as 'old team with a little splash of freshman electricity'

It’s only one game. Still far too soon to make any real judgments on how this season will go. But so far, so good for South Carolina.

The Gamecocks opened the 2025-26 campaign with a 91-72 win over North Carolina A&T on Tuesday night at Colonial Life Arena. It was an overall solid performance to begin the year as they shot close to 50 percent from the field and knocked down 14 three-pointers, the most in a game since Dec. 1, 2023.

Coming into this season, the bar has been set fairly low for South Carolina in Lamont Paris’ fourth year as head coach. When the SEC released its predicted order of finish last month, the Gamecocks were picked to finish in last place for the second time in three seasons.

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Until there’s a real sample size of what this team will be, the jury will still be out. But despite low expectations, one college basketball analyst sees South Carolina having a shot at a good season.

“I think the analytics right now are a bit low on them,” Southeastern 16’s Max Barr said on 107.5 The Game on Wednesday. “And the reason why is because look at the team from two years ago and why they were good. Look at that backcourt and the amount of basketball that they had played. … This is an old team with a little splash of freshman electricity there with (Eli) Ellis, Hayden Assemian, and Grant Polk.”

One of the main reasons why Barr admittedly feels good about the Gamecocks so far has to do with their offense and their scoring capabilities. Five players finished with double-digit points, while nine players in total made at least one three-pointer in the season opener.

“You’ve got to be happy with the offense if you’re a Gamecock fan,” Barr said. “It would have just surpassed your season high in regulation from last year with 91 points. Never got there in regulation all of last year. So you’re already looking at a much improved offense with nine different players making a three right now.”

Barr noted that South Carolina has a lot more shooting depth on the team compared to years past under Paris. One player he’s particularly high on is Nordin Kapic, who scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting with a team-high three triples made on Tuesday. He sees Kapic as one of the shooters who adds plenty to that much-improved depth on offense.

“I really think it all starts with Nordin Kapic and his ability to completely change what this offense looked like last year,” Barr said. “Still can get in there, rebound and bang around with the big boys, but man, does he have a nice shot. … How many Nordin Kapic’s are out there at 6’8, 240, that can do all the things that he can do? Not many.”

While Barr believes in what the group can do from a shooting standpoint, he does have some worries, starting with South Carolina’s lack of size and paint presence. Without Collin Murray-Boyles in the frontcourt this season, the Gamecocks are still figuring out who their go-to players will be down low.

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“I know that Lamont Paris was playing around with lineups and you’re going deep into searching for what’s going to work, what’s not going to work, and you’re throwing things out there after being up 20 at half,” Barr said. “But to answer your question, shouldn’t you be concerned about the lack of size, rim protection-wise? Yeah, a little bit. It is definitely something to keep an eye on.”

Barr also expressed some concern with the defense, which gave up 44 second-half points to NC A&T. However, he feels that a lighter non-conference schedule should help work out some of these early issues, and he sees Paris, with defense being one of his specialities, getting that part of the game right.

“I know Lamont Paris said he was really pleased with the way the ball was shared,” he said. “If this is how this offense is going to be, averaging around double-digit threes a game, Kapic spreads the floor way out, I think I trust Lamont Paris to get this defense. Right now, their analytical defense is 102, which would be the worst analytical defense of Lamont Paris’ South Carolina stint. I trust him to get that thing a lot better than 102.”

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