What did NC State think of South Carolina after Sunday's tight-knit battle?

South Carolina didn’t get any love when it was picked to finish last in the SEC preseason media poll earlier this month. It was to be expected after how last season went.

Within the program, the Gamecocks believe they will prove the doubters wrong, just like they did the last time they were picked dead last two years ago.

But don’t just take their word for it. Take it from NC State, who barely edged out an 88-86 win over South Carolina in an exhibition game Sunday in Greensboro.

The Wolfpack, which had only led for less than five minutes, got a huge three-point shot from Paul McNeil to take the lead for good with 0.5 seconds remaining. Sure, this game didn’t count for anything, but it had the big-game feel due to its back-and-forth nature. And that certainly caught their attention.

“They’ve got a good coach and coaching staff,” NC State guard Tre Holloman said about the Gamecocks. “They’ve got some good players. They shot the lights out. So, yeah, they should be good.”

READ HERE: Gamecocks sink 12 three-pointers but fall in last-second exhibition loss to NC State

South Carolina barely outshot the Wolfpack, shooting 55.4 percent from the floor and 41.4 percent from three-point range. There were some solid performances along the way, especially at the guard position.

Eli Ellis, who came off the bench in his first game as a freshman, led the team with 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting. He also drilled five three-pointers in 27 minutes on the floor. Meechie Johnson also had a nice first game back with the team, as he scored 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting with a trio of made threes.

“They’ve got really good guard play,” said Wolfpack head coach Will Wade. “… I don’t want to talk poorly, but their guard play wasn’t what it is now. There’s a reason they went and got Meechie Johnson back. There’s a reason Meechie had his career year when he was with them, the year they (almost) won the SEC the year before. Ellis is obviously a tremendous player. He plays well over his age.”

Wade, who NC State hired to a six-year deal on March 22, believes South Carolina’s guard play is “much improved.” He also said Kobe Knox, a transfer from South Florida, was “really good” in transition. Knox, who had 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, made the initial go-ahead basket on an and-one with 11.9 seconds left in the game.

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This was all part of the reason why Wade wanted to schedule this exhibition matchup. He felt that what South Carolina does offensively is “some of the hardest stuff for us to guard,” which it was for most of the afternoon.

“I wanted to get that and see how spread we got, and we need to get better,” Wade said. “We need to get better there. And so we knew that was going to be a challenge coming in, but they do a really, really good job.”

Wade believes the Gamecocks are going to be a good team this season. They’re coming off a year in which they went 12-20 and 2-16 in the SEC. But from the Wolfpack’s perspective, that team that struggled so much last season was nowhere to be found in Greensboro.

“They all got a great team, man, like I said, they are a great program,” McNeil said. “That’s just the media. The media is supposed to judge where they think they’re going to be. But they’re a good team.”

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