Three things to watch for in South Carolina's exhibition bout with NC State

College basketball season is here. Well, almost here.

South Carolina will travel to Greensboro to take on NC State in an exhibition game on Sunday afternoon. Tip-off will be at 4:30 p.m. from First Bank Coliseum. There is no official television broadcast for this game.

This will be the first opportunity to see what this year’s team looks like as the fourth season of the Lamont Paris gets underway. It’ll also be a new era for NC State as Will Wade, who helped lead McNeese to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons, makes his head coaching debut for his new team.

Here are three things to watch for before the Gamecocks tip off against the Wolfpack.

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First chance to see new-look roster in action

During the offseason, South Carolina gutted nearly its entire roster from a season ago and revamped it in hopes of making marginal improvements. Only three players from last year’s team as there are 12 new players on this year’s roster. Six transfers, five freshmen, and one returnee who wasn’t here last season.

This game with the Wolfpack doesn’t count for anything in terms of the overall record. But it will be intriguing to see how this group clicks and where their chemistry level is as the season begins. It may seem cliché, but chemistry is critical to success, especially with how many new faces there are.

It will also be interesting to see what Paris’ starting five looks like, along with how the overall rotation looks. This may not be the type of exhibition game where everyone gets in and sees time on the floor. But at the very least, you’d probably like to see most of this roster in action and find out who the impact guys might be.

Eli Ellis will make USC debut. Can he live up to the hype?

After years of anticipation, the moment has arrived. Sunday will be the first time that Eli Ellis suits up for a game in a South Carolina uniform. It’s been a long time coming after the four-star prospect committed nearly two years ago.

Ellis, a 6-foot, 192-pound guard from Moravian Prep (NC), was the prized player in South Carolina’s high school recruiting class. He was the No. 21 shooting guard in his class and the No. 3-ranked player in the state of North Carolina. He won two MVP awards during his time playing in Overtime Elite, leading the YNG Dreamerz to a championship in the 2024-25 season.

Needless to say, the expectations are going to be high for him this season. South Carolina has had some solid freshmen over the years, including GG Jackson and Collin Murray-Boyles. Many are hoping Ellis can be the next freshman to come in and make an immediate impact. Sunday will be the first chance for him to show what he can do against a quality opponent.

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Expect to see a lot of three-pointers

After the GarNET and Black Madness event wrapped on Tuesday at Colonial Life Arena, Paris had a message for the fans in attendance: “We’re going to shoot a lot of threes, hopefully we make a lot.”

It seems this will be the identity of the 2025-26 team, at least based on this statement from Paris. Basketball has evolved over the years to where three-point shooting has become a focal point for a lot of teams. It can certainly be nice when those deep shots are going in. But there’s also some risk involved when the shots aren’t falling.

In other words, the Gamecocks may live and die by the three-ball this year. That’s fine if they’re making those shots. It may be tough to win games if they aren’t going in, though. That’s the way it goes.

Sunday will be an early indication of how many shooters this team will have. But at least on paper, it looks like they may have enough to back up Paris’ bold strategy.

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