Three things to watch for as South Carolina hosts Stetson on Saturday

Following a tough loss to Virginia Tech earlier in the week, South Carolina is back at home on Saturday to take on Stetson. Tip-off is at 2 p.m. on SEC Network+ from Colonial Life Arena.

Here are three things to watch for before the Gamecocks (5-3) tip off against the Hatters. 

🏀 Attention: GamecockCentral is at the game to provide updates. Follow along on the The Insiders Forum (beginning approximately 30 minutes before tip-off). Don’t miss any of the action!

Stetson is the worst opponent on the schedule so far

The Gamecocks have played their share of lowly mid-major teams early on this season, but Stetson will be the lowest-rated one they’ve faced so far. At 3-7 on the year, the Hatters are ranked 343rd in the KenPom rankings. It’ll go down as a Quad 4 game, which shouldn’t help much aside from taking out some frustration from the Virginia Tech loss.

Stetson is averaging 69.4 points per game and has two players averaging double figures. Jamie Phillips Jr. leads the team with 14.9 points on 40.7 percent shooting, though he has struggled from three at a 29.5 percent clip. Ethan Copeland is averaging 11.4 points on 42.1 percent shooting this year.

If South Carolina does what it’s supposed to do, this should be an easy Saturday afternoon win. Crazy things happen in the sport, but there’s simply no excuse to lose this game, let alone at home.

Find that shooting stroke

Until this issue gets resolved, it will continue to be a talking point heading into every game. The Gamecocks have gone five straight games of shooting less than 30 percent from three-point range. For a team that relies heavily on the three-ball, that’s not good.

When those shots are going in, it can become South Carolina’s greatest strength and make any game winnable. As we’ve seen, though, when those shots aren’t finding the net, the Gamecocks find themselves in much tighter affairs, losing all three games against high-major opponents so far this year.

Your GamecockCentral membership starts at just $1 – and we’ll throw in a complimentary year of access to The Athletic.

Christ Essandoko proved to be their best three-point shooter against Virginia Tech, knocking down both of his attempts in big moments during the second half. So the fact that a career 34.5 percent three-point shooter was the most consistent of the group in that game should be somewhat concerning.

South Carolina will need others to step up to get out of this funk. Meechie Johnson needs to come through when the game is on the line, something he failed to do on Tuesday. It will require more from Mike Sharavjamts and Eli Ellis if they’re going to play heavy minutes. At the same time, Elijah Strong can’t be taking the most threes if he’s going to go 1-for-9. All of that has to change quickly.

Need to dominate the paint

South Carolina has shown through eight games that it has yet to find a reliable presence in the paint. You’d like to be able to count on Jordan Butler, Nordin Kapic, and Essandoko as those big men, but none of them have been consistent enough to know what to expect on a game-to-game basis.

The Gamecocks struggled against Virginia Tech’s frontcourt, losing the rebound battle by nine. In turn, that led to the Hokies scoring 54 points in the paint and adding 12 points off second-chance opportunities. That was the difference against Butler, and it proved to be in this most recent game.

South Carolina likely won’t find those answers overnight, especially not against Stetson, where it’s hard to learn much in a game that it should win comfortably. But as SEC play approaches next month, it’s time to start figuring out if this team can play better in the paint before the competition significantly ramps up.

The Insiders Forum: Discuss South Carolina basketball!