South Carolina MBB outlasts Charleston Southern. 3 things we learned
When initially scheduling the 2025-26 men’s basketball season, South Carolina likely viewed its matchup at home Friday against Charleston Southern as a good chance to reset and refresh after a trip to the Greenbrier Tip-Off in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
The game didn’t go quite as smoothly as what might have been imagined. USC (5-2) battled injuries and its ongoing shooting slump in a back-and-forth matchup with the Buccaneers (5-4). The Gamecocks rode out the storm and emerged victorious in a 74-62 win after leading 30-28 at halftime.
“I probably was as uncomfortable going into this game as I have been in a while,” Gamecocks head coach Lamont Paris said. “It was Thanksgiving Day, but I don’t think we had a great practice by any stretch of the imagination yesterday. … I was just glad for us to be able to get a couple things turned around the second half and find a way to come to a win.”
Here are three things we saw in the matchup:
Knox holds it down
Kobe Knox has quietly done what’s been asked of him all season as one of USC’s 3-4 starting guards on a given night. Against the Buccaneers, the Gamecocks needed the South Florida transfer to score, and he did just that.
Knox finished with 15 points (second on the team) on 75% shooting. His best shot of the night was a poster dunk in the second half, which helped re-energize the Gamecocks while trailing 40-39. They didn’t lose the lead again for the rest of the game.
“Whatever Coach Paris asks me to do on the court, I just want to do it to the best of my ability,” Knox said.
Paris gave Knox a little more credit than he was willing to give himself.
“Most of (Knox’s points) were unpredictable offense, and there’s really a place for that, especially if your offense gets bogged down or struggling a little bit,” Paris said. “Some guys have a knack for that, and he’s been a good guy in terms of just having a nose for where the ball is or where he should be.”
Undermanned
USC entered the game with just 10 available players. Guard Myles Stute and forward Hayden Assemian, both regular starters for the Gamecocks, missed the game as they are in concussion protocol. Paris was forced to adjust, even sending walk-on guard Eli Sparkman out early in the first half and for three minutes overall.
Despite being forced into a shortened rotation, Paris still had to tweak his lineup further. He didn’t send Elijah Strong into the game until there were just over five minutes to play in the first half. Strong, a transfer from Boston College, entered the game averaging 8.2 points on 16.7 minutes per game — he played a smaller stretch than Sparkman in the first half, but finished with 16 minutes against the Buccaneers.
Strong recorded a team-high 22 points, with 20 coming in the second half. Against Northwestern, Strong led the team with 16 points in 20 minutes.
Paris said the change was a precautionary measure after Strong’s knee started bothering him earlier in the week.
“If we had gotten off to a great start and played extremely well, I may not have played him, but he was able to go, and I thought we needed him,” Paris said. “He’s gonna have a lot of days like that. … He’s an extremely talented and versatile offensive weapon. Getting him to expect those days to happen more often is part of the growth and maturity process for a guy like that.”
Shooting slump continues
The Gamecocks, who’ve already decided they’ll live and die by the 3-pointer this season, haven’t done much living lately. USC opened the game Friday shooting 3 for 13 on 3-pointers in the first half.
“We happened to come in a little flat. It happens, it happens to really good teams,” Strong said. “We don’t plan on making that a habit.”
USC finished the game shooting 20.8% It’s the third game in a row with a slow start from beyond the arc. Against Butler, Northwestern and the Buccaneers, the Gamecocks shot a combined 22 for 84 (26.2%) on 3-pointers.
Meechie Johnson and Eli Ellis, USC’s No. 1 and No. 2 scorers, both struggled. The backcourt pair combined for 13 points on 2-of-11 shooting.
Paris continued to defend his team’s shooting volume despite the recent struggles.
“We’re going to shoot threes. We’ve got to make them. We’re going to get them, we don’t force them, just the way we’re built, we’re going to shoot threes,” he said. “We’re going to play the way we play. We’re going to continue to generate offense by way of the three. We also need to get better at going to the basket and getting the ball thrown into the post.”
South Carolina men’s basketball upcoming schedule
- Tuesday: vs. Virginia Tech (ACC/SEC Challenge), 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
- Saturday, Dec. 6: vs. Stetson, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Saturday, Dec. 13: vs. The Citadel, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Tuesday, Dec. 16: at Clemson, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
This story was originally published November 28, 2025 at 5:59 PM with the headline "South Carolina MBB outlasts Charleston Southern. 3 things we learned."
