Preseason proclamations of depth are a preseason rite of passage in college basketball, but there’s proof of concept at South Carolina, where 10 players have averaged at least 12 minutes per game to start the season.
The Gamecocks put their deep bench to the test at the Greenbrier Tip-Off Mountain Division, opening against Butler on Friday afternoon in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.
Greenbrier marks the first pair of power-conference foes for South Carolina (4-0), which will also play Northwestern on Sunday. The Gamecocks won their fourth game Tuesday in an 87-58 runaway against Radford.
The starting lineup didn’t offer much outside Mike Sharavjamts’ 12 points and 10 rebounds. But the bench produced 50 points, with Elijah Strong posting a team-high 15 on 7-of-10 shooting and Eli Ellis scoring 14.
“It’s nice because no one’s guaranteed to just stay out there when they’re playing poorly or when they’re not on their best behavior as a teammate,” Gamecocks coach Lamont Paris said. “A lot of these guys have some firepower. It’s not like you throw a guy in off the bench, it’s like, ‘OK, I hope he kind of holds it down. If you get six, eight points, that’d be great.’ We got a lot of guys that could, under the right circumstances, score.”
Butler (3-1) heads to West Virginia still smarting from its first loss, 87-85 at SMU on Saturday.
Butler led almost the entire first half but SMU immediately took control in the second half. Down by seven in the final 1:16, the Bulldogs made a final charge to tie the game thanks to Finley Bizjack, Evan Haywood and Michael Ajayi — the latter two hitting crucial 3-pointers — but SMU scored the game-winner with four seconds to go.
“We emphasized it in practice, we’ve been emphasizing it all week and all year that we need to get off to a hot start at the beginning of games,” Bizjack said, “but we also emphasize the importance of staying hot for 40 (minutes). Staying hot throughout the game and maintaining that fire no matter the time of the game.”
Butler is allowing 72.8 points per game but giving up just 28.8% shooting from 3-point land. Butler will face Virginia in the second game Sunday.
Bizjack leads the Bulldogs with 15 ppg and Ajayi averages 14.8 points and 11.8 rebounds. Meechie Johnson paces South Carolina with 14.5 ppg despite scoring just two against Radford. Ellis adds 13.5 and Sharavjamts contributes 11.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 46.2% 3-point shooting.
–Field Level Media
